All Touchy Feely

skyyhiflygirl · Dec 14, 2005

First of all I will tell you that while nursing has a scientific approach, the solid base of nursing is "touchy/feely". Yep, you have mechanical and technical stuff to do but you cannot survive without the other aspect. That is what was so appealing to me about nursing. . .

Wait till after your first semester of nursing school to decide. . .trust me here. . .most people think it is going to be more science and then they discover the real truth. . .

ZootRN · Dec 14, 2005

They only thing we've done on each other was head to toe assessment, and really there was no "touching" involved (maybe except for feeling for each others distal pulses). Hopefully, you'll have a lab partner you'll be comfortable with.

As far as science goes, my first degree was in Communications. I use to think I am mathematically challenged and have had the same worries as you have. But guess what - I excelled all my Chemistry, Statistics, Algebra classes and everything else, and will be graduating with honors (our pinning ceremony is tonight). I guess, if you want it bad enough, you can do it. Good luck!

skyyhiflygirl · Dec 14, 2005

See, the nursing approach is to affect the patient's response to the medical side. We take care of the patient. We are their advocate, their teacher, their mentor, etc. . .its what a nurse does. . .

SraKristina · Dec 14, 2005

thanks for the quick responses....

ok well i was told that a friend heard we all had to practice procedures on each other like bathing, caths, that sort of thing.... so thats not true?? because if so i'll feel way better. I could do it to a person who really needed it, but i dont think i could do it to a classmate in front of everyone and i surely wouldnt want that sort of thing done to me in front of a group of people.

I was in the hospital for a kidney problem once and a student in clinicals was doing my catheter (sorry if this is TMI) and she kept having problems and they had to call in a couple different ppl to watch her and help her, and it ended up just being me... for some reason i cant have a catheter or something... but for the whole ordeal i've never been so humiliated... i understand the importance of practice and learning experience, but for the student's benefit, im too shy and uncomfortable to learn new things on

rnang123 · Dec 14, 2005

thanks for the quick responses....
ok well i was told that a friend heard we all had to practice procedures on each other like bathing, caths, that sort of thing.... so thats not true?? because if so i'll feel way better. I could do it to a person who really needed it, but i dont think i could do it to a classmate in front of everyone and i surely wouldnt want that sort of thing done to me in front of a group of people.
I was in the hospital for a kidney problem once and a student in clinicals was doing my catheter (sorry if this is TMI) and she kept having problems and they had to call in a couple different ppl to watch her and help her, and it ended up just being me... for some reason i cant have a catheter or something... but for the whole ordeal i've never been so humiliated... i understand the importance of practice and learning experience, but for the student's benefit, im too shy and uncomfortable to learn new things on

I think they did used to use people in your clinical group to practice bathing (I've heard swimsuits etc.), but for catheters/enemas/shots etc. we use dummies to learn. I don't think I'd be able to do nursing either if we had those circumstances you mentioned =)!!!!!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2005

We had to practice vital signs on each other and bed baths.

Caths, IVs, NGs and other invasive procedures were practiced on dummies.

I'm not big on being toughed either. But it's mechanical and professional, not touchy feely at all. We're learning together the basics of nursing, not how to make love. :)

tlhubbard · Dec 14, 2005

We had to discuss our medical history with our lab partner, let them find pedal pulses, radial pulses. We took b/p and temps listened to breath sounds, bowel sounds (clothing remained on at all times). We did practice a bed bath, but that was just a reminder of where you wash first (we didn't actually do a bedbath). We also laid in the way while the lab partner tried to do an occupied bed change. Weights/heights, etc. No biggie!!

I am a big chicken. If I had to be the guinea pig, forget it. I would have went into another line of work also.

Also, the next time you are the patient, you do no have to let someone learn on you. That is your right as a patient. Just remember when you need to learn, that you may have patients refuse your care too.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Dec 14, 2005

First of all I will tell you that while nursing has a scientific approach, the solid base of nursing is "touchy/feely". Yep, you have mechanical and technical stuff to do but you cannot survive without the other aspect. That is what was so appealing to me about nursing. . .
Wait till after your first semester of nursing school to decide. . .trust me here. . .most people think it is going to be more science and then they discover the real truth. . .

Modern nursing is much more scientific than touchy-feely. Only the ivory towered types truly believe that nursing is all touchy-feely w/ no real basis. Fortunately, those of us in the trenches carve out a better image of nursing.

I'm not a 'touchy-feely' type and don't need it to be excellent in my field and to be spiritual w/ my pts. I don't subscribe to nursing's hoaky-60's-drug-culture-hippy-pseudo-religion theory anyway.

The solid base of nursing IS science, regardless what our Timothy Leary wannabe leaders have to say on the matter.

But you'll get a heavy dose of it in school. So the question is: can you put up with it in school knowing you can chart your own course afterwards? Or is dealing with it, even in the short term, too much for you?

~faith,

Timothy.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2005

The solid base of nursing IS science, regardless what our Timothy Leary wannabe leaders have to say on the matter.
~faith,
Timothy.

Sigh....you're always quick to jump on your anti-Ivory Tower bandwagon Timothy aren't you.

As a current RN to BSN student, I can say with confidence that the Ivory Tower folks are trying real hard to ensure that nursing stays a scientific course of study, based on science and research. They do want to separate themselves from medical science, but nursing science is what it's about nowadays. Which is why we still get degrees such as Bachelor of Science in Nursing. My Associates Degree was a Science degree as well. It's very important for the profession and this is what they are advocating.

I know there are a few theorists out there that say nursing is an art, but that's not what the profession is advocating. At least not in my course of study.

However, nursing is holistic entailing both biophysical and pyschosocial elements (including spirituality and culture).

Way off topic here.

No, you don't have to be a touchy feely person to be a nurse.

RNSuzq1, RN · Dec 15, 2005

Hi SraKristina,

Re: Practicing skills on classmates - we have a lab where we did vital signs, physical assessments and ob assessments (with clothes on) - you're touching your classmate over their clothes while explaining to your Instructor what you'd do on a "real" patient. All other procedures - catheters, trach's, etc. were done on dummies.

Once you start Clinicals though - you will be "touching" real live people with every sort of illness you can imagine. As other posters have said - Nursing has become a very technical field, but (hospital Nursing at least) will always, always require some form of physical contact with your patients. Doctors and therapists usually only spent short periods with patients - it's the Nurses who the patients rely on for most of their care and it's really important that you become comfortable with all the physical contact that's required - because people can sense when someone would rather be anywhere else than helping them (know what I mean?)

You mentioned that you've been a patient yourself, so you know all about losing your modesty, etc. One of the least favorite parts of the job is wiping behinds (and I've wiped plenty) - as awful and stinky as it can be for us as Nurses to do - it can be very embarrassing/humiliating for a patient to have to rely on someone to wipe their fanny, I've even had people apologize for having a bowel movement when I'm cleaning them. Even if they're covered in diarrhea that smells so bad it would make you "gag", I try to make them feel better by acting like it's no big deal and tell them I'll have them cleaned up in no time. I've had patients who have just wanted to hold my hand or talk for a minute - you do whatever it is that helps them and is within your scope as a Nurse. If you can learn to put yourself in their position, imagine how they must feel and then treat them in the same kind and caring way that you'd want to be treated if it were you lying in that bed - it will make your job as a Nurse a very rewarding one..... Best of Luck to You... Sue

1Tulip · Dec 15, 2005

Yeah, I sort of had some of the same thoughts that SusanRN had vis your story of the difficult catheterization. I think that you probably will understand what it means to be a patient advocate. Perhaps you will be able to "put yourself in the bed" so to speak and extrapolate about the level of distress your pt. is experiencing. I mean, at some point (when you're a nurse) you may want to stand back and say... "OK folks. Time to take a break. Everybody out of the room." and give the patient a few minutes to catch his/her breath and allow the two of you to talk about how and who will do the procedure.

That's a pretty important nursing function.

And I am a scientist, not a metaphysical type. Not a particularly warm and cozy personality. Don't like people to handle me. I made it through nursing school.

I think with the advent of more males as nursing students, there is less "wash your lab partner" teaching going on.