Arafelle

Hello! I am starting my residency soon and saw this lovely comment on a Youtube video and wanted to see how other nurses start their day. I'm wondering how varied it is, as I'm aware every person establishes their own routine. For some reason, reading writeups like this comfort me because they give me a picture of how to start the day in my head, if that makes sense. So, if any of you nurses are willing, I'd love to see your version of this flow: All of this stuff is probably common sense but I love reading the flow like this from others. I guess it just helps me reheorifice it in my mind so I feel like I can start establishing my own. Here is the video where I found the comment: Thank you!

Hi Meng Ling, Sorry for the late reply. I ended up going with Bellevue College at the time, so I can't speak to that program sadly. Good luck!

Haha, yeah. That would make sense. Verbal assault to me is not really assault. I worked in call centers and support jobs for years and had the worst things said to me. Those things you just have to brush off and not take it personally. ?

I want to add something to all of this. When I look at how you all are responding, I see something incredibly wholesome. You guys have pointed out that I might need therapy/counseling a few times and that I am having exaggerated fears. I think you are all right. Because it is "my normal" I didn't really consider that my fears tend to be more intense and disproportionate to reality than they should be. This could literally change everything for me: if it weren't for you all pointing it out, I might have never realized this pattern. I can now seek help in an area that I am more conscious of. I am so grateful. This made me think about other times I have gone through these types of situations, where I mentally go to the worst case scenario in my head and react to it as if it were reality (in this case it didn't help that the lady in the Youtube video literally said something that was worst case scenario, haha).

Thank you for being so thoughtful. My earlier response was just me saying that after processing it, I think I could handle being in a potentially violent situation, even if I still fear it greatly. I feel like I was going through the grief stages, if you know what I mean. And it did incapacitate me. I have to accept that it could happen to me and learn how to cope with that knowledge in the back of my mind. You are right about fear being an issue in itself that needs to be addressed. I think one way to address it is to learn more about other experiences from nurses like you. How much do you experience assault? Is it really daily like this nurse said in the video? I have not experienced physical violence. I only anticipate it and it is that anticipatory fear, as you pointed out, that is causing me great anxiety. I am going to work on finding ways to work through that fear, and I think this post is helping me in that direction as well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I needed to see that this experience in the video isn't universal. You did that for me. If that experience were indeed common, it would be valid to say that it changes everything for nursing. Most people wouldn't put up with daily physical assaults, obviously. I SO appreciate you sharing your experience in contrast to the one in the video. Last night, I tried to find a similar post (before making this one) for encouragement and reassurance that nursing isn't all like this nurse's story in the video. Instead. all I found were additional stories and upsetting outlooks on assault and workplace safety. I had a hard time finding any statements from experienced nurses who have had only a handful of experiences regarding assault. I think it's one of those situations where you only hear about negative stories because no one talks about non-issues. It formed into confirmation bias pretty quickly for me. I hope this post also provides comfort for other new-grads and potential nursing career-pursuers who want a clearer picture of what the various experiences are from different nurses. Others might stumble on horrifying assault stories if they dig into the internet too much, but not know who to ask: "Is it really this bad all the time?" Us newbies really want to know what it's like from a variety of perspectives so that we can prepare ourselves as best as possible. Part of that is coming to terms with things that we are afraid of. Thank you again!

Thank you.. After writing this, I think the cathartic effect actually released something. I feel like I could handle it now. Maybe it was something I just needed to process and delayed it until this moment. It's tough to come to terms with things that you believe to your core are unjust.

I feel so, so stupid right now. The optimist in me said this entire time that I can handle an occasional bout of violence from a patient. But how would I even know that if I've never been assaulted in any way in my entire life? I am really upset at the thought that my first experience being assaulted will be in my chosen career. That's because I can't blame anyone else but myself. "I signed up for it". Like, duh, I should know that this is a common issue. But I ignored it and thought maybe I could get by without experiencing it somehow. I tried my best up until now to no put too much thought into it so I could continue onward. Then, yesterday, I saw this video: She basically says that, as a bedside nurse, she got assaulted EVERY DAY. She even got feces thrown in her face and got cellulitis on her optic ***ing NERVE. WHAT THE ***. I want to help people and I love health science, pathophysiology, and teaching. However, I am realizing that I could have helped people in many other ways without risking being traumatized repeatedly and potentially permanently injured until I retire. It's these things that we don't talk about in nursing school. I still, can only blame myself. I thought I put enough introspection into this before deciding to go into nursing. Now I'm on my 5th quarter and I can't believe I'm even at this point. Is there anyone who has encouragement for me? Is there any hope?

Has any one had any experience working at Cascade Valley Hospital in the Arlington area? How was it? How does it compare to other experiences you've had? Would you recommend for or against working there? How long ago was it? Thank you!

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It worked for me too! Thank you for updating us! I'm excited to meet you all.

Yes, me too! I'm glad we aren't alone in this issue as well. It just means that it's them and not us, so it should be okay!

I haven't been able to pay. I emailed Jorja and Dianne. I am waiting for them to get back to me. I hope everyone else is emailing them too, so they know it's not just an isolated issue.

Yep! They're blue. We'll have to buy special scrubs with the BC logo on them. They'll go over it on orientation day. I wouldn't buy anything until then if you ask me.