http://www.rnstories.com/ RN Stories - Join the Story Telling Community at RN Stories - Tell Your Story http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/26-by-the-grace-of-god-i-am-a-registerd-nurse I was lucky enough to be chosen to be an RN. Rudderless and a newly wed I was called by a person that I didn't know to fill a spot I her nursing class. (she had gotten my name from the employment agency) Very shortly I realized that I had a true gift, and that my touch could comfort people that were in pain,near death, suffering tramas to their bodies and sometimes battered spirits. A local nursing home offered to pay full tuition in exchange for me working or repaying the moneys upon graduation. That was 30years ago, and while I no longer work in LTC or acute care I remember many of the people that I've cared for and worked with over the years and know positivly that I was right where God wanted me and feel very blessed. Nurses that write here are an inspiration to me. Thank You for the forum. Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:07:29 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/25-journey-has-just-begun-but-it-is-truly-rewarding As previously posted and according to Florence Nightingale "Nursing is an art"...looking in on the outside the finished product look so simple, it doesnt show the sweat and the labour of the artist just this beautiful finish. Therefore it is only in the heart of the artist that this sense of overwhelming satisfaction exists. Similar when nursing a patient..u just get this feeling of satisfaction when you see a patient leaving for home with his or her relatives remembering that patient's condition when he or she first entered ur institution. Working with children is very heart rending but at the same time it is truly rewarding..they bring so much joy...no matter how down i feel in the mornings all i need to lift my spirit is to receive one child on the ward...They are just so innocent and sweet...It pains my heart tho to care for a child with advanced Ca, who doesnt have a clue as to the seriousness of his illness but just appear so happy and optimistic about going home soon and going back to school.. I RECOMMEND THAT ONLY PEOPLE WHO HAVE A GENUINE LOVE FOR PEOPLE ENTER INTO THE FIELD OF NURSING CAUSE TO SOME NURSING IS JUST A CAREER WHILE TO OTHERS IT IS A WAY OF LIFE,A COMMITMENT,AND A DRIVE THAT KEEPS US GOING...IT IS TRULY A CALLING... Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:53:25 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/24-my-reward-never-ending-happiness-and-fulfillment I am a volunteer nurse of Streetlight Philipphines from the time it was born and I witnessed how amazingly things happened at the center up to now. Streetlight is an organization that accommodates orphans and street children. Though I left Streetlight for about a year, I came back with great joy, enthusiasm and excitement, giving my commitment and dedication to serve these unprivileged children again. A question has always been asked to me by my friends, and even by my family; why do I stay at Streetlight as a volunteer nurse, giving up my job at the hospital, to spend so much time treating street children with contagious diseases that will only put my health into risk. I only give one answer: “My Reward: is a NEVER ENDING HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT I experience in helping the street children. Streetlight was planted in my heart, and my burning desire to help these kids hooked me, even though I receive less, even nothing. Like the children, I also found a home full of so much love at the center. It is not so hard to see the lovely smiles on the faces of the children. Their sweet embrace gives real joy in my heart. And it is pleasant to hear them call me “ATE”. It is even more fulfilling for me to help restore the health and strength of children who are nearly facing deaths because of illnesses and diseases for them to enjoy life to the fullest. They deserve to live long and to take pleasure in this world, but no one cares until Streetlight came. It is my deep longing to help all street children who are slowly dying on the street, as I gave aid to some of them. Very skinny, coughing out loudly, abnormal breathing, blood in the urine, pains all over the body, skin covered with flakes and scabies all over, and it torn my heart whenever they come to me and says…”Ate please help me”. No matter how much I long to help these children, Streetlight has limited funds for a very expensive medical assistance. Streetlight needs more help, to extend our aid to them. But somehow just by spending time with these children gives comfort to them. In my mind I thought, that these children needs my medical treatment, as many of them are in the stage of terminal case of tuberculosis and keep on fighting for their life. But they proved me wrong; instead they taught me that it is not medicine that really cure the diseases that they have, but a heart of a person that truly cares. For me, my life has no purpose if I just live into it. But serving these children makes my life more meaningful, and I am grateful to Streetlight for giving me such opportunity. Though helping these children sometimes makes me selfless, yet, I am still blessed that I am not one of these children who lives on the street, sniffing rugby, and begging money for food. These children are just waiting for someone to lend them a hand and by sharing what we have even in small things, is the greatest thing that you, other people and I can do for them. visit our site at Facebook www.facebook.com/streetlightinternational www.facebook.com/streetlightcanada www.streetlight.org Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:04:29 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/23-patients-who-are-dying Lately a lot of my newly diagnosed CA patients are transitioning to hospice. I know our hospice team is aces and they are there to support the entire family network during this process. I get really attached to my patients and while I understand that life takes this turn, I will miss them and that conection. Hard to say "goodbye" but hope that I could be a resource and source of comfort when I could. Hospice nurses are truly angels , you just can't see their wings. Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:49:07 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/22-my-mother-kam-agong I'm from Sarawak Malaysia. Eight years ago my mother died due to Secondary Postpartum Hemorrhage. After 8 years we return the hospital is still in deplorable condition. visit http://kamagong.org/full%20story.htm Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:19:12 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/21-simple-art-of-caring Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, It requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter’s or sculptor’s work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God’s spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts. -Florence Nightingale, poem “Nursing is an art.” One hot summer of 2006, I find myself sitting on a cozy arm chair. Somehow, I felt so lonely and empty within. It seemed like I was just observing the clamorous crowd in the 5th floor lobby yet people sitting next to me noticed that I was thinking of the oceans. “Hey!” a gloomy, dreadful voice was heard over my ears. “What’s wrong with you? I then realized that one of my group mates asked. “I’m good. I just remembered her”. I felt satiable warmth when everyone gave me a big hug. I slowly closed the window of my soul and vividly recalled the memories I had with one of my patients during our enhancement duty that passed away few days back. It was 9th of May, I was preparing myself and went on afternoon shift. My clinical instructor assigned me to monitor a female patient in Room 706. Upon endorsement and studying the patient’s thick chart, I find out that we were of the same age, and been admitted in the hospital for three days. Patient X was suffering from a life threatening condition called Stevens - Johnson syndrome. Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a serious systemic (bodywide) allergic reaction with a characteristic rash involving the skin and mucous membranes, including the buccal mucosa (inside of the mouth). The disease is due to a hypersensitive (allergic) reaction to one of a number of immunologic stimuli including drugs and infectious agents. SJS is a rare condition, with a reported incidence of around 2.6 to 6.1 cases per million people per year. In the United States, there are about 300 new diagnoses per year. The condition is more common in adults than in children. Women are affected more often than men, with cases occurring at a three to two sex ratio. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StevensJohnson_syndrome. According to the history of her present illness , his condition was caused by hypersensitivity to drug when she was under Chloramphenicol treatment, the drug of choice to treat Typhoid fever and was first confined in their provincial hospital 2 weeks prior to admission. At first, I was trying to remember what her condition really was. I approached my C.I. for confirmation. Perhaps I recalled that one of our lecturer’s had included this topic in our Medical-Surgical subject. She even claimed that she hasn’t actually cared for a patient with this rare kind of illness. Together with the staff nurses, our clinical instructor, and some of my group mates, I entered patient X’s room during the nurse’s rounds. We first greeted her and introduced ourselves. Identified our patient, assessed her intravenous fluid level and site, verified the amount of oxygen that she’s receiving and checked on her in general. After the rounds, I was left inside the room and started to interact with patient x and to her significant others. She was lying on bed, awake, coherent and oriented to time and place. I obtained her vital signs, with temperature of 40 °C, heart rate of 98 beats/min and respiratory rate of 25 cycles /min. She had pale and dry skin, from the scalp down to her lower extremities, and arms were filled with small lesions. Her lips and gums were slightly bleeding which causes mild pain when she opens her mouth, like in talking and eating. After that 20-minute interaction, I started to formulate my nursing care plan. Since she had a high fever, I utilized this realistic plan on top of three nursing priorities that I identified that could be done in my eight-hour duty. Part of bedside care, I gave her a tepid sponge bath and after two hours, her temperature lowered down from 40 °C down to 38 °C. “That was amazing! Her mother claimed. “Everyone from that 4-corner room was filled with glee and they were all smiling at me. At the back of my mind, I definitely said, Wow! What I did was just an ordinary thing yet for them it was so amazing. For a couple of hours that I was on her side, it built an extraordinary kind of friendship. Her sister Sheryl said, that she haven’t seen her sister so happy and even it’s a bit painful for her to smile because of her chopped and bleeding lips, she could now stand the pain and afforded to show a wonderful smile. When I was about to end my shift, I went back to my patient’s room to bid goodbye. She held my hands, tight and firm, spoke in a soft and low-tone of voice saying, “Thank you nurse”. “You’re welcome”, I replied. Her eyes were teary and had shown the best smile that I’d seen in my whole life. I went out from her room, knowing that another shift on that week was over but the story never ended there yet. The next day, I went to the same hospital and submitted our OR gowns for autoclaving in preparation for our OR exposure the following week. I and two of my group mates decided to dropped by patient X’s room. We saw her side-lying on her bed and I noticed that a working ventilator was on her bed side. “Hi, how are you? I asked her. She’s not smiling but she kept on staring at me, trying to say something. I think you wanted to say something. Can you tell me more about it? Then she replied,” I’m tired. Please pray for me”. My heart was torn into pieces and I didn’t know what to say. I just held her hand, I was silent for 5 seconds and replied, “Sure, I will. Actually, I and my friends would visit the Holy sacrament later this afternoon. Do you want to come with us?” Finally, she smiled and held my hand with earnest desire to come over. On the other hand, her mother and sister Sheryl were at my back. They said that she was under code blue that early morning and they were hopeless about her condition. They were sad and I understood what they went through. After that quick visit, I went to Basilica del Sto. Nino with my friends, Johanna Marie and Maria Richelle. When I arrived home, I took a nap in my bed. I suddenly dreamt of her, she was smiling back at me and was totally well. I was abruptly awakened by a telephone call from her sister Sheryl, crying out loud and informed me that her sister passed away couple of minutes ago. Heavy goose bumps ruled over me and couldn’t really believe it. That was the first time that my assigned patient passed away. Since they were not from Cebu, her sister asked me to drop by the hospital before they went back to their province the next day. I met her family and they were so grateful about the support and care that I contributed to them. Her big brother attempted to gave me cold cash but I impetuously refused. I got a reality check from this experience. Caring can’t only be acquired inside the classroom. Patient care is part of a nurse's role since we have to assist them in their needs which they were not capable in doing. However, the simple art of caring is much appreciated when experienced and shared. It means that we are giving our time and best effort to alleviate our patient’s suffering, not only to our patients, but most of the time those who are in need of our help. It might be our own families, relatives, friends and neighbors. Should someone choose nursing as a profession? "Yes!" Working so intimately with ill people and experiencing the pain of others directly affects how we nurses view life. Nursing lets me go home with a good feeling in my heart. Every day I hear "Thank you" or "I'm glad you are here." Knowing I have made a difference makes the long hours and late lunches worth the effort. For me, the career has been nursing, and for every nurses, mastering the art of caring is a lifelong mission. God Bless! Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:36:16 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/20-lost-and-found-slippers Had a funny incident experience with my patient who was fit for discharge. He lost his "old" and "new" other pair of slippers while with the student nurse during the bed side sponging and taking him responsible for the lost by paying him $50. If not he said he would report him (the student nurse) to the police officer about the incident. Search begun. Slippers were found at the ground floor outside the hospital building right in front of the patient's window. The lost and found slippers with different pairs were handed over back to the patient. The rest of the patient in the cubicle gave him an applaud for having it back after all. He then finally went home with a "happy feet" and sad. It's sad because he never succeeded on his scheme. Some patients or significant others would abused the staff for their self gain. One good example is the real scenario given above. They would do something rediculous and would find fault with others so as they could demand bigger things to cover up their hospital bills or something...true enough to those who are long stayer or has discharge problem issue. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:58:51 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/19-oblivious Had a terminally ill patient rolled in to the clinic via wheelchair by the son and the wife. They waited for 30 mins in the lobby with whole bunch of patients also waiting for their turn. The patient was slouched in the wheelchair and when they were called and put in the room, the med- tech took the vitals and could not get any. Pt was rolled in the clinic deceased!!! Still warm though. I ask the son when they last saw him took the last breath.. they said when they transferred him to the wheelchair from the car and they just thought nothing was wrong because they had given him pain meds. OMG!!! Sad to say we waited for the coroner for 4 hours coz 911 would not take dead PPl and we had to wait till we get a clearance from the coroner. Patients that knew about the incident and the room where we kept the dead one would not go there for months no matter if they have to wait longer for another room to be available. Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:51:26 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/18-you-can-t-fix-stupid-2 I had a man bring his mother to our ED, because he wanted us to transport her to the hospital 20 minutes down the road, where she had a ready room on the floor. I asked him why he didn't drive her there instead of here. He stated "I don't know how to get there!" Next, we spoke to our Supervisor, who said to just print out the directions for him. When we did, he said "Oh, I have a GPS, just give me the address!" You can't fix stupid. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:23:11 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/17-you-can-t-fix-stupid-1 I had a young woman bring her toddler into the ED for a fever. I asked her if she had given her child any Tylenol. She said "No, he's not hurting anywhere". You can't fix stupid. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:20:49 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/16-the-patient-who-makes-me-love-the-nursing-profession This is happened when I was still a student nurse. At first I don't really like to become a nurse, I've never even imagined myself to be a nurse. But this particular patient made me change my mind. We were assigned in Intensive Care Unit and a patient that was given to me is an unconscious old woman who has been there for a month. I was assigned to be her student nurse, mostly of the patient in their unfortunately did not survived. She is the only who survived. Everyday of my duty, I just do everything my Clinical Instructor asked me to do, you know?? just being a good student and to have a good grades. She has a lots of medicines that was incorporated with her IV fluid, asides from IV fluid medication their is also oral medication which we introduced through her Nasogastric tube . She is the typical ICU patient. One day while I was waiting for the time for her next medication, I was holding her hand and started talking to her. I told her that her family always here in the hospital, waiting for her to wake up. That she had to fight, don't lose hope. And I was shocked when she squeezes my hand, I thought it was just a motor reaction or nerves, stuff like that. So I asked her to squeeze my hand twice if she hears what I'm saying, and she did. The feeling is so overwhelming!! Since then I always talked to her, I told her whats happening outside, but just the good news. And she is squeezing my hand, if she has to answer yes she had to squeeze twice, once for no. Everyday her condition is improving. Unfortunately we were assigned in a different ward, I wasn't able to see her come out in A comma. Even though my duty is not in ICU, I always go there to asked my clinical instructor if she's still there. And then after two days my former instructor said that she is in a ward and just recovering and hopefully to be discharged. After that incident, I totally embrace the NURSING PROFESSION with all my heart. I love it, I love taking care of people specially in their vulnerable situation. I love the feeling of seeing them being discharged and be with their family. Their simple "thank you", it's overwhelming for me. Now I am an RN and proud to be one!!! Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:36:54 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/14-neonatal-nurse-saves-infant-s-life This is a story I read about in the book "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. I thought it was a really inspirational example of stepping outside our "proper place" when we are passionate about something. The nurse was working in the neonatal intensive-care unit where newborns with serious health problems are treated and monitored. She'd been watching one baby in particular for several hours, and she didn't like what she was seeing. His color, a key indicator of potential problems, had been fluctuating -- wavering between a healthy shade of pink and a duller, more troublesome hue. Suddenly, within a matter of seconds, the baby turned a deep blue-black. The nurse's stomach fell. Others in the ICU yelled for an X-ray technician and a doctor. The gathering medical team was operating on the assumption that the baby's lung had collapsed, a common problem for babies on ventilators. The team prepared for the typical response to a collapsed lung, which involves piercing the chest and inserting a tube to suck the air from around the collapsed lung, allowing it to reinflate. But the nurse thought it was a heart problem. As soon as she saw the baby's color -- that awful blue-black -- she suspected a pneumopericardium, a condition in which air fills the sac surrounding the heart, pressing inward and preventing the heart from beating. The nurse was terrified, because the last time she witnessed a pneumopericardium the baby died before the problem would even be diagnosed. The nurse tried to stop the frantic preparations to treat the lung. "It's the heart!" she said. But in response the other medical personnel pointed to the heart monitor, which showed that the baby's heart was fine; his heart rate was bouncing along steadily, at the normal newborn rate of 130 beats per minute. The nurse, still insistent, pushed their hands away and screamed for quiet as she lowered a stethoscope to check for a heartbeat. There was no sound -- the heart was not beating. She started doing compressions on the baby's chest. The chief neonatologist burst into the room and the nurse slapped a syringe in his hand. "It's a pneumopericardium," she said. "Stick the heart." The X-ray technician, who was finally receiving results from his scan, confirmed the nurse's diagnosis. The neonatologist guided the syringe into the heart and slowly released the air that had been strangling the baby's heart. The baby's life was saved. His color slowly returned to normal. Later, the group realized why the heart monitor misled them. It is designed to measure electrical activity, not actual heartbeats. The baby's heart nerves were firing -- telling the heart to beat at the appropriate rate -- but the air in the sac around the heart prevented the heart from actually beating. Only when the nurse used the stethoscope -- so she could hear whether the heart was pumping correctly -- did it become clear that his heart had stopped. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:32:35 -0500 http://www.rnstories.com/posts/show/13-holy-water Here's a good one! I noticed a little bottle of what looked like water on my elderly female patient's bedside table. I inquired as to what it was. She said, "Oh, that's holy water...why don't you take that--you need it more than I do". I wasn't sure if I should have been honored or offended!?! Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:41:43 -0500