“Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.”
― Mark Twain
Nursing school if full of daunting tasks that you simply do not want to do. The material is challenging, and the workload can be overwhelming. It ends up consuming your life, and leaving little time to spend on things you really enjoy. The important thing is that you do make time for some fun. Otherwise, you just get burnt out.
Yet, if you let yourself do the things you don’t want to, and you have a positive attitude about it, you will be surprised by all that you can learn. Luckily, I learned this pretty early on in my nursing school experience.
Here I was, just a little over a month into nursing school, thrown into the chaos of a hospital. It was my third day, and I was finally starting to get the hang of it. There was just so much I did not know! Up to this point I had some pretty awesome nurses who were great examples to look up to. Sadly, that was not the case today.
Erik (name changed for privacy reasons) had just started working for this particular hospital. He had graduated from a local nursing program a few years prior and had dabbled in a few odd nursing jobs here and there. I could tell from the moment I met him that we had two totally different personalities. As soon as I got my assignment, I was wishing for the day to come to an end, quick!
One of our assigned patients was an elderly lady with dementia. She did not communicate but could follow commands to a certain extent. Her adult son was staying with her, but he was not much help. As we entered her room, we could smell where she had used the bathroom on herself. Immediately, Erik rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “this is not my job!” We quickly cleaned her up, but she was combative the whole time. It was one of my worst experiences I had thus far with a patient. I was so thankful once we left the room. I did not want to have to go back in.
A short time later, Erik came to me and said she needed her meds, including a shot, and I was going to give them to her. My initial thought was, “hell no!” Then, on the way to her room, I reflected on what had went down earlier. I had followed Erik’s moves which were both stiff and uncompassionate. Could this be the reason she was so combative? As I stood outside her door, I took in a deep breath, and decided to take on a different approach.
When I waked into the room I greeted the patient in a soft, kind voice and introduced myself. Then, I let her know why I was there. Even though she could not verbally communicate, she gave me a smile. I thought, “okay, this isn’t going so bad.” She tolerated her oral medications pretty well. Then, it came time for the shot. I told her, “I have to give you this shot, and it may sting a little. I just want you know I am not trying to hurt you, and I will be as quick as I can with it.” As I cleaned her skin with an alcohol pad and inserted the needle she didn’t even flinch. Her son told me that was the best she had ever done with a shot. She was okay, and I was okay; we both had survived!
Lesson learned
I did not want to go back in that room, and I especially did not want to give her that shot. Yet, I decided to change my attitude and my approach to see how it went. Something I learned that day was that people know if you truly care about them and what you are doing to them. Since then I have tried to put myself in the shoes of my patients. No one wants to be in the hospital, and everyone wants to be treated with dignity. That moment has helped shape who I am and the nurse that I want to be.
The next time you are faced with a task you don’t want to do, I challenge you to have a positive attitude. It is amazing how much it will shape your experience!
