Please share something GOOD that happened at work!

Nurses General Nursing

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Maybe as a tag-along to the thread that has people in a twist over whether or not nurses are being positive enough, or too negative, or whatever, we could try for something a little upbeat.

What has happened to you (or someone else?) at work that made you GLAD that you were there that day? Did you feel you made a difference?

I recently had a patient who had diverticulitis and was facing a bowel resection and somehow no one had either explained to him what to expect or he hadn't been able to hear it. At any rate, when I got him he was scared to death what was going to happen to him, whether he'd be able to eat/poop normally again. Somehow he got the idea he'd need a colostomy, and that freaked him out unnecessarily.

I spent all of fifteen minutes with him initially and watched this fella change from freaked out to calm, once he realized the why's and wherefore's. I then checked on him and let him talk when he needed. I got him after surgery, too, and while most of the time people never even give a cursory "thank you", this man made me feel like a million bucks! He thanked me for taking the time to talk to him and apologized for being "a baby". Oh, man, he wasn't a baby at all, just a human being who needed another human (who happened to have a medical clue) to calm him down.

I felt proud to be a nurse when I left for a couple of days :)

I would have kept the candy, too :)

Specializes in psychiatric.

There have been a lot of good things that happened around me the past 37 years or so of being a nurse. A lot of them were patient centered, and usually went quietly by, without "thank you letters to administration", but I knew I had made a difference, and that's what counts. Some of the great moments were out of the hospital when I was off duty. Once, I answered an overhead page in Kmart for help on aisle >>> It was a gentleman in a wheel chair, unresponsive/confused when he did respond. Without all the machines at a hospital, it was nearly impossible to tell exactly what was wrong until the ambulance got there, but I could hold his hand, talk to him, make sure his airway was open, comfort his wife, and offer praise to the employees who were trying to help.

Several times I have helped friends when they were dealing with the impending death of a parent or child, this was hard because I wasn't the nurse, I was the friend. Other times I felt good about being a nurse was helping someone "die" with dignity. One was my father in law who wanted to die at home and another was someone I called "mother" who was actually the mother of a good friend. We can make the difference in someones life, and sometimes it's our lives we make a difference in because of something we did or didn't do.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Just tonight, I had a little old lady that had been restrained for the past two days due to pulling at IV's, etc. I worked with her the whole day, talking softly to her, asking her about her needs, and sharing stories. Basically, I gave her whatever time I had. At 6pm, I took her off restraints, she was coherent and not pulling at IV's/ lines, and told me I was "very nice". I told her, "I try to be!" She replied, "A lot of people try to be. But you just are." Then she grabbed my hand and smiled. That was nice.

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Staff received all new Pentium 4 computers and I received new laptop.

:w00t:All nurses in our health system now have access to Nursing Spectrum for free CEU's to maintain our licensure!

Reminds me I've got to take the :smiletea2: and start on CEU's.

Another one: about two weeks ago there was a major collision just outside of town, two cars with multiple victims, and we got the three from one car. They were three Korean females, the oldest was 73 and spoke very little English. She was the most severly injured and ended up going to the OR for a splenectomy. I am Korean but remember very little of the language. She was scared to death while the surgeon was inserting a triple lumen. I held her hand and kept repeating one of the few words I remember, which means "It will be okay" or something like that. She had a death grip on my hand and said the word after me over and over. She spent the next 4 days in ICU and was then moved to medsurg. I had to take a pt to medsurg and saw her name on the board, so I stuck my head in. This sweet little lady took one look at me and just stared hard, and then started jabbering in Korean to her friend, who translated. The pt remembered me as the woman who kept telling her she would be okay.

What makes this remarkable is that I had very little to do with her during her ER stay. I got involved right at the end so that her primary could finish charting before sending her to the OR.

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
You know, I had a similar experience when I was a student, second semester, and it has never left me. I was observing a surgeon putting in a triple lumen line, along with a few other students, and this poor thing in the bed was terrified. When he started the procedure (testing and joking with us, totally ignoring her), there were silent tears coming down her face. I immediately grabbed her hand, told her how brave I thought she was. The young woman squeezed harder than I thought possible (taught me to ONLY give TWO FINGERS, lol, but I digress). She cried and squeezed, and kept turning her eyes to me. All she could see was eyes, since I had a mask on. I dabbed her face with tissues, and she got through it. She didn't let go of my hand until everyone else had left the room....I stayed with her while she 'came down'. And I swear I will never forget what she told me: "I just kept looking at you, you were the only one I saw, and you were the only one who seemed to see ME. Thank you."

If that doesn't make you sure you want to be a nurse, I don't know what will.

That's a real nice story. Good on you!

The bright moment that comes to my mind, just now, isn't nearly as inspiring as this, or several of the other posts. Pretty mundane, actually, but it gave me a chuckle. Sunday night my unit was overstaffed, so I got floated to the cardiac stepdown. Egads! I do happen to own a pair of EKG calipers. Bought them for the EKG class mandated for all nurses who work any stepdown. I use them regularly, too. When we have to do an NIH stroke scale, they've very handy to test a patient's sensory perception.

On my previous visit to this unit, I had to start Heparin, Nitroglycerine, and Integrilin drips on one patient. Had to look up Integrilin just to find out what it was. (Had to look up nitro, too, but at least I did know what it was and what it was for.)

Anyway, on this most recent visit, I had three pts. One was on a trach and tube feeds after complications from a CABG. (I still sigh when I recall one of the docs who repaired my Dad's hernia referring to his "cabbage," and I had to ask what he was talking about.) My other patient was a vertebral stenosis, and the admission who came while I was getting report was an ischemic stroke. All very nice people, and all doing quite well, and the night was busy, but went pretty smoothly. It just tickles me that I got pulled to another unit and got two neuro patients.

I'm happy to add that I was very well treated by the other staff. Like I said, this story isn't exactly inspirational. It was just one of many nights that starts a little crappy (getting floated) and turned out pretty good. I love my stupid job.

That's a real nice story. Good on you!

The bright moment that comes to my mind, just now, isn't nearly as inspiring as this, or several of the other posts. Pretty mundane, actually, but it gave me a chuckle. Sunday night my unit was overstaffed, so I got floated to the cardiac stepdown. Egads! I do happen to own a pair of EKG calipers. Bought them for the EKG class mandated for all nurses who work any stepdown. I use them regularly, too. When we have to do an NIH stroke scale, they've very handy to test a patient's sensory perception.

On my previous visit to this unit, I had to start Heparin, Nitroglycerine, and Integrilin drips on one patient. Had to look up Integrilin just to find out what it was. (Had to look up nitro, too, but at least I did know what it was and what it was for.)

Anyway, on this most recent visit, I had three pts. One was on a trach and tube feeds after complications from a CABG. (I still sigh when I recall one of the docs who repaired my Dad's hernia referring to his "cabbage," and I had to ask what he was talking about.) My other patient was a vertebral stenosis, and the admission who came while I was getting report was an ischemic stroke. All very nice people, and all doing quite well, and the night was busy, but went pretty smoothly. It just tickles me that I got pulled to another unit and got two neuro patients.

I'm happy to add that I was very well treated by the other staff. Like I said, this story isn't exactly inspirational. It was just one of many nights that starts a little crappy (getting floated) and turned out pretty good. I love my stupid job.

There is absolutely nothing that says "something good" has to be "something inspirational". This is a great story.

I'm a unit coordinator on a peds/gyn surgery floor. Every once in awhile I get to hold our little patients when moms need a break (or parents don't stay with the kids). Tonight I got to hold the most adorable little peanut. :chuckle Poor mom hadn't even had a chance to get dinner or a bathroom break for hours waiting in ER. It always makes me so happy to hold the little ones since my kids are almost grown. I wrapped her in a warm blankie and snuggled her while mom got a bite to eat downstairs and it was the absolute BEST!

Specializes in CVICU, PACU, OR.

My patient thanked me for taking care of him tonight and I realized how long it's been since a patient has said that to me. It's nice to hear that every now and then.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

One of my nurses last night told me I was "scary" because I'm learning everything so quickly. She is one of my biggest supporters -- helps me when I need it, lets me help with procedures, and talks to me in "medical speak" instead of treating me like a moron. She trusts my intuition ("Hey, I think we should get RT over here for Pt X," I'll say, and she'll call them up) and is gonna be a great supporter of me when I finally get to nursing school.

Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, Home Health, Oncology.
My patient thanked me for taking care of him tonight and I realized how long it's been since a patient has said that to me. It's nice to hear that every now and then.

I so agree with this post!! A simple Thank You will turn my whole shift around!! They are few & far between, but I just received one tonite, & that really helped

I got report on an 87 year old man admitted with CHF. I was told in report "He is difficult and very grumpy". I walked in his room and introduced myself and proceeded to do his assessment. At first he was rather abrupt with me. He just seemed very sad to me when I was talking with him. I continued to do his assessment and started talking with him. Then I kind of made a little joke about the hospital food and he joked right back! We kept joking back and forth for a few minutes and he started laughing and telling me stories.

I checked back on him several times throughout my shift. I never did anything extra special, just did the things that us nurses do to try and keep our patients as comfortable as possible.

When I got ready to leave my shift, I went in for my last minute checks and told him I was leaving. He told me "I just want to thank you for being so kind to me. You took time to talk to me and you made me laugh, that is something I haven't done in 2 years now, every since my wife passed away I haven't smiled let alone laugh." Then he said "You know you just kind of restored my faith in you kids. Usually you kids don't have time to fool with old geezers like me." Now when he said that, I got my biggest laugh, cause this kid is 47 years old! I smiled all day thinking that he had called me a kid!

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