About 23 years ago I was in Duluth for the weekend and was interviewed by the news... Rock Hudson had just announced that he had Aids and the Duluth news wanted to know what I thought about it. I remember saying that I really didn't know too much other than you can get it from having sex and you can die from it. I remember saying that maybe this would scare everyone into taking precautions and that condom sales would skyrocket.
Today my patient at clinicals was a 46 year old male who was HIV+ and was suffering from end-stage Aids. After I learned who my patient was yesterday afternoon, I had to give myself a crash course on HIV and Aids and everything that goes along with it. Not to mention I had to make drug cards for all the drugs he was taking (25+). I felt sorry for myself the whole time because I was tired from staying up late the night before studying for my test and I was exhausted.
I now feel guilty for complaining and completely thankful that I have my health.
This kind, grateful, and well-mannered man would probably love to spend 10 minutes in my exhausted shoes. The sad thing about Aids is that you just don't suffer from the virus; the virus affects all of your systems. So anything with your body from head to toe that could go wrong, probably will. And what isn't affected by the virus, will most likely be affected by one of the tons of drugs that Aids patients are on. Even though he felt absolutely miserable, was paralyzed on one side, was in intense pain, and was in the process of going through kidney failure, he always thanked me for whatever it was I did for him. I felt privileged and honored to be his student nurse today.
On a lighter note, I was very excited today because my patient needed the flu vaccine and they were going to let me do it (I've never done this... or even have learned how to do it)! But sadly, his arms were so wasted away that his primary nurse felt that he better do it instead. Part of me was bummed... part of me was relieved!
And, before I go, one vent: I've noticed that there are quite a few doctors/surgeons from India. Now, I have nothing against people from other countries, however, if your accent is so thick that people can't understand you, and you want to work here in America in the medical field where English (for now) is the primary language, wouldn't you want to take classes that teach you to speak without the accent? In fact, shouldn't they require it? People are sick in the hospital, barely able to focus on what is being said, and then they get a doc who comes in speaking fast, low, and with a thick accent -- how are they going to possibly understand one word? My patient is a little hard of hearing (HIV even affected his hearing), it states this all over his chart. This Doc from India (not his normal doc) was making his rounds and didn't even take the time to notice that my pt was hard of hearing. So he is talking softly, fast, and with a thick accent. COME ON! Not to mention he did no assessing of any kind and never left the foot of the bed. I was PISSED OFF! That is so ridiculous! And it was one of the coldest interactions I had ever witnessed.
That's all the news from the nursing student in the north for today! Take care of yourselves!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Hello, My name is Evelyn and I'll be your student nurse today.
School is absolutely insane this semester. I thought there was a lot of work last year... well this year it has doubled at least. It makes me laugh when the profs assign hours and hours of reading and memorizing and work and then they hand out supplemental assignments for us to do in our spare time! Who the hell has any spare time!? I barely have time enough to shower let alone do extra readings.
But regardless of the work involved, I am loving it this year. We've started clinicals and I am really starting to feel like a nurse. I currently am at St Mary's on Thursdays from 6:30am - 2:30 on the Neurology/Trauma floor. I've had two very different patients so far. My first was an older man with a bit of dementia who had back surgery in August and the wound keeps opening back up.I actually was asked by the Neurology surgeon to assist him with a procedure. Awesome! My second patient was a younger man on a business trip here who had a traumatic brain injury from being mugged in Canal Park. I got to do all the prep work involved in discharging him. Also awesome!
The bad part about clinicals is that on Wednesdays after 2 I have to go to the hospital and preplan. Basically I am copying everything from the patient's chart that I can. It takes about 2-3 hours. Then I take that info home and have to look up all the diagnoses, lab tests, and medications and learn everything there is to know about them. All in all it takes about 8 hours. Seriously. The first preplan I did I was up until 2am working on it and then up at 5am to go to the hospital! There is a reason college is for young people. My old body just doesn't function well on less than 8 hours of sleep! They say it gets easier and less time consuming as time goes on, and true enough, last week I was only up until 11:30. Tonight I am shooting for 10pm.
I also got the most amazing news last week. The government (yes, our very own US Government) every 2-3 years offers a scholarship to the most needy nursing students in the country. They basically pay for 2 years of your tuition and other educational fees and give you a monthly stipend to cover housing, transportation, and books with the deal that you work for a medical facility for 2 years that has a nursing shortage (which is basically all of them). It's huge. This year there were about 3000 qualified applicants and only about 100 and something are picked. I was picked!!!!! I applied last spring and had been praying ever since... I cried for about 1/2 hour when I got the news. I thought my financial aid person was going cry too (only 1 other person at CSS has ever gotten this). I had been so worried about the mass amount of student loans and the fact that I don't have as much work years as the typical graduate does. Plus I have been putting off things like having my teeth and furnace cleaned because money just was too tight. All those worries flew right out the window and now I can just focus on school! And get my teeth cleaned!!!
I know some of you had been sending your own prayers for me for this scholarship, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is truly a miracle for me.
Okay, I really have a paper that isn't going to write itself....
But regardless of the work involved, I am loving it this year. We've started clinicals and I am really starting to feel like a nurse. I currently am at St Mary's on Thursdays from 6:30am - 2:30 on the Neurology/Trauma floor. I've had two very different patients so far. My first was an older man with a bit of dementia who had back surgery in August and the wound keeps opening back up.I actually was asked by the Neurology surgeon to assist him with a procedure. Awesome! My second patient was a younger man on a business trip here who had a traumatic brain injury from being mugged in Canal Park. I got to do all the prep work involved in discharging him. Also awesome!
The bad part about clinicals is that on Wednesdays after 2 I have to go to the hospital and preplan. Basically I am copying everything from the patient's chart that I can. It takes about 2-3 hours. Then I take that info home and have to look up all the diagnoses, lab tests, and medications and learn everything there is to know about them. All in all it takes about 8 hours. Seriously. The first preplan I did I was up until 2am working on it and then up at 5am to go to the hospital! There is a reason college is for young people. My old body just doesn't function well on less than 8 hours of sleep! They say it gets easier and less time consuming as time goes on, and true enough, last week I was only up until 11:30. Tonight I am shooting for 10pm.
I also got the most amazing news last week. The government (yes, our very own US Government) every 2-3 years offers a scholarship to the most needy nursing students in the country. They basically pay for 2 years of your tuition and other educational fees and give you a monthly stipend to cover housing, transportation, and books with the deal that you work for a medical facility for 2 years that has a nursing shortage (which is basically all of them). It's huge. This year there were about 3000 qualified applicants and only about 100 and something are picked. I was picked!!!!! I applied last spring and had been praying ever since... I cried for about 1/2 hour when I got the news. I thought my financial aid person was going cry too (only 1 other person at CSS has ever gotten this). I had been so worried about the mass amount of student loans and the fact that I don't have as much work years as the typical graduate does. Plus I have been putting off things like having my teeth and furnace cleaned because money just was too tight. All those worries flew right out the window and now I can just focus on school! And get my teeth cleaned!!!
I know some of you had been sending your own prayers for me for this scholarship, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is truly a miracle for me.
Okay, I really have a paper that isn't going to write itself....
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