What are important lessons you've learned about nursing when you've been a patient or a family member of a patient?
For me, the last couple days, with my son on the peds unit, I learned that when a nurse keeps you up to date about what test results were, when the consulted surgeon is not coming cuz he's tied up in an emergency surgery, what the most recent orders were, it's really helpful.
I'll post more of what I learned later, but I am whooped.
If this gets double-posted, it's because my computer got goofy on me the first time I tried to post it.
Now that I'm staring down a cholesterol count of almost 300 and a new prescription for Zocor after a (second) stern lecture from my primary doc on diet and exercise , I understand how hard it is to change your lifestyle, and I (hopefully) won't be so hard on patients who have faced the same difficulties.
I also now understand what it's like to be labeled 'noncompliant'. :trout:
Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
The one hospital admission I recall, with good memories, was the three months I spent in a hospital, here in SW Florida. I was badly injuried when my car was hit by a big rig running a stop sign and plowing into me. I suffered multiple fractures on the left side of my body and went to the OR every three days for work to repair something that was broken or torn. The nurses got my medication to me without me having to ask for it. They washed my hair, which was dirty with dirt and old blood, a week after I was admitted. I can't tell you how good that felt. They were careful helping me in and out of my bed, considering I had a full length leg cast and arm cast. They allowed my daughter up to see me after she got off of work, at 2:30AM.
This was the same hospital that eighteen years later I had to threaten a nurse with a slap when sahe wouldn't stop digging in my hand for an IV site.
When my fathers nurse called to tell me he had gone into complete heart block(he was a dnr, in multy system failure) she also told me she would stay with him until he passed, since I was 1 1/2 hours away. It meant the world to me to know that he wasn't alone.
And when hubby was in the hospital recently, I realize how obnoxious intercom paging of staff was!!!
Things I've done just out of common courtesy: Family needs comforted when a loved one is in the presence of passing. If that means I have to go make a pot of coffee and call dietary for donuts or a meal to be delivered to the room, I do it. It also means that if the patient didn't get a bath or their bed changed that day, I'll take the time out of my day to give a bath and change linens. Even if I'm not assigned to a particular patient on a particular day and the family is there, I'll stop in and say hello and let them know to call me if they need me. I haven't been there when a loved one passes, but when that happens, I'll do my best to be there for the family. One patient's relative told me today that I'm spoiling the patient so much that they're never going to want to go home. I just smiled and said I like to spoil my patients.
I learned that there are many things a pt. can do to help themselves that are actually good for them. I learned that the nurse is grateful for pt's that try to have some understanding that they are understaffed and over worked. I agree withe grace90, it's really nice when your kept updated. Also, just a simple touch of the hand or a smile when you feel your worst is worth a million. I learned that even on the vent, in pain etc....I don't need to hurt the nurse or cuss them out because I feel bad.
My auntie was hospitalized repeatedly for CHF and pleural effusions during the last few months of her life. She was the sweetest thing ever, and every nurse in the CCU and step-down was so wonderful to her. They called me, as promised, whenever she was tanking. They gave me updates as soon as I arrived, without me having to ask. They were so gentle with her. She never complained, and they knew she was uncomfortable, and offered her food and drink, hair combing, and just plain talk.
It's not as if they weren't busy. They were. But they found the time to connect with her.
Because of the behavior of those beautiful nurses, and the hospice nurses, I decided to quit teaching, and go back to my first love from long ago - nursing. My pre-req's are done, and I am applying this week for the second degree program.
Thank you to all you nurses for the work you do. All those little "things" mentioned in this thread that you do for your patients mean the world to them and the family.
It's great if you have that kind of staffing!!!! ( To do all the spoiling, getting coffee, staying with a patient stuff....) I'd love to, but am rarely able to for long periods of time....
don't blast me because i know that there are nurses who try to treat each pt as though they are special, and i do too, but i have learned that much of the special treatment we get is because we are nurses. not that the staff is trying to keep out of trouble, but we and ours get a little extra special care. i saw that with my brother and my parents.
what i have learned: even with pain meds it really does hurt after surgery and it's not easy to get up out of the wheelchair and onto the er gurney.
i have learned that it's not a good idea to assume that just because the pt/relative is a doctor/nurse, that they know everything that's happening. when it's you or yours the knowledge often goes flying out the window.
i have learned that when a pt/relative listens to you having a "normal" conversation with another nurse or doc, that to them what you say can be comletely frightening.
Being on the other side of that call light has proven to me that the anxiety is real when you can't breathe. And I understood it. But so much better. Yet I prayed "please don't vent me".
I feel as if it truly is a teaching/learning experience. And it made me a better nurse emotionally with compassion to not only my co-workers, but more importantly to my patients and their families. Especially after having a near-death situation. I learned to appreciate the care I received from some of the nurses went far and above their call of duty.
That is why I say never say never and you never know! It coud happen to you and when it does you want someone there who cares and understands. And that's a big shout out to MD's. As there is nothing more than the humility you come face to face with when your caring for someone who has blown you off, gossiped about you, and you give that person your professional and personal best.
I believe it makes you a better person as a whole. Just my opinion.:innerconf
It has been quite some time since I've been a patient. I don't really recall much of it. But every once in a while, I like to imagine myself in the patient's shoes. It reminds me how things might seem from the patient's point of view, which helps me to provide better care.
Someone remarked earlier in the thread about how the most important quality in a nurse, to the family members, is compassion; that bedside manner is far more important that knowledge or skill. This is a discussion I've had before with other non-nursing individuals, and I find it sort of.....disturbing.
While I agree that one must have some modicum of compassion to be a halfway decent nurse, does anyone else feel that this focus on being "nice" at the expense of knowledge and skill helps to perpetuate the stereotype of the nurse as the "nurturing angel" rather than the skilled professionals that we are?
For instance, the family member thinks that the nurse who is always so sweet to Grandma must be a good nurse, because s/he is always so nice, while the crusty ol' battleaxe must be a bad nurse because s/he is so gruff. Meanwhile, the sweet nurse has just given Grandma the wrong medication, or the wrong dose, or doesn't even know the medication that s/he's just given, while the crusty nurse has caught a potentially harmful medication error before it happened, simply due to his/her knowledge and experience.
When I was new to health care, I had an idea who the "good" nurses were and who the "bad" nurses were, and it was based upon how nice they were to patients and other staff. Now I know better. There are some nurses with a gruff exterior that I would rather have care for me or a loved one than some of the really "nice" nurses.
I've gone back and forth in my head about this and I think you bring up a valid point.
So to give me the relief of not getting angry at a particular patient, I just decided to combine both, skill and compassion which works for me.
I can't be responsible for others personalities our how they choose to think about me or anyone else. I just go with what I know skill wise and keep it simple an keep it nice.
Took a long time to learn to speak up when I feel it's needed, I don't USUALLY become "angry", displaced or whatever, but I do get frustrated and that' s when I learn I can't put anymore of my own energy into something that is misunderstood or ignored. I move along and sometimes alone.
grace90, LPN, LVN
763 Posts
If this gets double-posted, it's because my computer got goofy on me the first time I tried to post it.
Now that I'm staring down a cholesterol count of almost 300
and a new prescription for Zocor after a (second) stern lecture from my primary doc on diet and exercise 
, I understand how hard it is to change your lifestyle, and I (hopefully) won't be so hard on patients who have faced the same difficulties.
I also now understand what it's like to be labeled 'noncompliant'. :trout: