Archives for December, 2006
I was fresh out of nursing school and had a patient connected to nasogastric suction due to a bowel obstruction. I walked in and introduced myself and made some smalltalk in order to assess the patient’s mentation and to see if we were going to have a good day or not.
Trying to maintain a brave front while having a good sized tube shoved up one’s nose and down into one’s stomach is pretty hard, but the patient was attempting to be as pleasant as possible.
I asked if there was anything that I could do to make him more comfortable. Of course, the first response was his begging me to take the tubing out. I told him that it was up to the doctor and that I would be back to check on him in a little while.
The rest of my rounds went well and I had just walked back into the patient’s room and was standing at the side of his bed checking the connections to the NG tube when a visitor walked in. The patient suddenly sat straight up, turned his head toward me, turned toward the visitor and then suddenly erupted green bile all the way to the wall opposite of him.
The look of total shock on the visitor’s face as they shot out of the room was priceless. Picture the movie The Exorcist and amplify it by 100 times. The patient was profusely apologizing to me and I told him that it was okay and not to worry.
All the while in my head I’m thinking to myself.. Thank goodness I wasn’t standing at the foot of the bed. It would have been a real pukefest! I got him cleaned up and then cleaned up the room. As I headed out of the room, he said in a tired voice..
I don’t think I want any more visitors today.
Things like this just shouldn’t happen. Lesson learned that day.. ALWAYS check to see if the NG tubing is actually sucking!
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Just wanted to wish all of my readers a very merry Christmas. I am enjoying my time off between semesters. I really needed some time off to rejuvenate with my family.
I hope everyone has a safe holiday season. I look forward to catching up on some blog reading in the next few weeks.
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I found this post and thought it was very moving. I couldn’t find a way to post a link directly to the story so I copied it here. Please visit and say hello.
The Difference Between Life, Death, and Drug Seekers
When you come into the ER yelling, moaning, and twisting in agony because you have a sprained ankle - I will hate you. Why will I hate you? I will hate you because the man in the next stretcher is dying of an excruciatingly painful form of cancer, yet he is silent. He is silent, and dignified, and asking for pain medicine “when you can get to it dear. It’s really not a big hurry. I’ve been dealing with this for 6 months now.” You, on the other hand, are screaming at me to “hurry up and get my f**king morphine b**ch! I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes now! I’m in pain, ya hear me? I’m in f**king pain!”. Yes, that is why I will hate you.
The difference between life pain and death pain has amazed me more than once. The man who threw his back out hauling cement blocks is begging for relief, while the woman who is here on hospice respite and is probably going to die in the next 2 or 3 hours is calmly waiting for her turn on the IV morphine train. The woman with a knife in her leg is screaming like she is dying, but the man who is actually dying next door - he just wants his family close so he can say goodbye.
I don’t understand it. I’m not sure I want to. I just want people to respect the fact that someone having a bigger crisis than them may be in the bed next to them. And I may be needed more over there. I probably won’t respond quickly to you if you scream at me to get your pain medicine. I will be busy with the man next door who is passing from this world. His problem supercedes yours. Your pain may last longer - but you’ll still be alive at the end of it. He won’t.
Now I’m not saying that all people in pain are whiners. I’m not saying that if you come in complaining of pain I will roll my eyes, take a deep breath, and say, “Whatever - come on back.” I will believe you are in pain. I will treat your pain as able. I will be respectful to you as a human being. The moment you start screaming and cussing at me - you’ve lost me and my respect. The moment you disrupt every other patient in the ER by demanding your “f**king morphine” you will have lost me.
Pain is subjective. Reactions to pain can be controlled. Most of the time.
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This is a test to see how the new Google Docs works! I’m always looking for ways to post to the blog other than my own computer at home. I also have documents on my computer that I want to see if I can download to the site without having to type it into Blogger directly. I am also testing whether a picture will post correctly.
I had a very productive thesis meeting yesterday in Tallahassee. I am working on my data collection tool and awaiting approval from my data collection site. Once those happen, I have to finish my IRB form and my HIPPA waiver form and send those to campus.
I applied for graduation in the Spring. Seems hard to believe that it is almost here. I picked up a copy of the final semester’s syllabus and it looks to be just as busy. That’s going to be a pain but it’s doable.
Some revisions need to be made to my thesis and then I will be able to take a few weeks off before starting the new semester in Jan.
Boy, I’m tired already…
By Tracie Mauriello, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG — Nurse practitioners soon could play a bigger role in health care in Pennsylvania.
Gov. Ed Rendell wants to revamp healthcare in Pennsylvania, starting with a change in regulations that restrict treatment by nurse practitioners, who charge less than physicians.
Mr. Rendell expects to unveil a plan in January, but he provided a glimpse yesterday during his traditional year-end news conference.
“The test for us is, are we going to have the intestinal fortitude to look down the barrel of special interests and say, ‘Uh-uh guys, not this time. Health care is too important of an issue,” Mr. Rendell said.
“I want to free nurse practitioners to do anything they are capable of doing,” Mr. Rendell said.
To read the rest of the story.. Click
This is very important to Pennsylvania NPs. I’m all for expansion of practice but I still believe that we should continue to collaborate with doctors in order to provide excellent care for our patients. I know that many NPs would like to sever the connection, but I think that it’s important to have someone to discuss complicated cases with. Maybe my opinion will change in the future when I have more experience, but I’ll have to see.
This is a great article regarding the importance of listening to patients. It is the number one reason why nurse practitioner satisfaction ratings are higher than physicians. It points to our extended hours of active listening training as we go through nursing school and into practice before we become practitioners.
Click on the title to read the whole article. Enjoy!
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