October 5th,
2012
To My Third Week
of Nursing School,
Wow…I’m already 25% done with the
first semester of nursing school! I find it crazy how fast time has flown by.
School is beginning to become more and more hectic and it’s hard keeping all of
our assignments and exams for each class in check. Most of the students are
anxious about next week’s pathophysiology exam and the feeling is extremely
contagious. I’m constantly re-compiling a list of
what is due just to make sure that I don’t miss anything. I’m not sure if this
is my stress shining through or if I’m just trying to avoid the inevitable of
studying for pathophysiology. I swear that my stress level skyrockets whenever
I open that book.
Anyways, since I talked about my
second off-campus clinical already I figured I would address some thoughts that
came to mind yesterday in my Professional Nursing class. I felt that the whole
discussion about the heart of nursing was too over the top and unrealistic. In
theory, the concepts covered may sound wonderful, but in practice it is very
difficult to uphold that mindset. I do agree though that every patient that
comes in is another opportunity to meet someone new and another opportunity for
me to make an impact on the patient/resident and vice versa. When discussing
this topic, I thought back to a couple months ago when I was still attending my
nursing aide clinicals. I remember many of the residents’ faces and remember
the names of exactly four individuals who I will probably remember for the rest
of my life. In a time span of a month, I became attached to these four
residents, more than I had ever expected. For example, there was a resident
that I was assigned to one morning who was known to curse out anyone who would
try and give him a bed bath or shower. After performing the task, I disregarded
all the rumors I had heard. Sure, the resident was “difficult” but by
thoroughly explaining to the resident what I was going to do to help him with
every step of the way, he became noticeably calmer and stopped cursing. After
completing my task the patient said “Am I all straightened out now?” and
apologized and thanked me for my help. That “difficult” patient was by far my
favorite patient to deal with and in fact I frequently asked if I could work
with him. I constantly wonder how the residents in that nursing home are doing,
and whether they are still going strong. I believe it is going to take some
getting used to, this whole meeting and leaving patients that we have the honor
of coming into contact with.
Goodbye Third
Week of Nursing School,
Clos3tGirlyGirl
