One of the many reasons I love my job

There are plenty of days where I just kinda go through the motions of handing out meds, doing assessments, charting and such that I sometimes leave work feeling as though I wasnt a very good nurse. Other days - like today - I really enjoy and appreciate what it is I can do for my patients. Today I was able to help out in my first code, which was pretty awesome, but what really made me feel like a good nurse is all the educating I did for my patients. A lot of people think that all we do IS just hand out meds, do assessments, and chart, but we do so much more. One of the things we are in charge of is educating patients and making sure they understand whats going on. I did medication teaching, discharge teaching, plan of care teaching, activity expectation teaching, diet teaching, you name it, I taught it.

One of my patients was being discharged home today and she needed to take care of her wound. The doctors have been the ones doing her dressing changes and so when she was told she was going to have to do it herself, she had no idea what to do. She had never even LOOKED at her wound (she's a super anxious patient and the thought of seeing staples in her abdomen terrified her). So I had to talk with her, calm her down, and then proceed to sit with her for the next 45 minutes showing her her wound, familiarizing her with it, teaching her about it, and doing wound care AND drain care teaching. I had talk her though it so she felt comfortable enough with her body to be able to handle packing/changing her dressing. When the doctors came in an hour later to try to explain the importance of wound care and that she would have to do it herself, she was able to tell them that she already got teaching, she knew what she was doing, and she felt confident and comfortable doing the dressing changes herself. Successful teaching done! My other patient was going to the OR and was super anxious. You could just see the fear in her eyes (behind all the tears) so I sat on her bed with her and just held her hand for 10 minutes while she calmed down. When it was time for her to go she just squeezed my hand, looked me in the eye, smiled, and said thank you.

Days like today, I feel like I made a difference in someone's life. I reassured someone, I educated, I comforted, I cheered someone up, I taught someone how to improve their quality of life. Days like today are why I love my job. They're why I became a nurse.