keepingitrealnursing

Hello. I am a nurse for close to 4 years. I have only worked at teaching hospitals and started out in oncology and transitioned to the ICU. Yes, I have encountered death on the oncology unit (literally 3 deaths in 1 week). We become really close with patients, especially in oncology. I would say that it did indeed make me cry on that third death, I literally broke down in the bathroom in tears. This happens a lot in nursing as well in the ICU in which I had to wipe away blood from an intubated patient in front of his family members that was basically already brain dead...we were just waiting on the go ahead to take the tube out. Indeed I broke down again in an empty room with 2 coworkers to console me. Unfortunately this happens. It did bring back horrible memories in oncology since my dad had passed away from cancer. If nursing is something you are really passionate about then go for it. I was literally afraid of my own blood growing up, and somehow, I got through it. However, it does take an emotional toll, so it is something to reconsider because you do not want to sacrifice your health for this either. Choose a path you will enjoy. This is my story...

Hello. I am so sorry to hear that you did not pass the first time. You must not lose hope. The first step would be to try to relax (it may be difficult) initially. High levels of stress would make it difficult to concentrate. I used Kaplan to study and practiced questions on a daily basis for at least 2-3 weeks. Some people may need more time than this but go over the rationales as to why an answer was incorrect. If you have not mastered the content you can go over the rationale as to why it was correct as well. This helps to put things into perspective. Perhaps try to practice 50 questions per day in areas you do not quite understand. I am a visual learner as well. I looked at youtube videos and explanations of pathophysiology in areas I did not fully comprehend. I recall using HURST review for a bit but I mostly focused on Kaplan questions. Attempt to practice more in your areas of weakness. You can use the elimination trick to get rid of some answers so you stand a better chance. I am starting a blog to try to help nursing students and newer nurses etc. Feel free to ask me about NCLEX questions there and I will try my best to help/answer. https://keepingitrealnursing.blogspot.com/

In this situation, I understand. Speaking for myself, I allow family members into the room because this helps with the outcome and help to calm the patient and aid in overall emotional support. This is your spouse so I imagine you've seen him naked like you said or vice versa. That was clearly a difficult day and perhaps you would have had a better experience. I recall asking a spouse to stay and he insisted on exiting his room. His wife then replied, "as if you've never seen me naked." The nurse putting in the IV should have had a better attitude and explained the procedure as well. I get your perspective now that you've explained it in detail. I am sorry you had such a bad experience.

As an ICU nurse, we allow family members to come in on a case by case basis. There have been many instances in which the care of the patient becomes secondary and the family become primary because he/she/they may be asking multiple questions about every alarm going off and this takes away from the patient care. There are certain instances when the family members are told to wait in the waiting room due to prepping of the patients for procedures etc. I am unable to speak for other areas of the hospital.