Not too long ago, I signed my name as "RN" for the first time. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Nurses Announcements Archive Article
You are reading page 2 of Seeing The Letters 'RN' With New Eyes
LilgirlRN, ADN, RN
769 Posts
I recall working with a new graduate. We had an elderly woman sent in from a nursing home. She'd been hit by a car a few months before and had bilateral arm fractures making caring for herself impossible. She had no family locally, the closest living relative she had was a great neice that lived 500 miles away. She was sent to us with decreased LOC and fever. She was sceptic and was dying, however she was not a DNR. I begged the ER doc to contact her kin and ask to mnake her a DNR, she weighed 60 pounds soaking wet. One xchest compression would have cracked her ribs. I had her on the monitor, she was bradying down, the doc was speaking with her neice, she was made a DNR. I dimmed the lights in the room. I asked the doc if we could give her a lil morpine, he wrote the order. I sat down beside her bed, pushed it slowly and then held her hand. The new grad asked what I was doing. I said I'm staying with her till she's gone. "Why?" I said would you want to die alone. A light bulb went off over her head. She sat down on the other side and held her other hand and the elderly lady slipped peacefully away. The new grad became an RN that night even though she'd had her license for awhile. That night was the epitome of what we do, let go when it's appropriate and allow someone to go to their restful plae with dignity.
mggmy7
7 Posts
Wow....This is where I want to be...Just have to pass the boards on the 22nd. Thanks for sharing.
mark hamel
216 Posts
kudos to all mark hamel