First patient interaction

Yesterday, I experienced my first patient interaction clinical. Wow was I crazy nervous and it didn't help things when during my assignment, my clinical instructor said, "oh, and I'm going to give you a patient that is best described as a little quirky." Not exactly what I was hoping to hear!

My patient was in the hospital due to many complications from diabetes. His medical diagnosis was amputation of his left toe and a popliteal/femoral graft. My rounds started at 6:30am and I was to enter the room at 7:00am to take vitals. Of course, I was totally uncomfortable waking someone to take their vitals. I've always secretly detested those perky morning nurses that come in and wake you. They have just had 8 uninterupted hours of sleep, while as a patient, you've been woken up every half hour for medicine, vitals, noises in the hall, etc. But there I was - THAT NURSE. I walked in a quietly said, "Good morning, Mr. ___." Nothing. Then I said it a tad louder, "Good morning, Mr. ___." Immediately he opened his eyes, looked at me and huffed - "you're late! your instructor told me yesterday you would arrive at 6:30am. " I responded with, "I was here at 6:30am, I've just spent the last 30 minutes hearing all the wonderful things about you!" "brownie points," he responded. Then he said, "what in the H$%ll did you do to your instructor for her to assign you to me?" "Lucky, I guess," was my response with a smile. From that point on, things went great. He was a hoot and we had some interesting conversations. Although it took me 4 attempts to use the Dynamap to take his temperature, he was very pleasant with me and we seemed to get along well. We've never been trained on the Dynamap (that is the thing that wheels around to the rooms with bp, temp, pulse ox, etc. We had to do everything manual however to keep our skills sharp.

One interesting experience was to give an elderly woman a bed bath. One of my nursing classmates was anxious about giving her patient a bed bath. I too have a fear of that. I have an issue with intimacy with people I really don't know. How much more intimate could one get than giving someone a bath! The patient was such a sweet lady. She was in her late 70s. She had just recently had her colon removed because of cancer. She actually reminded me a lot of my grandmother that just recently passed away. Same build, same temperament, same sweetness. As I began to work with my classmate, I realized how uncomfortable the patient was with exposing herself. I tried to make her comfortable talking about how I would make sure she stayed modest. As I cleaned her back and her feet - I was almost moved that this woman would entrust me with such a personal thing. She was so appreciative and kind. That is why I want to be a nurse!

The day ran long and my legs were tired, but I felt like a made a difference! A true difference. I prayed for those patients last night. I am blessed.

Next week is OR observation.