to all the fellow nurses out there, an extract from a random nursing blog i found that pretty much sums up whats in my mind.Come walk in our shoes for a 12-hour shift. Come see the joy, the tragedy, the comedy, the 100 ways we are pulled and pushed, then rate my "pleasant greeting", "answers call light in timely fashion", "states name of patient."
Use the bathroom now, because you might not get the chance again until your shift ends. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't worry if they're clean. They'll end up with blood and vomit on them.
We are the patient's advocate, the doctors' eyes and ears, and everyone's scapegoat. We can page your doctor but we can't make that doctor magically appear. We check your stitches, wipe your blood, drain your pus and empty your bedpan.
Nursing is a tough job, but we're tougher. We've been yelled at by administrators, supervisors and doctors. We've been kicked, slapped, punched, spat on, and sexually harassed by patients in various states of delirium, mental illness, arrogance, and intoxication. We've even had chairs and food trays thrown at us. We work mandatory overtime, weekends and holidays. We eat Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with coworkers. We deal with families who ignore visiting hours, bring food to patients on restricted diets, and insist on staying the night even though it's not a private room. We deal with the Florida son who orders us around to show a parent he's neglected for years that he cares. We cannot be at your side every waking minute. We have 10 other patients. We cannot answer 5 call lights at once. We can't stop doing CPR on a patient because you ran out of tissues.
We are not maids, beauticians, or cocktail waitresses. We are professionals with college degrees. We hate that we can't spend more bedside time with you. Swearing at us will not make us move faster. Taking better care of your health would help. Quit smoking. Lose weight. Start exercising. Stop drinking. How do we survive? We ignore the nasty comments, the demanding relatives, and the crazy staffing grids. We count to 10 before speaking. We pray every morning for strength and wisdom, patience and empathy. We drive home tired and frustrated, telling ourselves over and over, "I'm not the nurse I want to be, but I'm the best nurse the hospital staffing allows me to be." We fall asleep praying for the ones who won't survive the night.
There is no finish line, ever. Nursing is demanding, fulfilling, and we can't imagine doing anything else. Nothing beats washing blood and glass off a car crash survivor, stabilizing a broken neck, saving a diabetic's leg, keeping a cancer patient in remission. The day we send a patient home we relish the unbelievable resilience of the human body and spirit. We did not become nurses for the hours, the salary, or the glamour of it all. We became nurses to make a difference.
We don't ask for much. One sincere Thank You makes all the thankless hours worth it.
=) at least i'm feeling better aft reading that post. countless of times, many have asked, why nursing? why that dirty job?
job satisfaction remains at the top of my list over working hours, the amount of pay, the workload blah blah.
unfair! ytd, sent a DIL pt down for urgent ct. the nurses there were like what? playing some farm game on fb, sit and chitchat. and i was up there struggling with patients, admissions, an AOR who went off with an iv plug, last min discharges. howell. daddy always tell me that at least by getting to learn the hard way, i learn much more.
i can't wait to get my adv dip, my degree and venture out and help even more people. the yappyyyy parents have been urging me to go over to alaska/vancouver island. the pay per hour is like what? US$36?!??!!!! the workload and demands being much lesser as compared to here. all that according to the tour guide. ahaha. been telling mr lovelove bout it. so yeap! this's gonna be one of our goals in life. study our assess off together, migrate to alaska and bring the family there (:
*join me banana love! and u can find an angmoh boyf. or prolly an eskimo <3 and we can go for our hiking trips, food hunt trips, shopping trips and we'll walk in front, gossip non stop while the boys will be carrying our bags at our backs. hahaha. it will NOT be a dream, it will be our future. okayy?
for those who've been asking, baby n me are perfectly fine, doing perfectly well, can't be any better. through each lil upset/differences/misgivings, we learn more bout each other and loveeeee even more. never post pictures doesn't mean sth happened ma. i'm just plain lazy. hahahaha.
so i requested for an AL today after summing up all my courage to speak to sister P. ytd. one week of flu, cough, night fevers, sorethroat's no joke. that horror of spending 22 hours at the fever tent. lucky enough, baby passed me his psp knowing i'd be bored, offered lotsaaaa stuff but got rejected cause i simply had no appetite. the yap parents bringin over my hp charger, a storybook, herbal tea n lozenges (:
can you imagine. a brightly litted up tent. each area had a table, chair, trashbin, beach chair, tissuebox, a bottle of water and a pack of toiletries. every 4-5 area shared a tv. the only time to get up and walk is to visit the toilet. every new victim that walks in stares awkwardly. thank goodness the swab was negative.
hahaha okayyyy! off i go for a good sleep. shall have a hair cut tmr, send the stupid LG phone for repair and meet baby aft! been super shiok. cause as the chief clerk, when the big sirs are not around, he's the nxt biggest to decide and never fails to release the boys as early as 2pm, instead of the normal 6pm. happy for them, happy for me!
and if anyone of you were wondering what LG phone. nope, its not my new phone. its baby's dad's spare phone. nobody using so i kop-ed it. LG phones are horrid. the batt life is disgusting, i have to charge every single day! yes, no kidding. and i dropped it while gettin off the car ytd and there goes the phone. can't switch it on. RARRR. still thinkin which to get. BB storm's perfect but there's no wifi =( BBB's too businesslike for me. baby's been thinkin of gettin each of us an iphone. in white <3 but, heard alot of unpleasant stories bout it, so still in the midst of decision. hahaha.
till the nxt, ciao!
