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 :)

[ranchwife]

as a nurse in a very small town (population 750), you find that you have time to really get to know your patients!!! You get to know their likes, dislikes, family, friends and foes! Often, once they are discharged, they will stop in and have a cup of coffee, bring in the grandbabies "to meet the nice nurses who made gramma better" and will bring you lots of homemade goodies!! Even if the outcome is for the "worse", the families remember us and they thank us! We often find our names listed in the local small-town newspaper under the "thank you" letters! Makes us all realize that we are truly making a difference to someone out there!

[grace90, LPN, LVN]

In the midst of a chaotic morning at the end of my night shift last night, a PCA walked by and said "If I'm ever in the hospital, I want Grace to be my nurse!"

[SK-222]

At my desk, a couple of our lab techs (are contracted through a different company but we all work on the same premises) had not only remembered my birthday last month, but when I came in, they had a special card, cut little stuffed animal and snacks as a gift which they had so thoughfully left at my desk were I normally sit. A very nice feel-good day! :balloons:

[bdeherr]

I work in long term care; often I feel I receive much more than I give from my residents. A heartfelt "thank you" from a 99 year old that is concerned because she has lost a pair of socks, all I did was listen, she found them!...Our endstage Alzheimers resident whose sole, last action when you approached her was to present her forehead to you for a kiss, which was our habit for the last several years....our other Alzheimers resident that "melts in your arm" when you give her a hug, we don't know who she believes we are, we just know she gives her love freely in response to our hug.

[Melody1968]

:balloons:

1. A patient said to me "I don't want to leave ICU you won't be there to take care of me."

2. patient told doctor "She is the best nurse you have here." right after the doctor yelled at me because another one of his other patients pulled his trach out.

3. I got a pay raise. (That was the bestest thing)

I would have liked #2 the best myself!!!! haha Mel :):balloons: :balloons:

[ranchwife]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Just found out today that our little hospital has agreed to pay for me to go back to school and get my ADN!!!!!!!!!!! I will start august 22nd!!! When one of my patients found out (a "repeater"), she said "Bout time they realized that they have a good thing here and they don't need to lose it!!"

Course, for every year that the hospital pays for, I am obligated to stay for a year..........NOT A PROBLEM!!! My hubby was born and raised here in our tiny town, we live on the ranch he was raised on and I really do not see us leaving in the future!!!

;) ;)

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Just found out today that our little hospital has agreed to pay for me to go back to school and get my ADN!!!!!!!!!!! I will start august 22nd!!! When one of my patients found out (a "repeater"), she said "Bout time they realized that they have a good thing here and they don't need to lose it!!"

Course, for every year that the hospital pays for, I am obligated to stay for a year..........NOT A PROBLEM!!! My hubby was born and raised here in our tiny town, we live on the ranch he was raised on and I really do not see us leaving in the future!!!

;) ;)

How exciting for you!!! When you work in a very small hospital, perks like this are much sweeter :) Best of luck to you in school!

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Just found out today that our little hospital has agreed to pay for me to go back to school and get my ADN!!!!!!!!!!! I will start august 22nd!!! When one of my patients found out (a "repeater"), she said "Bout time they realized that they have a good thing here and they don't need to lose it!!"

Course, for every year that the hospital pays for, I am obligated to stay for a year..........NOT A PROBLEM!!! My hubby was born and raised here in our tiny town, we live on the ranch he was raised on and I really do not see us leaving in the future!!!

;) ;)

Very nice! Your life is about to become a living hell--but in a fun way! But, seriously, best of luck. It's a lot of hard work, but worth every bit of it.

[kyutnurse]

I work PM shift (3-11:30) and I admitted a teenage ( post gunshot wound )para, with high anxiety issues. This is a very angry teenager and hates everybody but me. Night shift complained that the patient yells and screams at the night nurses...when I came back a few days later, they said all the patient is looking for is me, because I could " understand" what she needs...per night shift "what did you do to her? she trusts you?"

[bjlyst]

this doesn't start off as something good that happened, but the finish is exceptional...

i am the supervising charge nurse for a 126 bed long term care home. most of our patients are either bed bound, confused, alzheimers, or just plan over 90 and old.

i also work the night shift and my staff consists of one other lvn, and six cna's, two in the lockdown unit that aren't suppose to leave that unit for any reason at night.

two months ago, while working, one of the clothes dryers caught fire. something to do with the wiring. as the supervising nurse, its my responsibility when something happens, to make sure everyone is doing their job correctly and that the proper dept. are notified.

so, i announced the fire, and where it was, we contained the fire and the cna's hit it with six fire extingushers, until the fire dept. arrived. the fire dept. said evucate the building.

its dark outside, we evucate to the front parking lot, which has a very large hill going down to the main road. its cold, about 40 degrees. and i have 4 cna's i can work with. so, i gave the order to start moving my floor to the main courtyard, and west side to the front parking lot.

we started moving, i called the administrator and laundry head, the fire dept cancelled the evucation. but in less that 45 minutes, we had 45 patients, up; in wheelchairs, wrapped to keep warm and out of the building and then back into their beds. by the time the administrator got here from home we were moving back in and it took him 25 minutes to get to the facility.

now if that isn't some kind of team working record, i don't know what is. i was so proud of my staff, for working so well and doing what i said and and what they knew to do.

[christymwinn]

i had a pt who was a meds only pt ( in the icu) and the family was staying with him b/c he wasn't doing well. I know that i was there for the pt and his wife (who was having a very hard time with all this b/c it was actually unexpected in the beginning). i was able to sit down and talk with her about his condition and help her with all the information she needed to make decisions about his care, and when he passed toward the end of my shift the family was with him for as long as they needed ( 2 hrs) and gave me hugs as they left.

that made me feel good to know i was there for them when they needed someone most.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

this doesn't start off as something good that happened, but the finish is exceptional...

i am the supervising charge nurse for a 126 bed long term care home. most of our patients are either bed bound, confused, alzheimers, or just plan over 90 and old.

i also work the night shift and my staff consists of one other lvn, and six cna's, two in the lockdown unit that aren't suppose to leave that unit for any reason at night.

two months ago, while working, one of the clothes dryers caught fire. something to do with the wiring. as the supervising nurse, its my responsibility when something happens, to make sure everyone is doing their job correctly and that the proper dept. are notified.

so, i announced the fire, and where it was, we contained the fire and the cna's hit it with six fire extingushers, until the fire dept. arrived. the fire dept. said evucate the building.

its dark outside, we evucate to the front parking lot, which has a very large hill going down to the main road. its cold, about 40 degrees. and i have 4 cna's i can work with. so, i gave the order to start moving my floor to the main courtyard, and west side to the front parking lot.

we started moving, i called the administrator and laundry head, the fire dept cancelled the evucation. but in less that 45 minutes, we had 45 patients, up; in wheelchairs, wrapped to keep warm and out of the building and then back into their beds. by the time the administrator got here from home we were moving back in and it took him 25 minutes to get to the facility.

now if that isn't some kind of team working record, i don't know what is. i was so proud of my staff, for working so well and doing what i said and and what they knew to do.

You had 45 elderly LTC residents up into w/c's, dressed for warmth, out in the parking lot and then were heading back IN and this was all within 45 minutes?? You don't deserve just a pat on the back, you deserve a timewarp award!