astormofswords

Today one of my patients suddenly had a seizure whilst eating lunch and began choking -resulting in him being transported to ED and I cannot stop analysing the situation and blaming myself. This patient is a mental health patient in a psychiatric facility with no Hx of epilepsy. This is the first time I've had a patient have a medical emergency/deteriorate suddenly whilst specifically under my care and I think its shaken me up a bit. How do you deal with over-analysing and anxiety after this kind of experience? I can't help but feel shame and that I am to blame even though I was thorough and careful during my shift and can think of nothing I did that could have directly caused the seizure. I was on an agency shift - so did not historically know/have cared for the patient before. The patient was being treated for a mental health diagnosis. The only medical implications they had were them being underweight/malnourished upon admission - with them being on a malnourished pathway and food intake chart (they have been an inpatient for almost 2 weeks). Pt had complaints of "light-headedness" the previous day during the afternoon, however, handover stated this was resolved with rest and fluid intake. I also asked the patient multiple times during the morning how they were feeling, whereby they denied any symptoms/concerns + all vitals were also in range (Luckily I had documented all of this prior to the code being called). The patient having a seizure when they showed no symptoms of being medically compromised and no previous history of epilepsy has made me feel like I have missed something and/or failed in my care of the patient as it occurring is completely puzzling to myself and the response team. I can't even follow up and see if he is ok as I'm an agency nurse and do not work there regularly. Has anyone else ever experienced a patient/case like this in the past? What was the outcome? Thanks for any advice/info!

I'm not sure if the dynamics of the US system are vastly different to the Australian system but I'm a grad doing part time (I work 0.8 a fortnight, so four shifts per week) and I don't believe it's hindered my learning at all. If anything I feel I'm a better nurse as I have avoided any burn out, my mental health is much better, and I have the availability to do some post-graduate studies to increase my knowledge base. Unless the US system strongly frowns upon going part-time (to the point whereby OP will struggle to get a job position) I think the part time lifestyle can be fantastic for some people! :)

Not sure how universities work in America but it seems odd that you would be kicked out and automatically failed from the program unless you did something very serious? It's hard for anyone to give you advice when you're vague and secretive about the reason you have been kicked out.

I'm starting to understand why you think the world is against you when if a person on this forum doesn't tell you exactly what you want to hear you outwardly mock them and play the victim. Bit ironic that you critique others for being negative while you mock them and show negativity in the same sentence, don't you think? Some people question your attitude or elements of your post and you proclaim that they're the reason nursing is declining? WOW.

Thanks for replying to my post. I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to hear that you felt almost exactly the same way in your first quarter! I did Forensic Investigation for a quarter and Psychology for a year and a half, though I didn't mind psych I definitely wanted something more practical and useful from a career/degree. So Nursing is kind of my "last-ditch attempt" to, in a sense that if I don't enjoy this degree I really don't know what I'll do next, so I really want to enjoy it but at the same time I don't want to make the mistake of getting into a profession I'm not suited to! It's good to hear that worrying isn't necessarily a negative trait to have for Nursing, especially if it can be altered/honed for the better! I suppose it is true that people go into Nursing for very different reasons. I think my issue is that I've had to listen to and have spoken to some very...opinionated people haha who seem to have a black and white "you're a natural or you're not" outlook to Nursing. Or others (such as certain loudmouth tutors haha) who think they're the ideal person/personality for Nursing and those that don't fit into that mold aren't going to do well. Which has made me second guess myself a bit. It's also good to know that you think persistence is one of the more useful traits. I guess I never thought of that but I suppose after a really hard day/week at work, or decades in a profession, persistence is really what's going to keep you going! It really does seem like Nursing changes people, and does make them stronger. Thanks again for the reply. I can't express how helpful your, and other peoples, comments have been. It definitely makes me feel so much better about the situation, thank you! :)

Thank you for taking the time to read and rely to my post. It's a relief to know that Nursing does change you in that regard. I'm not always a shy/un-confident person, if the occasion calls for it I do take charge if I have to, just naturally I'm not the most outgoing person but I suppose when you train and work in that profession it'll be naturally a trait that builds up in you/you learn as you go along! I suppose it's true that personality traits really do reflect on the area of nursing you work in. I guess diversity is one of the best things about the job, how if you're not suited to one area going into another is really viable option! It's good to know that it took you till your second year to know for sure. Sometimes I'm worried Nursing is just a profession you have to want really badly from the get go with a burning passion to do the job. But it's really nice to hear that a lot of people had to try it out for themselves and work in different areas to know it was completely right for them. Thanks for your best wishes, greatly appreciated! :)

Thanks for some really good advice. I haven't been on any clinicals yet, my first is in June, but it's interesting and helpful to know how it works and it's a relief that I get to explore different areas to get a taste of what would suit my personality best. I think my first Prac rotation is in aged care, because it's my first semester of Nursing and I still need to learn the basics. But I'll definitely hold out and look forward to when I get to spend time on the wards. (I have nothing against aged care, I think it'll be really good experience, I just know career wise that I'd want a bit more of a challenge out of a job!) And I'll definitely take your advice about considering my prac as a "very long and protracted working job interview". I never considered it that way but I suppose it's very true that you could be possibly training under future employers. Thanks for taking the time to provide me with some very useful tips/info! :)

Thanks for the advice. I think the issue at the moment is because I'm so early on in my course I really won't know for sure if Nursing is 100% right for me till I do at least a couple of pracs/clinicals. But that shadowing is a really good idea, I'll definitely look into it when I get deeper into my degree. Thanks :)

Ah ok, that's interesting, thanks for the info. Very lucky you got into that field almost right away and have been able to continue with it for so many years! Thank you for the best wishes, I hope I get as much out of my time in nursing as you have :)

Wow, you don't know how comforting that is for me to hear that. I'm hoping Nursing is the right degree/career for me and I'll admit I'm really worried that I'm possibly making the wrong decision (there's no direct/particular reason for me thinking this way, just simply worried I won't enjoy it as I read a lot of "you either love it or you hate/you're a natural or you're not" comments). So to see you not being 100% sure of things in your studies either but to come through with 19 years of experience and ending up loving the job is immensely supportive! :) And I completely agree with you about Nursing being great for variety. I'm only a month into my nursing degree, so I really won't know if I'm cut out for it till I experience a lot more, but whenever I have my mini-intrusive thoughts of "oh no, what if I'm making a mistake and I don't enjoy this job" I really take comfort in the fact that even if I dislike one area of nursing I might really enjoy another. Just a quick question: did you go right into L&D, Antepartum, Postpartum, Newborn Nursery, and NICU sort of work, or did you have to do some more basic nursing care initially (like ward/bedside nursing work) to get the experience to go into those areas? Thanks for you post and good wishes, much appreciated! I really hope/aspire to be the kind of person you are and enjoy my job the way you do in 19 years time :)

Thanks again for the advice. I think what comforts me most in this decision to choose Nursing as a career is the variety in it. Even if I dislike/don't enjoy one area of Nursing I can simply train up and find an area I love! :) And I totally agree with you about "Almost anything is tolerable if you know where the end-point is" . I think planning out obtainable goals/back-up plans is the best way to go(for someone with my kind of personality anyway haha)! Even if I go through school, graduate, and get a job, possibly disliking that one particular area of nursing won't be the end of the world if I can just retrain/move to something else :) Thanks again!

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post! Your post comforts me a lot, so I really appreciate it. And I guess you're right about the confidence side to things, I never thought of it that way :) It's also good to hear you're an introvert too, I'm not sure I would completely describe myself in that way but I know I can certainly be a bit shy and not being the most outgoing person in certain situations, so it's a relief to know that not all nurses have to be bubbly/loud-mouths and you can be on the shy-er side while still being good at your job :)

I appreciate you taking the time to reply but I didn't really say that I am "not comfortable with very high levels of accountability" nor that "making decisions is not [my] strong suite". I understand where you might have gotten that idea from but the only reason I'm second guessing myself and being a tad indecision is because this decision will affect me for the rest of my life. A career you're going to be doing for the next 4 decades isn't really something you should choose lightly (at least in my opinion) which is why I wanted to ask around to get a better understanding of the job and what it takes.

Thanks for your good advice, normally I do naturally become more confident through experience, though that takes time unfortunately haha especially as I'm still pretty young too

Thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my post! I think you're right about me just having to wait and finished my first year of schooling to see what I think of it and if it's suited to me. I would love to be in that position (that's really what I'm aspiring for, hence why I'm thinking into this quite a lot, I don't take the decision lightly). You're very lucky to enjoy your profession so much! :)