In January, I put ICU nursing behind me. I spent almost 2 years in the cardiac ICU and was ready for a change. I haven't stayed in any one area of nursing for more than a year since I became a nurse in 2009. Truth be told, ICU nursing started to take a toll on my nerves the second I walked through the door. It had it's good moments. In fact, if it weren't for the mandated 12 hour shifts at that particular hospital, I'd probably still be there. There are very few things I can do consecutively for 12 hours and slaving away in an ICU is not high on my list. Eight hours might have been doable.
In my quest for a new lifestyle, I took a job in the recovery room of a women and children't hospital. I may walk into work and have my first patient be a screaming baby or a woman who's just had a hysterectomy. Unlike open heart surgery, my patients wake up already extubated and pleasantly groggy. I feel like I was a nurse in the civil war and have just accepted a new post in Disneyland. It's pretty fantastic.
Another big change is the amount of hours I'll be working. Instead of 3 twelve hour shifts, I'm now working one or two 10 hour shifts. The plan is to work more on the farm. And with three dogs and 7 chickens there's a lot of upkeep around here.
I was a little worried my new job was going to be too boring. It's not. Although it's a women and children's hospital, we do occasionally get some male patients. For some reason there is an eye surgeon who prefers our operating room. Also, some men come in for gastric bypasses. Yesterday my patient was waking up after having his retina reattached. The nurse next to me had just warned me that the men tend to be more combative when they wake up and they recently needed six security guards to hold one down. Having recently left a job where I frequently recovered men fresh from surgery, without any such incidents, I wasn't too worried.
My patient was moving around on the stretcher. "What's your name?", he asked in a dreamy, eerily peaceful voice.
"I'm Mrs. Blue, I'm your nurse in the recovery room, your surgery is all done, it went great", I told him.
"Mrs. Blue, are you open with your husband?" I ignored him. "Do you give yourself to your husband Mrs. Blue?"
Holy crap! Here was the only man in the women's hospital acting like a total creep.
"We're not going to discuss that." I curtly responded. He may have been groggy from anesthesia, but that didn't mean I had to let him in on my personal business.
"O.K. Mrs. Blue. You have good boundaries."
Fuckin' right I do buddy, thanks to dudes like you! I kept this initial thought to myself, and nicely thanked him. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt as he was in a semi drugged state. And I do have to admit that I pride myself on my well honed boundaries. I worked hard to develop them.
As he woke up more, he apologized. He explained that he was a therapist. He worked with couples and with drug addicted doctors, nurses and preachers. I guess as he woke up he thought he was at work. In his sedated state he told me how much he loved his job and helping people. I believed him. After all, he woke up from surgery trying to get back to work. We ended up chatting a bit (not about my husband) and having a good old time in our hour together. I wheeled him in his stretcher to his room and met his wife who he had told me about. She too, seemed kind to the core. I left them both with a good feeling in my gut.
Back in the recovery room my coworker's patient was in a full blown state of anxiety about her pain and the narcotics ordered to treat it. "You won't stop breathing if I give you some morphine. I'm right here beside you", the nurse attempted to allay her patient's concerns to no avail. The nurse needed help transporting the anxious woman to her room so I provided a helping hand. We traveled through the halls and up to the patient's room. With the door closed the patient confessed that she felt terrible being on the receiving end of narcotics. "I investigate fraud" she told us. "I think very poorly of people who use these kinds of drugs, and now I'm in a position where I need to take them". The other nurse kindly explained that she wouldn't become addicted by using the drugs to get over her post surgical pain. I bit my tongue wanting to tell her that maybe she'll be less judgmental in the future. In reality it was my turn to not be judgmental and was my job to exercise compassion for her. So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and hoped that in the future she'd exercise a little more compassion for those she investigated.
Focusing on the good in people rather than the bad is better for all involved. These little exercises are also important to living a less stressed life. Instead of jumping to my first instinct of writing someone off as a jerk or a creep I can flex my muscles of compassion and hope that others do the same.
In my quest for a new lifestyle, I took a job in the recovery room of a women and children't hospital. I may walk into work and have my first patient be a screaming baby or a woman who's just had a hysterectomy. Unlike open heart surgery, my patients wake up already extubated and pleasantly groggy. I feel like I was a nurse in the civil war and have just accepted a new post in Disneyland. It's pretty fantastic.
Another big change is the amount of hours I'll be working. Instead of 3 twelve hour shifts, I'm now working one or two 10 hour shifts. The plan is to work more on the farm. And with three dogs and 7 chickens there's a lot of upkeep around here.
I was a little worried my new job was going to be too boring. It's not. Although it's a women and children's hospital, we do occasionally get some male patients. For some reason there is an eye surgeon who prefers our operating room. Also, some men come in for gastric bypasses. Yesterday my patient was waking up after having his retina reattached. The nurse next to me had just warned me that the men tend to be more combative when they wake up and they recently needed six security guards to hold one down. Having recently left a job where I frequently recovered men fresh from surgery, without any such incidents, I wasn't too worried.
My patient was moving around on the stretcher. "What's your name?", he asked in a dreamy, eerily peaceful voice.
"I'm Mrs. Blue, I'm your nurse in the recovery room, your surgery is all done, it went great", I told him.
"Mrs. Blue, are you open with your husband?" I ignored him. "Do you give yourself to your husband Mrs. Blue?"
Holy crap! Here was the only man in the women's hospital acting like a total creep.
"We're not going to discuss that." I curtly responded. He may have been groggy from anesthesia, but that didn't mean I had to let him in on my personal business.
"O.K. Mrs. Blue. You have good boundaries."
Fuckin' right I do buddy, thanks to dudes like you! I kept this initial thought to myself, and nicely thanked him. I had to give him the benefit of the doubt as he was in a semi drugged state. And I do have to admit that I pride myself on my well honed boundaries. I worked hard to develop them.
As he woke up more, he apologized. He explained that he was a therapist. He worked with couples and with drug addicted doctors, nurses and preachers. I guess as he woke up he thought he was at work. In his sedated state he told me how much he loved his job and helping people. I believed him. After all, he woke up from surgery trying to get back to work. We ended up chatting a bit (not about my husband) and having a good old time in our hour together. I wheeled him in his stretcher to his room and met his wife who he had told me about. She too, seemed kind to the core. I left them both with a good feeling in my gut.
Back in the recovery room my coworker's patient was in a full blown state of anxiety about her pain and the narcotics ordered to treat it. "You won't stop breathing if I give you some morphine. I'm right here beside you", the nurse attempted to allay her patient's concerns to no avail. The nurse needed help transporting the anxious woman to her room so I provided a helping hand. We traveled through the halls and up to the patient's room. With the door closed the patient confessed that she felt terrible being on the receiving end of narcotics. "I investigate fraud" she told us. "I think very poorly of people who use these kinds of drugs, and now I'm in a position where I need to take them". The other nurse kindly explained that she wouldn't become addicted by using the drugs to get over her post surgical pain. I bit my tongue wanting to tell her that maybe she'll be less judgmental in the future. In reality it was my turn to not be judgmental and was my job to exercise compassion for her. So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and hoped that in the future she'd exercise a little more compassion for those she investigated.
Focusing on the good in people rather than the bad is better for all involved. These little exercises are also important to living a less stressed life. Instead of jumping to my first instinct of writing someone off as a jerk or a creep I can flex my muscles of compassion and hope that others do the same.
That's pretty funny! But also insightful. Is work always on the front of everyone's mind or just his??
ReplyDeleteHe was particularly into his job. It was more of a life calling for him.
ReplyDeleteSo true! The purely twins posted about how to receive negativity from others recently. Kinda the same topic as you are discussing here. They were saying that so often, when people give us shit, it has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with them. As a hypersensitive spazz with anxiety disorder, this means a lot to me. And with what you are saying here - we should always be kind. Not just because it's what's good for others, but because it's good for us too. (I totally just stole that from Pinterest haha)
ReplyDelete