Welcome Back
Long time no blog. Wow, how I have missed it so! Due to the hardest semester of my life I have had to take a short leave of absence, but Lindz-Dawg is BIA (back in action). I have been thinking about what would be entertaining to write about and the first thing that came to mind was an encounter I had with a patient my very first day of working at the hospital. It is quite humorous so feel free to laugh at me. Enjoy!
The first day of nursing school clinicals usually comprises a whirlwind of emotions. I remember feeling excited about being in a hospital, super HOT in my all white nursing uniform and white clogs, but overall scared to death that I would do something wrong. I tried to be on my best behavior, but at the same time I also tried to act like I wasn’t nervous and that I knew exactly what I was doing. Bad idea. The first patient I was assigned was an elderly man who was on so much pain medication that he could hardly tell what gender I assumed. I was assigned to a nurse who asked me to do a simple task…help him take a shower. A shower…I had this! Easy, peasy. She asked, “Do you need any help? Or do you know what you’re doing?”
Do I know what I’m doing? The real question is, who couldn’t know how to help someone take a shower?! I answered with all the confidence in the world, “Absolutely.”
As she left the room, reality began to set in. I saw at least two IV lines going into his left arm, blood pressure cuffs hooked up on the other, compression devices on both legs, and did I mention that I didn’t even know how to lower the side rails? But nevertheless, this was a freaking shower! How hard could this be? I remember the nurse telling me that he needed a chair to sit in while he showered because he couldn’t stand on his own, so I asked the barely conscious man what chair he usually used in the shower. He mumbled something, so I looked around the room, spotted a chair, and pointed, “Did you mean this one?” He mumbled something again, which I took to be a “yes.” I grabbed the chair and placed it in the shower all ready for him, but due to the many questions running through my head and the overwhelming feelings that I had no clue how to get this man in the shower, I failed to notice that the chair I thought would suffice was actually a desk chair with leather and nice cushioning. I decided to stall and go ahead and warm up the shower for him while I thought about my plan of action, so I reached in and turned the knob. Immediatley, before I could even think to move, I was covered in water in my all white uniform (thank goodness I wore the waterproof clogs that day!). The shower head was only half-way screwed on. After about a full 30 seconds of fiddling with the knob, I heard a voice behind me.
“Umm, excuse me ma’am. What are you doing? First of all, you need to get that nice chair out of the shower and second of all, why are you covered in water?”
While trying to hold back my laughter I looked up, and said, “I think you might be better at this.”
Lessons learned:
1.) Always ask questions. Never just assume.
2.) You can’t always be a bad-A. (I know, it’s a hard truth.)
3.) Never put a nice desk chair in the shower.
4.) When your patient is doped up on pain medication, don’t believe or assume anything he or she says.
I will never forget that day.
