Random acts of kindness
I love, love, love it when I find myself getting a little discouraged and then something happens to reinforce my belief in the good in people. I have an unfailing belief that people are good deep down...am an eternal wearer of rose-colored glasses...and hopelessly believe in happy endings. However, even I find myself becoming a little cynical from time to time. I can find myself a bit depressed and thinking "what the heck do I even try for?" Lately I really don't have much of a reason to be feeling that way, but I have been. I have a couple of friends that are fading away...and I'm letting them go (and Joleen has been gone again since Easter by the way). I have been dreading going to work every single time I am scheduled. And I've grown really weary of some of the people in my life that are perpetually negative (I find myself sticking more and more to my bloggin babes to avoid it!). Little did I know that tonight I was going to get a little booster shot of encouragement.
As much as some people like to deny it, nursing is a very tough field to work in. Of course there's the obvious "tough stuff" like the knowledge that you need and the physical strength that you need, but I'm talking more about the emotional stuff. It's sad but alot of nurses (and just about everyone in the medical field) tend to "eat their young." They are critical, judgemental and quick to gossip. Most of the time all you will hear at work is bashing of a fellow nurse about what a bad job she did, how incompetent she is, or how lazy she is. Actually, it's the same from the patients. People love to trash talk nurses! Well tonight I was having a rough night. It didn't start off too bad, but I had a patient that quickly had a change in status. Big time change.
This whole episode started off simply enough...he peed on the floor. Now believe me when I say that we have people peeing on the floor alllllllll the time! lol But this was out of the norm for this guy. He was fine a little while ago. It just didn't sit right with my gut, so I started watching him...closely. Sure enough he very quickly had a huge change in mental status. He was stroking out right in front of me and at the same time he started developing respiratory distress. His oxygen levels dropped to the low 80's (that's bad by the way lol) and his pulse shot up. He started wheezing and became cold and clammy. We think he threw a blood clot to his lung at the same time. So this guy got double whammied right before my eyes. What do you do in a situation like that? You just handle it, that's what.
It never fails to amaze me when others tell me how they see me because it's hardly ever how I see myself. lol Inside during situations like that I'm a bit crazed and my mind is racing over "what should I do?" and everyone else says "you're so calm under pressure!" hahahahahaha! yeah right! Actually, I think I do come off that way most of the time but still waters run deep, believe me! Just like when people argue with me that I'm anything but shy but inside I'm mortified to meet new people! I pray on the way to work every single time that if anything goes wrong God would give me the wisdom to know what to do.
So anyways, the whole point of this story is this.... after I took care of this man who was shooting down the tubes quickly and got him stable and to the ICU, the respiratory therapist that was on the floor and came in to help went through the trouble of calling the floor, finding out my phone number, and then calling my phone just to tell me what a good job she thought I did! I was almost speechless at first because that's nearly unheard of in this field! Usually if you do good you don't hear anything....it's only if you screw up that you hear something. But she called and said, "I just wanted to let you know that was a really good catch on your part and I thought you did such a good job. Most people would've had to call the rapid response team (kind of like a code team that comes and bails you out of trouble when someone goes bad) but you just took over and handled it. And you did a very, very good job."
Wow. I was so shocked. I never expected something like that and I thanked her profusely. How thoughtful, kind, and considerate! Random acts of kindness like that inspire me and make me want to be a better person. Never underestimate the power of a kind word. It can awaken the soul and it can change who someone is and who they might become. It's free and it's easy....but so very priceless.
As much as some people like to deny it, nursing is a very tough field to work in. Of course there's the obvious "tough stuff" like the knowledge that you need and the physical strength that you need, but I'm talking more about the emotional stuff. It's sad but alot of nurses (and just about everyone in the medical field) tend to "eat their young." They are critical, judgemental and quick to gossip. Most of the time all you will hear at work is bashing of a fellow nurse about what a bad job she did, how incompetent she is, or how lazy she is. Actually, it's the same from the patients. People love to trash talk nurses! Well tonight I was having a rough night. It didn't start off too bad, but I had a patient that quickly had a change in status. Big time change.
This whole episode started off simply enough...he peed on the floor. Now believe me when I say that we have people peeing on the floor alllllllll the time! lol But this was out of the norm for this guy. He was fine a little while ago. It just didn't sit right with my gut, so I started watching him...closely. Sure enough he very quickly had a huge change in mental status. He was stroking out right in front of me and at the same time he started developing respiratory distress. His oxygen levels dropped to the low 80's (that's bad by the way lol) and his pulse shot up. He started wheezing and became cold and clammy. We think he threw a blood clot to his lung at the same time. So this guy got double whammied right before my eyes. What do you do in a situation like that? You just handle it, that's what.
It never fails to amaze me when others tell me how they see me because it's hardly ever how I see myself. lol Inside during situations like that I'm a bit crazed and my mind is racing over "what should I do?" and everyone else says "you're so calm under pressure!" hahahahahaha! yeah right! Actually, I think I do come off that way most of the time but still waters run deep, believe me! Just like when people argue with me that I'm anything but shy but inside I'm mortified to meet new people! I pray on the way to work every single time that if anything goes wrong God would give me the wisdom to know what to do.
So anyways, the whole point of this story is this.... after I took care of this man who was shooting down the tubes quickly and got him stable and to the ICU, the respiratory therapist that was on the floor and came in to help went through the trouble of calling the floor, finding out my phone number, and then calling my phone just to tell me what a good job she thought I did! I was almost speechless at first because that's nearly unheard of in this field! Usually if you do good you don't hear anything....it's only if you screw up that you hear something. But she called and said, "I just wanted to let you know that was a really good catch on your part and I thought you did such a good job. Most people would've had to call the rapid response team (kind of like a code team that comes and bails you out of trouble when someone goes bad) but you just took over and handled it. And you did a very, very good job."
Wow. I was so shocked. I never expected something like that and I thanked her profusely. How thoughtful, kind, and considerate! Random acts of kindness like that inspire me and make me want to be a better person. Never underestimate the power of a kind word. It can awaken the soul and it can change who someone is and who they might become. It's free and it's easy....but so very priceless.
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