How about some chicken soup??

ccstudent · Apr 14, 2007

O.K maybe I should start with a story of my own.

My son is four and is so patient when I need a "patient" to practice on. I am in my first semester of nursing school and I was practicing for my skills test in focus assessments and I had him laying down and was listening to abdomen sounds. My son asked me what I was doing and I told him I was listening to his bowel sounds, he said "sweet". The next day when I picked him up from preschool he insisted we stop at the store to buy bird food, when I asked him why, he told me " for the owl in my tummy" I asked him "what owl" he said " oh mommy, don't you member...you heard owl sounds in my tummy.

I just thought that was so cute.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2007

Not sure if you know, but they actually have one of those chicken soup books at the bookstore for nurses...

My own story involves a cranky patient who everyone said was very cantankerous, wanted to do everything himself at his own pace, regardless of what the "schedule" was. I went in, made small talk while generally assessing, helped him get up and walk down hall with walker and kept talking the entire time. When we got him back to bed, (which the CNA had made quickly when I left the room with patient), he got back in, relaxed and then proceeded to tell me all the ways that the hospital was "screwing" him. By the end of the day, he called me in when I went by to say "goodbye" for the day. I was ready for another tirade. He quietly looked me up and down, extended his hand, and said "Boy, you are a good nurse. You let me do things when I asked to do them, kept your word if you had to come back, made sure I was ok. Never forget that your patients respond to how you treat them." I never forget that lesson and apply it everyday.

Megsd, BSN, RN · Apr 14, 2007

One day I had a patient who had had part of her leg amputated the day before. The first day I had her she was very groggy from medication and usually didn't notice I was there, or would fall asleep while talking to me. It was very frustrating because she had a lot of pills to take but could hardly stay awake long enough to swallow them. When she was awake she was in tremendous pain, so I spent most of my time trying to keep that under control. The second day I had her, she was completely alert and oriented, and thanked me for all my care the day before. She remembered who I was and said she was always comforted when I came to see her.

The doctor was slowly advancing her diet and she could have liquids on this second day. When her meal tray came she looked at it sadly and said, tears in her eyes, "All I want is a nice, cold Coke." So I went to the kitchen, got a can of coke, a glass and some ice. I poured the drink into the glass and she held it to her nose and just smelled it for a while, grinning ear to ear. Then she took a sip and let out this big happy sigh. "How is it?" I asked. "Oh, this is the most wonderful thing. THANK YOU." I truly feel that the coke was more effective at making her feel better than all the pain medication in the hospital, and she reminds me to always try to do the "little things" for my patients to make them feel better.

TraumaICURN · Apr 14, 2007

Recently, I had a pt that was a quad d/t GSW. He had a trach and was on the vent so the only way he could communicate was by clicking his mouth. It was very hard to read his lips. Everytime I walked by he would click at me and this just frustrated me to no end. On top of it all, he was in isolation, so I had to wear a gown and glove everytime when going into the room. And it never failed, as soon as I took my gown and gloves off and head for the door, he would click again. I had him for 4 days straight, then I was off for 2 days. While I was off, he was transferred out of TICU up onto the floor. He died one morning while I was at work. His mom and daughter came down to tell us the news. He had told them that I was one of the nicest nurses to him while he was in the hospital. It brought tears to my eyes. Even though I was losing patience w/ him, I never let it show. I'm glad that he is no longer suffering. :crying2: