I guess I'm trying to make up for not posting in a while. Here are some of my most memorable work moments so far...
- A resident died on my shift. She wasn't actually my patient but I was the one who happened to be there when the respiratory therapist found her. It was sad.
- I slipped and fell on my butt. Turns out there was a huge puddle of pee on the floor. Luckily I did not fall into it. Close call.
- When I was still training, I was passing meds with my preceptor. I accidentally dropped them all on the floor. We started over and pulled up a whole new set of those meds which I then proceeded to accidentally drop on the floor again. Oopsies.
- A resident smacked me in the face when I tried to give him some nose spray.
Some things residents do/have done...
-Yesterday someone ran over someone else's foot with an electric wheelchair. Ouch
-One of my residents chants the same word over and over when he wants something. The most common- "hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry" (spoken with a Spanish accent). Other common ones include "i gotta bafroom (bathroom), i gotta bafroom, i gotta bafroom" and "sleepy, sleepy, sleepy". So cute. Sometimes a little grating too, I'll be honest.
-Another resident yells out a particular cuss word over and over when we wants something. Hee hee.
Moments when it's all worth it:
-When you give the repetitive (non-cursing) resident what he wants, he says "my friend, long time". Also, if you tell him you love him, he will say "Te amo tambien, con toda la fuerza de mi corazon" (don't get mad if I slaughtered that Spanish speakers). Rough translation: I love you too, with all the strength of my heart. Awwwwww.
-I have a couple of patients who always tell me they love it when I am working on their hall. One in particular always comes up to me when I am on the other hall and asks when I will be back on his hall.
-I overheard a resident telling his family member that he loves it when I am working because I always rub lotion on him before bed.
-When I do rounds at the start of my shift, one of my residents often says "that's my girl" to me. Once one of the other nurses asked why I'm his girl and she's not and he said it's because I wash his face every night before bed.
Sometimes I whine about going to work, and I tell myself I don't like my job, but the people there are generally so wonderful and I am blessed to get to work in this profession. It's so fun to brighten up someone's day or make someone more comfortable than they might've been if you hadn't been there.
4 comments:
Do you work in a psychiatric unit? Or do regular people curse and repeat themselves that often?
I work in a nursing home. Geriatric nursing=psych nursing.
Oh man, be careful about the whole "smacked in the face" thing. Not to sound paranoid or anything, but a close friend of our family actually died last year. She was a social worker, working with mentally ill patients, and someone hit her twice in the head very hard. She went home feeling dizzy, fell asleep, and never woke up. :(
So just be careful, k?
Otherwise, sounds like an exciting and rewarding experience. I can't imagine how great it must feel to be someone's favorite!
sounds like a very fulfilling job. how lucky all those patients are to have you there!
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