I can not believe another week has already gone by! Two of the three days this week were actually half days so we were expected to finish everything by about 10:30am allowing ourselves time for any other procedures throughout the day. On Monday, sure enough I had Mrs. P again but she actually seemed to be a lot more pleasant (maybe she had gotten used to seeing my face?). Along with Mrs. P I was taking care of an elderly male who was very dependent on me for his activities of daily living (feeding, bathing, grooming, etc.). He also appeared to be in some distress as I first walked into his room. In fact, all throughout the day he seemed to be in and out of utter confusion and complete understanding of all things going on around him. I was shocked until I looked through his chart and found he had a quite the history of “brain stuff” going on, including bipolar disorder, autism, and dementia-so that explained a lot. The only exciting nursing thing I was able to do was check Mrs. P’s blood glucose-which is becoming second nature, believe it or not! In post conference on Monday, Mrs. Shaff allowed us to select our patient for the next day and I was so excited to chose the sweet nana I took care of the following Wednesday. My Tuesday went by very quickly considering I was just visiting with her all morning until about 10:45am. Visiting while feeding, bathing, grooming, changing her bed linen, and watching the price is right-hey, nursing school isn’t too bad after all! Although she seemed much quieter that morning, she has been so appreciative of my time and it feels so great knowing I have made her day just even a tiny bit better. Just sitting with someone, even if it is in silence at times, can make all the difference in the world to someone. I am glad to have taken care of her one more day. I was a little upset by her feelings that not much is going on with her plan of care-she expressed feeling like no one was doing much with her; she hadn’t seen a respiratory therapist or physical therapist in days. I took it upon my own initiative to help her exercise her legs as she was able to use free weights to exercise her arms. On Wednesday, I was also just assigned one patient who actually happened to be the younger woman with chronic pain I had cared for during Week Four. To my surprise, she seemed to be feeling much better! I spoke with her nurse and the doctors had been weaning her off many of the pain medications she had been taking so regularly. I walked in and introduced myself and she looked me in the eyes and was just about to begin eating breakfast as I asked her how she slept last night. She told me she was unable to sleep well because the woman in the bed next to her was admitted late last night and the whole process had kept her awake, along with the chronic pain, of course! Even with that said, the mere fact she was able to communicate that much to me was telling me she was feeling better with decreased narcotic dependency, which was great! She ended up being very dependent throughout the morning, able to feed her self, use the bedside commode, and reposition as needed. Throughout the morning we talked a bit more here and there and I found out she had a fourteen year old son, she is frequently visited my her mother along with her fiancé, and compared to her admit date she has been feeling great lately-all very good news. The woman in the bed next to her was admitted for liver failure, this was noticeable by her jaundiced skin (yellow in color) and sclera. She had been a heavy drinker for quite some time and it finally caught up to her. She also had an extreme amount of fluid build up in the peritoneal cavity (abdominal region), which is called ascites. A nasogastric tube was set up for suctioning which was pretty cool to see. I was able to assist the other nurse in turning and repositioning this patient and she was so sweet during each procedure. I witnessed one doctor being so kind and gentle with her and she looked at me once he had left the room and she said “boy, he was awful kind.” Another CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) who had worked in the field for 30 years was very quick and almost abrupt in each movement and I could tell she felt uncomfortable with his care so I tried to be as gentle and reassuring as possible. I think it is really important as a nurse, or rather nursing student, to always be a patient advocate. Sometimes-well, majority of times at Kindred-patient’s aren’t in the position to verbalize their thoughts and feelings and I think it is really important to pick up on body language and really try to help them feel comfortable and safe at all times. Right as I was saying goodbye to my patient for the day, I saw that the lady next door (this whole not using name things is getting more and more difficult-sorry for the round about statements!) was crying to her visitor about something-I assume the overwhelming feelings of being admitted to a new hospital and being poked and prodded by dozens of people all morning-it wasn’t even noon yet! I can not imagine being in her position; I hope her visitor was able to comfort her and maybe I will get lucky enough to take care of her next week. I believe it is about time to crack open that anatomy and physiology book and study fluid-electrolyte balance! Good night!
Katie VNSROP
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