Patients Patience

[Bonnie J-Lowe]

patients patience! patience patients

patience patients!!

i was in the process of adapting myself to a new department in a little

rural hospital. of course, for the staff members who had been on the unit

for some time, it was no problem for them to know every patient, their

families, and their special circumstances. but for me, it was a struggle

trying to familiarize myself with the floor plan, let alone all the faces,

names and desires, not to mention the routines, of thirty-three patients.

one early evening stands out in my mind as a 'watershed moment'.

a young lady walked up to me and asked "nurse, can dad have

something to eat?" my mind raced- "who is dad?"

in an effort to clarify who 'dad' was i asked where he was. i carefully

chose my words and asked "and your father is . . .?"

the little face looked up at me strangely and said softly,"hungry."

bonnie jarvis-lowe, rn. ret'd. patience patients!!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

How precious!! Welcome to Allnurses.com!!!

[RNonsense]

That was cute!

[Sourdough]

cute!!

[SingingNurse2]

That really hit home for me. I work part time as a church office receptionist at a church I don't attend. Nearly every day someone will call and just start rattling off a message and expect me to know who they are! Most are amused when I say, "And you are ...?" but some get really agitated that I haven't memorized the voices of all 800 members!

good luck with your memorizing!

[Bonnie J-Lowe]

I often wonder why the majority of people think we have a memory for everything that happens and for every name that exists!! It is an odd way to think, but that is the way it is!!I am still getting that kind of question, on a daily basis.