Positive Aspects of Nursing??????

SmilingBluEyes · May 31, 2002

AWESOME nursemickie. I hope if me or my loved ones need end of life care, we are lucky enuf to have a NURSE LIKE YOU on the case. You epitomise the "nursing difference" and I salute you.

teamrn · May 31, 2002

The positive aspects of nursing? Before I go on, I need to tell you that I had to 'click' on this post a few times before I could get in! :mad:

In reality, the initial ones were because the nursing field provided me with the opportunity for me to work in the areas in which I had a great interest: Science, social work, pharmacy, physical therapy and respiratoy therapy. During my 20 years, that enjoyment never decreased, but what INCREASED was the patient advocacy, teaching area. Much of my work was done in hospice, and the warmth that came to my soul when I knew that I was able to ease the pain, teach the family how to provide care and support them, and COMFORTABLY to hold the hand of a dying patient-or just listen to his emotional or spiritual concerns is something I'll NEVER be able to take to the bank, but it is something that ONLY A NURSE CAN DO. And every nurse in his/her own specialty can find something like this to take home.

shay · May 31, 2002

You get free alcohol swabs!!! What more do you need to love this job???

Love the starfish story.

Seriously, though.....for me, I love the fact that I have helped hundreds of women have positive birth experiences, even the ones where the outcome wasn't a happy one. I have made a difference by being there in the most profound sense at one of the most magnificent times in a woman's life. She will always remember her labor nurse. I hope the memory she has is always a good one....

OBNURSEHEATHER · May 31, 2002

Originally posted by shay
She will always remember her labor nurse. I hope the memory she has is always a good one....

Without a doubt shay. You are always remembered :)

Heather

PamRNC · May 31, 2002

There are so many things I love about nursing. The flexibility for starters, hours, places, fields - I spent a year doing travel nursing. Very eyeopening. :coollook:

I love to teach!!! Ask me a question, any question - pleease:D If I don't know it I will find it. I love being the answer queen.

I love being able to relive a patients pain, and teach them that its okay to ask for help when they need it. Who'd have thunk - you get sick enough to warrant a stay in the hospital and might actually need help with you know the little things you've been doing since you were about 2yo.

Don't let's forget my colleagues - they make work worthwhile. Somedays it seems more like playtime than work - but I know I'd be in the looney ward without them (and probably vice versa)

I don't do so much hands on these days (took the paper pushin' mgr job) but when I do, I give the patients my best. I still believe in the power of a good back rub.

live4today, RN · May 31, 2002

Boy, don't I remember all three of my labor nurses with my three kids! I remember the stupid doctor with my first child the most when he had to medicate me again for pain, he said to me: "What are you screaming for. Your grandmother probably had her babies unmedicated and at home." If my foot could've reached his face, I would have karate chopped him one. Then, after the baby was born, I told the nurse I was going to upchuck and to hurry and get me something to throw up in. She obviously didn't believe me because I ended up throwing up all over myself and the delivery room table I was lying on. I couldn't move since back in those days they use to strap the arms and legs of the laboring mother to the table to keep the mother-to-be from putting her legs and hands in the way (I guess). That nurse said to the doctor, "She's got to throw up, doc!" I threw up, then she said, "She really did have to throw up, doc." Don't you think she should go down in history for that infamous observation?

My second labor nurse said - LOUDLY, I might add - right after my baby was born: "Doctor, the baby has club feet." The doc cussed her out, and sent her crying from the room while the second nurse standing by took over. He apologized for her rudeness. My daughter's feet bowed inward, and had to have cast put on her at two weeks of age. Her legs and feet are both 'normal' today.

My third labor nurse was holding me in an erect position while I sat on the delivery table receiving my saddle block from the doctor. I felt a labor pain that practically sent me off the table, and I squeezed her shoulders real good with my fingers. The nurse held her composure and calmly said, "It's okay for you to hold onto me, but can I keep my skin intact on the shoulders." We both laughed.

Yes, I'll forever remember those L&D nurses I had with fondness! My first two babies were born in military hospitals and that was an awful experience. My third baby was born in a civilian hospital, and the treatment was so awesome I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! :chuckle

shay · Jun 1, 2002

Cheerfuldoer, see, stories like YOURS (the military hospital births) are the primary reason I bend over backward to give my patients a good birth experience. Nothing spurns me on than to hear my patient tell me her last birth was 'awful.' I hate it when other labor nurses are evil/stupid/lazy/don't listen.

CARDINAL RULES OF OB NURSING:

1. If your patient screams, 'the baby's COMING!', don't blow her off....run, grab a glove, pull back the sheet, and LOOK....9 times out of 10, THE PATIENT IS RIGHT.

2. If your patient says she's gonna puke, grab something....ANYTHING...for her to hurl in, or DUCK.

Hee hee.

live4today, RN · Jun 1, 2002

Thanks Shay! When I was in labor with my second child, there was another woman who was brought into my room to labor, too. She and her husband and daughter had just got off the airplane when she went into labor. She was only seven months along. There was a curtain drawn between us, so I couldn't see her, but we talked to each other in between contractions. The docs were suppose to try and stop her labor, but it wasn't stopping. All of a sudden, she screamed "Nurse! Nurse! Somebody help me! I'm having the baby!" A nurse struts into the room and tells her to calm down, that she wasn't having the baby, and the doctor would be in shortly. She didn't even bother to examine the woman because I saw her standing at the foot of the patient's bed the entire time she was talking to her. The nurse had no more than left our room, when I heard the patient screaming "My baby is in the bed! My baby is in the bed!" She was crying and wailing something awful. I started to cry for her. The nurse came running into the room, whipped back the sheet, and there lay a preemie (little boy). To make a long story short, the baby died. Negligence? You bet! Another military birth gone bad!

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 1, 2002

wow i am impressed with some of the points made here......gives me hope and inspiration.....thanks to all who took the time to post on this very unpopular thread and stay POSITIVE if you can!

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2002

Howdy Yall

from deep in the heart of texas

I cant say Ive seen any ads outside of nursing magazines. But you wouldnt expect to find any in a golfing magazine.I dont watch much if any tv at all. So cant say if there have been some or not.

keep it in the short grass yalll

teeituptom

aimeee, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2002

Its all about that good feeling deep inside from making a difference for someone. They don't even have to say thank you (although I love to hear it!). Just seeing the change in someone, from being distressed to being comfortable, is reward enough.