I'm a nurse and I consider it pure joy to be one. Its a calling and far more than a job. I learned from nursing school those who decided to go to nursing because of money later on become the bitter nurses or close to being Nurse Hatchet, the coldly efficient controling nurse who conducts theraphy session only to reinforce her patients' weaknesses. One can also get to be the oh-so-honourable Queen Nurse. There can only one Queen Nurse per ward. She knows everything about the ward and very meticulously knowledgeable in theory and nursing experience. The Queen Nurse can be very informative and helpful but her ego flares up. She is on top of everything and everything works for her; thus, change is not an option. I'm a cardiac nurse and heart is mine to master. To name a few, I am thankful for beta blockers, nitro and ECG monitor. Pacemaker and Angiogram are also on top of the things I am thankful. The level and ranges of intervention and prevention we have to day surely increase our chances to live longer despite of our faulty health choices.
In the ward I work, the load is heavy in assessment and intervention. There were also down times where I can brush up on my medical theories and policies and increase team morale through chatting with collegues. I had rotations that somewhat challenging but there were also that totally pushed me to stretch and step out from my comfort zone.
Story: It was the second day of my rotation and very promising to be a smooth day. Second day is better than first because I've met my patients the day before and had situated a plan care already. However, few hours after the shift started we called for Code Blue, a patient of my collegue suddenly lost consciousness with dropping BP and rapid heart rate. CODE BLUE is when a pack of expert staff rush in to intervene in a situation that is detrimental to a patient's life. Imagine episodes in ER but less drama and love affairs. The patient that coded ended up being transfered to ICU for one to one nursing care. That afternoon, we were told the patient had a massive cranial bleeding and had a stoke.
Obviously the day started busy but it was manageable. One of my patient was a 91 years old who came in with a heart failure. I had him before and he and his family know me. Despite of his heart failure, he looks well for a 91 year old. He told me he used to be a professional trainer, who trains athletes to compete in olympics. One funny sitution I had with him and his son was when I was changing his IV dressing and I had to take off the old run down tape and it was very painful for him due to his hairy arms. He sounded like I was waxing him. His son said, "a lot of athletes right now are cheering for you." His son added that back then there was only tape to wrap patient hands, or legs or arms and taking it off was brutal. As his son was telling the story, I imagine echoing of cries of well built athletes in the locker room. We all laughed and my heart smiled when I saw my patient's smile as we reminsiced about his years of fulfilled life.
That day, my patient complained of being nauseated. I gave him gravol with great effect but the nausea soon came back. The day went on and my patient still nauseated but refused to have some more gravol. He stayed in bed all day. Late in my shift, I went out of ward for my dinner break. I left my patient eating his dinner with his son helping him. After my break, the ward was freaky quiet. The unit clerk was attentively watching the tele monitor as if watching a movie. One of the senior nurse came out from my patient's room. She looked worried. I went in to my patient's room and found him grasping for air. I was stunned. I was not yet updated what was happening but I knew things were not looking good. When my collegue updated me, I learned that she saw in the monitor that my patient's heart rhythm critically changed so she checked up on him. She found him short of breath walking from the BR with his son assisting him. She safely guided him back to bed and check his vitals. The patient's hear was racing, he was diaphoretic and oxygen supplement was not helping with his breathing. I came back from my break after 20 minutes his symptoms started. 5 minutes later he died. I witnessed his death; I saw his face change from color flesh to grey, I watched him take his last breath, and I catched the rhythm of his heart fail. He died from a heart attack.
In situations like this... do I still want to be a nurse? definitely Yes! its challenging and fulfilling. It can be dreary and grey but often times it so rewarding.
