sneak peeks of hospital life
I don't know if people always appreciate the interesting situations that can happen in a hospital. I work to remedy that.
I think I've mentioned that sometimes patients are really talkative. Unless there's a language barrier or a mechanical barrier (like a tracheostomy or laryngectomy, but sometimes they talk despite the hindrance), people just TALK. Stress relief, social interaction, mental stimulation....So the story. When I received my patient at shift change, he was sleeping, which can be deceiving on how the day is going to go. I walked in again later in the morning, and he was talking very animatedly with the Physician's Assistant about fish from Asia and GMOs. When the PA got out of the room, she told me that the surgery was difficult because he came into the operating room and he wouldn't stop talking, so the surgeons had to wait a while before intubating him. Oh, I thought, that's the day I'm going to have. Yup. Next time I went in, I learned about how where he comes from, people just insert a lot of cuss words everywhere to get the point across. I learned about the staple length variation in cotton. I learned that you do not try to rope a bull when he's standing near the fence in case he jumps it, and you then have to catch the bull AND fix the fence. I learned he worked with a lot of country singers. I learned where his wife's family came from. I learned where his doctor's family came from. I learned what his relatives did. I heard about his experiences at the clinic. I heard about the high-tech machinery that's on a farm, that would put hospital imaging equipment to shame (no comment here. I haven't seen enough of either to judge).Really, I'm amazed with all I heard in the time I was there. I don't think I spent more time there than in my other patients' rooms; it was just far more concentrated interaction.
Not all blog-worthy scenarios are just from my observation; I've had some that are my fault. I helped out another nurse the other day when one of his patients said she was nauseated. I started to use the IV, but it wasn't working anymore. Since the patient had good odds of going home within 24 hours, I thought it'd be nice to skip placing another IV, and decided to page the doctor for oral nausea medication. Normally, we don't give oral nausea meds because, well, if you're nauseated, you're likely to throw the pill back up. But she said she could hold it down, so that's the route to go. I got the order for the pill, and then I got the pill, and then I took the pill to the patient's room; but while I was opening the pill package, it flipped out and landed on the floor. So I said, "Hang on a sec" and got another pill. The family commented, "So the 5 second rule doesn't apply to hospitals?" Yeah, I'd strongly advise against it.
I think I've mentioned that sometimes patients are really talkative. Unless there's a language barrier or a mechanical barrier (like a tracheostomy or laryngectomy, but sometimes they talk despite the hindrance), people just TALK. Stress relief, social interaction, mental stimulation....So the story. When I received my patient at shift change, he was sleeping, which can be deceiving on how the day is going to go. I walked in again later in the morning, and he was talking very animatedly with the Physician's Assistant about fish from Asia and GMOs. When the PA got out of the room, she told me that the surgery was difficult because he came into the operating room and he wouldn't stop talking, so the surgeons had to wait a while before intubating him. Oh, I thought, that's the day I'm going to have. Yup. Next time I went in, I learned about how where he comes from, people just insert a lot of cuss words everywhere to get the point across. I learned about the staple length variation in cotton. I learned that you do not try to rope a bull when he's standing near the fence in case he jumps it, and you then have to catch the bull AND fix the fence. I learned he worked with a lot of country singers. I learned where his wife's family came from. I learned where his doctor's family came from. I learned what his relatives did. I heard about his experiences at the clinic. I heard about the high-tech machinery that's on a farm, that would put hospital imaging equipment to shame (no comment here. I haven't seen enough of either to judge).Really, I'm amazed with all I heard in the time I was there. I don't think I spent more time there than in my other patients' rooms; it was just far more concentrated interaction.
Not all blog-worthy scenarios are just from my observation; I've had some that are my fault. I helped out another nurse the other day when one of his patients said she was nauseated. I started to use the IV, but it wasn't working anymore. Since the patient had good odds of going home within 24 hours, I thought it'd be nice to skip placing another IV, and decided to page the doctor for oral nausea medication. Normally, we don't give oral nausea meds because, well, if you're nauseated, you're likely to throw the pill back up. But she said she could hold it down, so that's the route to go. I got the order for the pill, and then I got the pill, and then I took the pill to the patient's room; but while I was opening the pill package, it flipped out and landed on the floor. So I said, "Hang on a sec" and got another pill. The family commented, "So the 5 second rule doesn't apply to hospitals?" Yeah, I'd strongly advise against it.
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