I’ve been in this profession of nursing just long enough to feel like I should know what I’m doing, but a short enough span of time that I still have much to learn. About eleven years. And over this period of time I’ve come to learn what to expect, but also to realize I must expect the unexpected, or that things may never be what I expect. Make sense?
Point being, the field of nursing is a complex, multifaceted career, but even so there are a number of things I can learn that I will see more than once in my time. There are certain moments that occur in a nurse’s day, and you come to a point where you are rarely surprised, only occasionally shocked, and although sometimes still shaken, you recognize these moments as part of your vocation. They become typical nursing moments. As in “that’s typical!”
They are frequently exasperating, often anxiety-inducing, and most of the time pretty gross.
This is my life.
- That moment when you try to no avail to tell your patient something very important about their care all day, then suddenly the doctor comes in and says the same thing, and it’s instantly the most profound statement they’ve ever heard.
- That moment when you decide to take your lunch break, and suddenly all your patients have to use the bathroom. Or projectile vomit.
- That moment when you’ve awaited with bated breath the arrival of a physician so you can pass along important patient information, and they come through in the two minutes you decide to leave the floor.
- That moment when you have had the worst day ever, but the end of your shift has finally arrived. Then you realize your relief is running late.
- That moment of childlike excitement when you wake and see the ground covered in snow. And then the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize nurses don’t get snow days.
- That moment when you don’t feel your best, but decide you’re not sick enough to call in to work. And then you receive the worst, craziest patient assignment of your entire career.
- That moment that follows a stretch of continuous days off when you suddenly realize you have to go back. And work four twelves.
- That moment you have to change scrubs due to someone else’s bowel evacuation.
- That moment when you have to get up a patient three times your size, it’s the first time they’ve been out of bed in a week, and suddenly errbody is busy. Like it’s a ghost town out there.
- That moment when the doctor arrives to the room, and the patient who has been voicing multiple, minor complaints all morning suddenly answers “everything is great” when questioned by the physician.
- That moment where your gloved hands become soiled, and then your nose decides to itch the most it ever has in your whole life.
- That moment when you decide you must have the best patient in the entire unit, and then the doctor puts in orders for them to transfer.
- That moment when you’re helping to turn a coworker’s patient, and you suddenly feel something warm and wet on your bare skin.
- That moment when you get the test results back that imply your patient should be on strict, airborne precautions, and you think about all the time you spent unmasked in their room the day before.
- That moment when a coworker utters the word “quiet,” and you know all too well the feces storm that will ensue after.
- That moment when you get discharge orders for one patient, and the ER is already calling to give report on the other patient who will go to that room. And usually this will occur during lunch or right before change of shift.
- That moment when assignments are given out, and you realize you drew the short straw.
- That moment when your patient says “something doesn’t feel right.”
- That moment when you realize you just flushed a central line port that was full of a vasodilator. (You might need to change your scrubs again).
- That moment when the family of your post-op day two, suddenly confused patient admit, “well, he drinks a little.”
- That moment when you sit back down to your computer after being called away for an emergency, and you realize that all the previous data you entered on the assessment screen was not saved and is lost forever.
- That moment when the physician orders a bowel prep for your GI bleed patient.
- The moment when you realize you’ve been assigned the patient of that physician.
- That moment when you discharge your frequent flyer, and hear the same day they are back in the ER.
- The moment you receive a new, “stable” admit and it crashes immediately, or an “emergent” transfer from MedSurg, and they’re suddenly cured.
- That moment where you have a really bad day, and feel like you’ll never know all there is to know. And that’s okay.
It’s okay because it’s true, and although there are typical moments of nursing, those moments that you anticipate and get used to seeing, it’s still a foreign world at times. Maybe that’s what keeps it exciting. For sure most of the time you will feel like you’re living Murphy’s Law! Either way whether a typical day, a foreign one, or a Murphy’s Law kind of day it’s really what you make it. And I try to make each one count.
I try to impact lives positively. Even if I’m covered in poo. I try to remember all the things I love about the job, the moments that make me proud to be called a nurse. They’re pretty typical too, but always in an encouraging and enjoyable way.