NurseTaylor
Diary Dude
Global user
Registered: 07-2006
Posts: 34
Karma: 0 (+0/-0)
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From a Diffrent Perspective
Recently my step-granddad has suffered a stroke… well any way, I remember caring for stroke patients and I remember all the lectures that we’ve had about stroke care, and ward/staffing management etc.
But even with all that, although I could imagine what’s like for the patient not being able to communicate etc, and with empathiseing with relatives, and them losing their tempers with staff when the wards understaffed and they can’t see to them... Well it’s not the same as actually being there... not as a clinical person… if you get what I mean.
I had a very interesting experience, you see my step-granddad used to be an ex-charge nurse and before that, he was in Navy (sometime in special branch, decoding German codes) in the war. He’s very much the type of person who’s precise and like things done right and if thing are half measure he loses it.
He’s very proactive and enjoys getting the most out of life, and he’s always loved helping people, from ridiculesly big problem and small problem, but most of all solving the problem and getting a feeling of satisfaction he's helped someone.
He has so many friends and staff nurses, sisters etc from his old hospital who he helped trained when they were students. Even they respect him.
I mean... he was so proactive and physical fit that even in his 80’s he still went to the gym and swimming. He had a 8 inch aortic aneurysm but they still treated him for it because he’s always been fit and had a pulse of 40bpm and a bp of 80/40. After he fully recovered from that he went back swimming and he could, unbelievably swim 2 lengths under water!
It was so hard seeing someone so intelligent not being able to do the simplest things. He’s become so ill that he looks like a patient with dementia, you wouldn’t think of the type of person he was, or is. Beside the stroke He's got brains to kill, he just so physically disabled. He gets so frustrated because he can’t communicate what he wants. What even worse is because he used to be a nurse he know every thing that’s going on and how bad thing are on the ward.
Like I was saying, your trained in such a way, that you can only imagine what it’s like, and when I’ve cared for stroke patients, I’ve always tried my best for them... but almost naively, not realising what’s actually going on.
But having experienced it first hand from a relatives view it totally different. I found myself getting so angry at the ward sister (with only herself and one HCA on a ward looking after 30 patient), leaving him in such a bad state.
I really had to calm down because I know the crappie position they're in, not being able to get staff and I've been there in thet're shoes working a **** day on the ward.
I can’t explain, it was an odd experience from a different perspective, I certainly think will be able to have more empathy with patients and relatives, rather than just imagining what they feeling and guessing what I'm saying too them is right.
Mate nursing’s hard
Last edited by NurseTaylor, 20/Apr/2008, 12:53 am
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19/Apr/2008, 11:09 pm
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