Self Praise

[GSDlvrRN, MSN]

Guys. I had a thought. A good thought. I think we should praise ourselves. Nursing is a thankless job. It is not a secret that we pour ourselves into our jobs and responsibilities, nurse burnout is not a secret, neither is compassion fatigue. You know what im talking about. Constantly giving, giving, giving, and being left empty. We can try to make ourselves feel "full" with hobbies, positive self talk, or not giving a s***. But I think a very very important part of coping is praising ourselves. Acknowledging positive things we have done. "Triumphs".

I have had days where I felt like I couldn't do anything right, my patient just had problems on top of problems, supervisor is unhappy because I have not discharged a certain patient and they need a bed, family says im a b**** and I'm neglecting the DKA patient and not bringing him ice cream, dobutamine drip patient is upset because I won't disconnect his IV so he can shower, and manager is upset because I stayed after my shift to document.

I stood up for myself to a sexually inappropriate patient yesterday.

I woke up today and decided I would still care for the perverted patient.

I'm a strong person for doing that.

I had my patients best interest in mind today when I didn't stop the dobutamine.

I'm okay with patients not getting what they want because what they want is harmful to themselves.

I explained to my supervisor I cannot discharge a patient when they have not voided for 16 hours and I know they need the bed for a new patient...even though doctor says they are medically clear.

I called the doctor to ask for a diet order for a patient NPO for two days for a procedure they are not able to consent for...they're a GCS 11. No family available to consent.

I also requested an ethics consult for the poor guy. And I'm a great advocate for doing that.

I did an APS report for a paraplegic man admitted with a stage 4 pressure ulcer to his sacrum. He had such bad mental illness and hallucinations he accused me of calling him a child molester and arranging for a man in the bathroom to shoot him.

I iniciated a social work and psych consult for a patient admitted for GI bleed but was originally found by PD unconscious in his car after intentionally overdosing on heroin. He had brown stains on his shirt and they called it a GI bleed.

I also prayed with my patient and his pastor to show that I care about his spiritual needs, and I hugged his mom who was crying.

I was stern today and went against the popular choice when it was in better interest for my patient today.

I put myself aside for my patients today.

And I came home today and didn't feel defeated over it.