Life of a Nurse in the Real World - Essay Example

Nursing in the Real World Florence Nightingale the founder of modern nursing expressed her meaning of nursing as “the goal of nursing is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him primarily by altering the environment” (top-career-resumes.com, 2005). In my opinion, while physicians take care of a patients physical well being, nurses play important roles of consolers, comforters and counselors. Patients are more comfortable to share their true feelings with a nurse than their physicians. As a nurse provides care to patients, I feel that nurses are perhaps the best friend of a patient. No matter what patients are going through, theyre always there to thank you. These are the basic reasons that motivate me to be and continue to grow in this profession. In this paper I would like to put my hectic experience as a nurse and how the team work helped me. It’s a typical Monday night and our census is high. We have twenty four beds, all of which were occupied and four of them were sent to the pediatric ward. Of the total twenty eight patients, twelve were postoperative surgeries cases which include complex spines, total hips and knees surgeries and couple of ORIF’s demanding special care. Each registered nurse in our team has five patients. In addition, due to overcrowding the charge nurse also have three patients. I was in charge of two fresh postoperative patients, one who is a 45 year old male who had the ORIF of right ankle and another a 77 year old female who is a status post posterior lumbar interbody fusion who was shifted to one of the pediatric unit room. The other patients that I was in-charge included a second day status post simple spine surgeries, and a 55 year old male with a diagnosis of ETOH abuse. Once I finished the inter-shift report, I realized that it is going to be a busy night. I normally start my shift by looking at the central oxinet monitor in the nurse’s station to reassure myself that my fresh postoperative patients are hooked up to the oxinet. Surprisingly, I noticed that my patient who is located in the pediatric unit is not on the central oxinet monitor, and I immediately went to the room to assess the patient. As a finish my assessment, I went back to supply room to look for an oxinet machine but unfortunately, there is no available oxinet machine at this time. The unit secretary contacted the central supply unit requesting for the machine but they informed that they have only the portable oxinet available. The problem with the portable oxinet is that it cannot be centrally monitored in the nurse’s station, but requires frequent visual check and needs to be close to the nurses station to hear the alarm for any abnormal values. While my charge nurse helped me by asking all her nurses to reassess their respective patient and check which patient could be put on the portable oxinet. One of the nurses suggested transferring her patient close to the nurse’s station so she can use the portable oxinet. She then cleans the central oxinet monitor as soon as she received the portable one and hooks it to my patient right away. I was very pleased with her effort in making the changes. It was almost two o’clock in the morning and my patient who just had the ORIF of right ankle was still complaining of severe pain even after using PCA dilaudid and giving him the maximum dose of boluses. I found that my patient was very anxious and yet was feeling very sorry that he was troubling me as I tried to do everything I can to keep him comfortable. As time passed his pain also aggravated. I found that the incision site was red, swollen and very warmth to touch. I called my charge nurse to reassess my patient and I immediately notified the surgeon thru the exchange. While my charge nurse started preparing consent forms and preoperative checklist with the anticipation for emergency surgery, the surgeon called back and I informed him my assessment and the situation. He right away told me to prepare him for surgery. At this point of time, I got help from one of the registered nurses who took over of my other patient while I was preparing my patient for surgery. In the meantime, I went straight to my patient and inform him that his surgeon is on his way and will take a look at the situation. My patient started crying out of his pain and said that he can no longer bear the pain that he is experiencing. I felt really helpless when all the medication that I administered to him was not effective, so I started to rub his back and talk to him and started distracting him. He was distracted for a while and started telling me how grateful he was for having me as his nurse. I feel that nurses are perhaps the best friend of a patient. No matter what patients are going through, theyre always there to thank you. Despite the ineffectiveness of the treatment I rendered him, he appreciated my endless effort. I was really overwhelmed by his words. He eventually went for emergency surgical treatment known as fasciotomy. At the end of my shift, I was exhausted and yet relieved. I had a feeling of real satisfaction as a nurse. In general, the whole orthopedic unit and staffs are busy. Nurses are busy all night from passing medicine, infusing blood from orthopat, changing PCA dilaudid syringes, hanging antibiotics as well as dressing changes. In addition they are also busy with doing there part in making the patients feel comfortable whether changing the diaper, log rolling patient on their side or assisting them in ambulating. I feel really blessed to be working with this group of nurses. On this particular night, I was able to witness the dedication, hard work, empathy in each of these nurses. Getting through each night in our unit is a team effort. This experience taught me to be involved by helping my patient as well as my co workers. The effort in continuously providing the best care to our patient is such a rewarding feeling. Nursing as a profession can be both emotionally challenging and rewarding, but I am encouraged to work with this team as I know that my co worker and charge nurse is always present to support me with her helping hands. And for a patient to say thank you and appreciate you feels great and makes you do not feel exhausted after all. Nursing involves the care of people throughout the continuum of life and provides an essential service to humankind. Reference top-career-resumes.com, (2005) Nursing Jobs - Hot Employment Prospects for Nurses, Retrieved on 4 June 2007 from http://www.top-career-resumes.com/nursing-jobs.html. Read More