November 7, 2017
In our "Dear Patient" series, providers share their experiences by talking to the patients that left a mark in their life.
October 26, 2017
Despite the 10 hours of tattoo work that he flaunts from between the buttons of his hospital gown, a lab draw is still more terrifying than a policeman's taser. I donate blood every year, and that 16 gauge straight needle stays in the whole time. I don't need a tattoo to prove I'm tough. My service to my community is twice as scary as taking a bullet, and blame, for a friend trying to steal a car. At least, that's what my patient thinks. But every once in a while, a patient tells you something that makes you think.
October 3, 2017
How effective can we be if we don’t take care of ourselves? And the worst of it is, I’m cutting a piece of myself every day hoping that sacrificing myself today will somehow make tomorrow better. And every day my patient reminds me that there is no bigger lie.
September 7, 2017
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May 31, 2017
I observed how in the busiest of times when an ER nurse was trying to move patients “upstairs” (MedSurg or ICU), they would often feel a palpable amount of cultural tension. Not only did other departments appear to work at different speeds, but had very different goals and ways of doing things.
May 24, 2017
I looked down at my admission slip and saw written "35-year-old male, high potassium, and low platelets.” Humm...okay. I already began to plan out in my mind all my interventions even before calling to get report. I'll never forget that report...even to this day, it seems like I can so clearly hear the sadness in the ER nurse's voice. The first words out of her mouth were "Oh man, this is a sad one.”
May 22, 2017
We learned slowly that the only power we had to comfort people in pain as they entered a complex system of care was the softest power at all: tenderness. There were no promises we could make, and people often lied to us to protect themselves. So we smiled.
May 19, 2017
They gave her a heart shaped pillow that has the anatomy of the blood vessels and a heart on it. The surgeons signed the pillow with a sharpie and drew on the arteries that had been grafted. Her job is to hug this pillow when she moves, or when she coughs or sneezes. She wraps the pillow, we have the nurse, the PT, a respiratory therapist, another nurse and me, the newbie aide to use a slide board to move her to the chair. The PT reminds me to watch all the lines and go slow. I was on high alert and we slide her over.
May 17, 2017
I went from feeling like the guardian angel, to feeling like the grim-reaper himself. I knew we were doing everything right. I knew we followed the protocols correctly. I knew we worked with good crews and good hospitals. What I didn't know, were the statistics.
May 4, 2017
I went to an EMT class over the summer between my first and second year. It was a great program, taught by a crusty old Paramedic with more horror stories than I had ever imagined. One day in particular I remember best. He came to the front of the class and showed us accidents that he had seen. Cars and bodies mangled and disfigured in ways I could never have imagined possible. Watching us cringe, he put down the remote to the slide show.