Please share something GOOD that happened at work!

[RNsRWe]

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 :)

[haras regnurps]

today my scrub tech was awesome. I had 2 techs, me the RN circualtor, a CRNA and the surgeon in the room.

there wasn't a speculum that was fitting our patient and instead of fueling the surgeon with negative comments the tech assisting totally defused the situation. I'm sure the tech scrubbing that did not have the correct speculum agrees with me.........................................

I had left the room for the 2nd time and had come back, this would be the 3rd instrument that we tried, I said "3rd times a charm "and she said "yea and you must be goldilocks too " to the surgeon. he laughed and I said " and we are the 3 bears " the whole team ended up laughing and this time ----it fit. the case continued and we finished in a timely manner per usual. It is awesome when everyone is trying to do a good job and get along for the patients sake if nothing else............

[AliRae]

We had a crazy day. 5 admissions overnight, I was in charge and was supposed to go on transport and arrange to admit a kid who came in CPR in progress and deal with a disgruntled parent all at the same time (plus the rest of the crazies filling the rest of the beds). Somewhere in the midst of it, our attending (by all accounts NOT the most pleasant person) looked around, realized that the nursing staff was busting their collective rears (taking names and saving lives!), and ordered pizza for all of us so we'd get properly fed.

It seems like such a small thing, but it totally made the difference in a really difficult day.

[nckdl]

Well i work in an Alzheimer/dementia unit and I only work 3 days a week. So I was off for 3 days in a row and come in to work as usual, when one of our very confused pts looks up and said " where have you been? I've been waiting for 3 days for you to come back to me." It was a short lived clarity but it felt the world to me that I have a positive affect of their lives. It makes it worthwhile when we are working short or have all the behaviors.:wink2:

[Ms Kylee]

After all of the cr** I take from an RN who feels anyone with less with a BSN is "beneath" her and all of her complaining that I don't give baths and don't answer call bells, I got the shock of my life. She was talking to one of the other nurses about me and said "Kylee's been really keeping up on her baths lately." And while dealing with a confused patient who kept fighting me, the IV team, the RN, and the doctor... the RN said to me "You did good with him today. I'm proud of you". Made my whole day. This nurse always thanks me for my help when I work with her. A small word, but it meant so much.

[goats'r'us, ASN, RN]

bump.

I've had such a lovely dose of warm fuzzies, so thought I'd share an oldie with everyone.

[pca_85]

I had a really crabby lady one day in LTC-nothing was right, the food sucked, there was just no making her happy. So I sat with her and let her vent. I checked on her on last rounds, she told me I was beautiful, no one ever stays for her rants, me hanging out with her made her feel special :) That made my day.

[goats'r'us, ASN, RN]

I have one to add that has the double barrelled benefit if reminding me how far I've come since I first read this thread and posted that I'd learned to scrub for a hip hemiarthroplasty.

six months ago I was asked to precept a new grad nurse who had never been to the operating theatres, had no real knowledge of sterile technique, instrument names/uses, procedure requirements... pretty much a blank canvas to be taught from scratch.

Last week we walked into a giant emergency in the angio suite (well outide the everything-within-reach comfort of the operating theatres) and she impressed me so much! she got me set up, prioritised her actions while everyone around her was in panic, utilized all the help she had available, trouble-shot, knew when and who to call for extra help, and really just got the job done in an incredibly stressful and unfamiliar environment. We, as a team, were AWESOME and I HELPED HER GET THERE!!

[goats'r'us, ASN, RN]

oh, and we saved the patient :)