Forever alone

Sometimes I feel “forever alone” when I am around non-nursing people. As a nurse I get to be a part of something amazing. I’ll always be proud I am a nurse. I don’t feel like my profession makes me better than anyone else. I do feel like my profession changed me.

I have seen death first hand.

I have had to hold back tears while a family kisses their 16 year old goodbye. I have watched a person suffer in the ICU because the family guilted them into remainding a full code, and endure multiple surgeries that ultimately wouldn’t fix anything, until they finally passed away in that bed. I have watched families lose hope as the transplanted organ fails. I have had to comfort patients after a devastating diagnosis.

I have had my ass handed to me at work.

I have worked 12 straight hours without being able to eat or even stop to pee. I have dealt with physical and emotional abuse at the hands of patients and their loved ones. I have been talked down to by medical professionals that feel they are above me thanks to a difference in degrees.

I hold it all in when I’m with family and non nursing friends. When people say my job is “easy” since I work nights and everyone is asleep, I just laugh. When people are certain I’m “paid” because nurses make “so much money”, I just stare blankly. I listen to people complain about their jobs intently while they dismiss my complaints because I knew nursing was hard.

It can make you feel alone.

It’s not all family members and not all non-nursing friends but enough to make me not talk about my job unless I am talking to a select few. It’s why the nursing community is so INVALUABLE to me. We can swap stories about the worst of the worst. We can laugh about some seriously dark sh*t with no judgment! We understand each other. The nursing community keeps me from feeling “forever alone”. Sometimes we are all we’ve got 😁!

Good morning to you too 😒

Hi management, how are you? It’s nice to see you all bright eyed and bushy tailed. You’re coming off of a full nights sleep. You have quite a bit of energy huh? Sure you do. 

I don’t.

I just finished 12 hours of getting my ass handed to me. I’ve done two CT trips tonight. I got a sh*t show from the OR. I got yelled at by a doc for labs not sent from the previous shift. I finally ate this morning at 5 am and that was at the desk. 

You would know this if you came in and asked me how the night was instead of complaining about the cup at the desk without a lid. No, I haven’t read the email you sent because I haven’t had the time. Yes, the EKG machine is sitting outside a room. You know what else is outside that room? The code cart. It’s been that kind of night… But you wouldn’t know that because instead of inquiring about your staff you came in with complaints.

Maybe, just maybe you could say “good morning” first. Maybe you could take 10 extra seconds to get a feel for the unit and how the night was. Maybe you can look at what we accomplished instead of what we missed. Maybe you could manage to come in with a little positivity… Maybe….

Unprepared

What’s the one thing you wish they would have taught you in nursing school?

For me, it’s definitely time management. I feel like nursing school and the NCLEX gave me this belief that I would have all the time in the world to do everything I needed to do for each of my patients. WRONG! I have 12 hours to provide my patient(s) with the best care possible. That’s it. 12 hours. It sounds like such a long time but sick ICU patient or 5 med/surg patients can take that whole 12 hours and then some. 

It was a big reality check for me when I first hit the floor after graduating. My first nursing job was in a very busy med/surg unit at a level one trauma center. I rarely had less than five patients. I went out on the floor with the idea that I could spend ample time with each patient and still get all my charting done and have my meds passed on time. LIES! ALL LIES! WEB OF LIES! I was one of the ones left behind charting long after my shift was done because I just didn’t have the time management thing down. It took me a little while to understand that I needed to learn to prioritize what was important. Before I could stop and chat with one patient, I needed to have seen all of my patients. I needed to learn how to delegate to my care tech some of the small things so I could do the big things. 

I just wasn’t prepared for nursing in the real world. I was lucky that I had an amazing set of preceptors to teach me how to actually be a nurse. 



Web MD is the thorn in nursing’s side

Web MD is the devil. It is the bane of nursing’s existence. There is almost nothing worse than a patient that has researched their symptoms on Web MD and knows what they have. Thank you for that. Really…

It’s cancer. It’s always cancer.

Somehow the cough that you have isn’t a cold. It isn’t even an upper respiratory infection. It’s lung cancer… with mets… to all the organs ever… because Web MD said so. Even better, we nurses just love when you argue with us on the fact that Web MD can’t actually give you a definitive diagnosis.

Look, people, I know being sick is scary. I know you want to know what’s wrong as quickly as possible. Web MD is not a doctor. Yes, “MD” is in the name but the website is NOT a doctor. The symptoms you are having are generic and could probably apply to anything. You really haven’t figured out what you have, you have just freaked yourself out. Now you are paranoid and plotting out your funeral.

Stop.

Step away from your computer. Pick up the phone. Schedule a doctor’s appointment. Get a real diagnosis. Please.