It was a happy productive morning on the postpartum floor. I was busy with my group of clinical students overseeing “BUBBLEHE” assessments, reinforcing breastfeeding techniques with the new moms, performing non-stress tests on the antepartal patients, drawing labs, hanging IV maintenance fluids, and administering medications. This was a pleasant unit with all the new mothers and babies. Nurses Announcements Archive Article
My euphoria was rudely interrupted when a staff nurse approached me with concerns about one of my students. "Do you know your student is just sitting over there, doing nothing?" She glanced in an accusatory manner towards my lone male student "Catfish," who was quietly occupying a seat in an inconspicuous area at the farthest edge of the unit.
"Catfish" was entirely bald, short and stocky, in his forties, with an engaging smile and twinkling blue eyes. He was a man of few words, but very gentle and polite. True to his nickname, he was a commercial fisherman, who was picking up nursing as a second career.
"Catfish" appeared utterly miserable and forlorn as he sat nearly hunched over. His eyes were devoid of the usual sparkle, staring vacantly at the floor. He looked as if he hoped the earth would open up and swallow him whole.
"What's wrong, Catfish?" I asked. "Why are you just sitting here?" With that inquiry, the saddest expression swept across his face and he seemed about to cry. I'd seen that look before. It was classic for a male student on the OB floor and I almost had to bite my lip to keep from smiling.
"I'm so sorry, Ma'am," was his doleful reply, "But neither my assigned patient nor anybody else will let me in their room!" I found two or three tasks to occupy his time during the remainder of the shift on the unit. But, overall, he was correct - very few moms would allow him in their rooms, even with a female escort. And, there was nothing that I, as a clinical instructor, could do about it.
Catfish suffered through the rest of the two-week rotation on the unit, trying to stay out of the way of as many new moms as possible. Not too soon enough for him, his stint in OB purgatory mercifully came to an end. He then very gratefully returned to the blissful clinical surroundings of the medical-surgical floor.