A Time You Made a Patient Smile?

[amyn87]

I don't know about everyone else, but with all the stress that we put up with being nurses, whenever I make a patient smile or have one tell me "Thank you for being my nurse today" it makes it all worth it.

Today I had a elderly woman patient with a GI bleed taking a bowel prep for a colonoscopy so she was on the bedside commode every 10 minutes. She said that she told her family earlier, "I had no idea I was so full of sh*t." I asked her what color her eyes were. She looked at me for a second and said "What?" Seeing she had green eyes, I said, "Well, they're not brown are they?" She looked at me for a second then started cracking up laughing and told me she had never heard that before. I could tell she was worried and scared about her condition, and just seeing her smile made me feel like I made some kind of difference in her day.

Anyone have any good stories to share? :)

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

I'm not the only night shift nurse who's said this sort of thing before thinking. "I didn't recognize you with the lights on".

I said that to a very distinguished older gentleman who probably chased the ladies around successfully in his day. I had worked a half shift, and he had been sleeping all night when making rounds. In the AM when I went in to give meds he was awake, sitting up, hair combed, teeth in...you know what a difference that can make in how people look.

He simply looked at me, raised an eyebrow and smiled. I laughed. I am notorious for saying things before thinking. He probably hadn't heard that line in a very long time.

[aboucherrn]

Granted, this poor woman had severe dementia... but I had some downtime on my night shift so I went to spend some time with her. Gave her a snack, chatted with her, tried to reorient her... I tucked her into bed with a warm blanket and she said "You sure are a neat little gal...those other kids down where my sister lives are all a bunch of jerks!". I am 34, and have never been called a "little" gal. This statement made me laugh so hard, the patient couldn't stop laughing either.