What I learned in clinical this quarter

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sorry it's so long, just had to let out some frustration....

this quarter we are at a nursing home in the skilled nursing area. i went into it bright eyed and ready to learn. the first day we were there you could hear the nurses telling the students oh you don't want that one he is mean, that old women is horrible she will never do anything for you, and other similar things. one aid even refused to help me get a man into his wheelchair because he was "so mean". the thing that i learned is to not believe/listen to everything you hear. i have always applied that in my regular life but for some reason when one of the nurses told me something i believed it. that man i spoke about earlier was suppose to be one of the worst residence in the place, he hits, he curses, he won't get out of bed, he won't eat and those are just some of the things i heard about him before even meeting him. i went into his room not sure what to expect ready for a war but wishing for the best. i remind myself that i am there to help him, put a smile on my face and head in. i talked to him in a cheerful voice and asked how he slept he woke right up and started talking to me i told him i would be taking care of him that day and he started asking me all kinds of questions about school, what his meds were for and any other question he could think of. i answered each one and was glad to have him talking and interested, while in the middle of giving him his meds (oral and g-tube) his food came, i told them that they could leave it and i would take care of it. 5 min later (before i was even finished with his meds) they came back in for it, i asked them to leave it and told them i would take care of it. when i was finished with meds i got his food ready cut it into smaller bites and helped him get the tray into a position where he could reach everything, and guess what...he ate it, every single bit. the same thing happened with getting him out of bed, to the bathroom, and showered. if you took your time he was pleasant and went along with anything you wanted. the next morning i was with him again and the same thing happened he was almost the perfect patient. during the quarter every time a student had him things were great and no problems were reported. i realized that all it took was a little extra effort, something that no one else seemed to have the time for. i guess that it goes to show the way you treat and think about a patient can have a huge implication on what kind of patient you have, almost a self fulfilling prophecy.

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