Eilana

I'm sure there is a thread around here somewhere, but I feel like I should share this. I'm still a student nurse and the other day, I missed giving 2 scheduled doses of insulin; I only gave the sliding scale. Nobody caught the mistake until the afternoon shift (I was in the morning shift). The patient was fine; nothing happened to her. But, when I was told of the incident by my instructor, I was devastated ... I mean I cried because I felt like I somehow, failed the patient....

Knock Knock ... Who's there? Billy. Billy Who? Billy Rubin.

I work as a waitress and then doing full time schooling for my degree. Thankfully my boss is very understanding and try to schedule me for weekends and later shifts on weekdays when she knows that I have to get up early the next morning for the hospital / morning classes.

Thank you all for sharing your stories. After my crying episode, I felt so silly for breaking down in the first place for no apparent reason! Upon retrospect, it felt good to just cry (you know what I mean). Then I just started to write down my feelings and thoughts. Little of bit of music helps too and then I just slept .... I mean both - the grief from our personal life and that from our patients. I mean how you can you tell an 18-year old that she can't go to prom because she is dying of cancer? Then how can you cope with the loss? Or, if you have just recently lost your father and then having to be supportive of your patients. I'm interested in knowing how you cope with our own sadness while still providing therapeutic care.

Yesterday, I did something that I didn't think I would do on the floor: One minute I was just laughing and cracking jokes and the next thing I knew I started crying in front of my instructor. There were only the two of us at the time and she kindly gave me a few tissues and just let me cry it out. I didn't know what came over me! Anyways, I'm sure each nurse has gone through this experience. My question is how do you cope with your loss, pain, depression, despair, anxiety? How does your own coping process influence the nurse-client relationship?

After being diagnosed with diabetes, how has your perception of health changed? Do you considered yourself to be healthy (did you, prior to your diagnosis)?

How you ever encountered pt. who are in pain and you are helpless as to how to treat them? One of my first clinical experiences on the floor and I had this lady, age 69. She was admitted for dementia, social problems and OD on narcotics. She reported 9/10 on the pain scale on the left side of the neck, lower back, left leg and groin area. She had a Foley. She was given analgesic (morphine, Tylenol ... not at the same time) q4h, once at 0300 and then 0900. I was there at 10:00 and she said that she had a pain of 9/10. I tried talking to her and repositioning her. When I came to check on her again at 1400 after another set of medications, she was still in pain. I didn't know what to do.... any advice?

There is a lot information about diabetes like diet, glucose monitoring, support groups, treatments etc ... what do you think is the biggest misconception about diabetes (from people who do have diabetes and from the people who don't)?

I know that one of the most important thing to changing a health behaviour is for the pt to want to change. Diabetes often requires many lifestyle changes on the part of the client with alterations in diet, exercise, ADL etc (if anybody wants to elaborate on this feel free to do so). Although there are many resources and support groups out there, do you think that we, as health professionals are meeting the needs of diabetic pts?

I hope you don't mind me asking, was your grandmother's compliance due in part of her diabetes ... (ie, she was afraid of the secondary effects that stem from diabetes). Some pts are compliant simply because "my doctor said so." Others are truly afraid of dying or the complications involved. I'm just trying to understand diabetes from the standpoint that people who have diabetes. How does it affect their daily lives? How has their perspective on health changed?

Like many of previous replies, I would just like to emphasize that it is important for your daugther to think about why she chose to go into nursing as profession. What is about unique nursing is that it is not all about textbooks but there *is* a practical aspect involved where we apply what we learn into clinical practice. With that, there is a (mis)conception about what nursing is all about. I remember my first day of clinical I had to give a complete bedpath on a 80 year old patient. I definitely had to take a deep breath on that one! With any day on the floor, there are the good ones and the bad ones. It simply comes with the territory. All in all, my best advice is to give it time in order to get a field of everything before deciding whether nursing is truly what she wants to do.

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone wouldn't sharing their experiences dealing with diabetic patients. What were the patients' perception of health? How did their experiences affect you as a nurse? or You yourself, have diabetes, so how do you personal experience help / hinder your role as the health care provider?

yup, definitely a fan of the peanut butter + toast combo. i used to never eat breakfast but i found myself hungry at around 1030 or so, but clinical days are just too long for you to not have breakfast ... now i usually have a hot instant drink mix which is easily transfer to a mug and bring to the car. also, i usually throw in a couple of granola bars and juice boxes to munch while i'm on the go.

Hello, thank you for answering my post. um, I'm not a student from Douglas College, so hopefully you're still game for helping me out. Talk to you soon!

Hello, I'm a nursing student looking to talk to a RN about issues regarding nursing (such as past experiences, current views, trends etc). If any RN is willing to help, please PM or is willing to correspond through email, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!