i had a terrible day yesterday. the department of health and JACHO was in our hospital making sure we do everything the "textbook-right-and-safe" way. so each nurse on the floor was being followed by a department of health associate, checking how we dispose the injections, following the sterile procedures correctly, and if we prepare the right medication with the right dose and if we make sure we double check before we give it to the right patient. in addition to that, they asked too many irrelevant questions. "what does code purple mean? what's the code for chemical spill? if it's a semiprivate room and you have two patients in the room, and they are both getting wet dressings, and all their supplies were there, how do you know which stuff is which? how do you practice "confidentiality and privacy?" (answers: 1. child abduction 2. code orange ( was that necessary? ) 3. err, duh, we label them with patient's name? 4. we label with initials only. we do not talk about the patient outside the ward, we cover them entirely during procedures and expose ONLY the parts we will directly treat, we make sure their charts are protected and ONLY licensed personnels who are working with the patients have access to it.
in addition to that, i had 12 patients ( i normally have 7), 6 out of twelve were bedridden ( very dependent, total care, trach patients, total hip surgery patients, terminally ill ( just-counting-the-minutes), post surgery and pre - op, AIDS...rrr...you name it!!!!). that doesn't stop there. i had three admissions ( one for abdominal surgery, one who is combative ( she came in with restraints on her wrists and a posey jacket) with ruled out psychosis and one with alcohol and drug abuse with unsteady gait but this patient kept wandering on the room that i had to get an order to get restraints.).
now, all in all, i have 12 + 3 patients = 15.
now, listened to this. one of my coworker tried to lift a patient and landed on the wrong foot, and twisted her hip. when i got to her, she was sweating profusedly so i called our emergency room if i can take her there. so i did. so she needed to be replaced. but we could not find anyoen that could take over her. there was three of us to 12 patients each and then now, one is gone so my other coworker and i had to split the 12 patients that she had.
are we doing our maths? before the incident, i had 15 patients ( as i said, i normally have 7). so, 15 + 6 = 21 patients.
i was literally running from room to room to attend to their needs: pain medications for sickle cell anemia patients( they asked for it eveyr goddamn hour), cooling measures and fever reducing measures for post op patients with elevated temperature, monitor vital signs for hypertensive patients and give them meds if blood pressure arise, dressing changes for wounds and bedsores, i had to go through contact isolation rooms ( which means: i have to wear the isolation gown, the mask, the gloves), then i have AIDS patients that i have to completely have to be careful because i am drawing blood works on them, then i have patients with tracheaostomy that i needed to suction intermitently, and then i have a blood transfusion going all at the same time.
i felt as if i was on ER. i 'm not! i was on the medical surgical floor.
going from room to room, i realized i needed to not just give my treatments and my medications but also talk and get to know my patients. i was gilty of being busy that i gave up my two fifteen minutes break just to talk to my patients. i thought i finished talking to all my patients when i realized i forgot to go to the isolation room. this patient refused a surgery that she was usppose to go through that day and i needed to asked her what went wrong when she agreed the day before that. i went in, introduced myself. she told me she could not see me because she was legally blind. i held her hand and i told her i was there to listen when she is ready to talk about what she is feeling regarding this whole procedure and her hospital stay. she cried to me telling me she was not ready and prepared but she also knew she must do it. but she just needed to condition herself. she asked me what my name was. i said, "norilen."
she held my hand tightly. and she started praying for her...and then for me. in her prayer, she said she knew i had tons of patients to attend to and her case might be mere compared to others, but she asked that the Lord provide me with strength. that even though some times, i barely have enough time to see these patients, she uttered, she was grateful and appreciative of the attention given to her. she was thankful that i take the time to sincerely feel and attend to her concerns.
i cried. she could not see the tears in my eyes...but i cried.
there was an odd silence in her room, there was serene. the whole day pulled every veins in my muscle, and i perspired barrels of sweats and i really was dreary tiresome, about to collapse. not only was i physcially drained, but mentally, also. spiritually and emotionally, i was numb. i had not tiem to feel anything.but i forgot that my soul needs to be fed, too. and she gave me that rejuvenation. in fact, now that i think about it, i needed that.
i thanked her for a wonderful conversation. i assured her i will her i will be there when she needed me. i took out my isolation outfit and headed out to the busy and chaotic nursing ward. but now, it was strangely different. with 21 patients, i had a new smile on my face. in fact, i was more relaxed. you know when you have a great attitude and smiling, it's contagious. and that's what happened. when eveyrone else was complaining, i told my coworkers, that let's just do what we can do and not be stressed. we helped each other out with treatments and procedures. one is making sure the documents were well charted, one covered each corner, and attend to the patients there. time flew so fast without us noticing it was 9 minutes more to go and our shifts would end and we had accomplish everything.
phew. what a day!
i think my lesson for this day was: "OUT OF WEAKNESS WILL COME STRENGTH" (hebrew 11:34). amidst the chaos and hecticness of our days, we need to feel that serene. it doesn't matter if it's just a minute. in my case, it was probably just ten minutes. but it worked. it gave me a different attitude and outlook towards overcoming stress and struggle. more than that, i think she was purposedly attending to me. you know how they say, there's an angel in every person? she was my guardian angel. and she came at the peak of the moment when i was about to give up. the Lord touches us in many different strange ways. he wanted to send a message that HE is there, even if we do not notice him.
obviously, He sent me an angel yesterday to remind me to stay calm...because I can do this and that He has faith in me.
posted by pinay freestyle @ 8:15 AM
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