best/worst experience on the wards (1 Viewer)

[vodkacrumble]

i'm curious to see what was the best & worst thing you saw/did/experienced while on placement and/or at work on the wards, etc.

best: looking after palliative care pts and keeping them (and their family) comfortable - i think i'll probably end up in pall care, i think i'm a little too interested in death & dying. that, and just having those days were everything just seems to fall into place and you look really clever.

worst: my first arrest at work - found a pt dead in the bathroom and my brain went totally blank. all i could remember to do was to shout for an RN nearby to help and then i just stood there not knowing what to do, but if you'd asked me 5min before i could have rattled off step-by-step what you'd need to do. pt died, and it became a coroner's case so the police had to interview me. stress & crying in the tea room followed.
but thankfully the next arrest i remembered what to do (....however that pt died too - but both of them were >85yr old)

 

[vodkacrumble]

anyone? anyone?

 

[kimmeh]

I think my worst experience is seeing animals pushed to their utmost limit and being seen as second grade by their owners. Pretty much their purpose as a commodity for income saddens me.
My best would have to be just making a difference in anyway possible that benefits them

 

[lala2]

kimmeh, are you a vet? Sounds like it.

 

[kimmeh]

/me points to profile

 

[stazi]

This one time on scrubs...

 

[inasero]

probably doing a post-mortem on a guy similar to me in age...came in from a motor vehicle accident the night before and he still had clothes on

still doesnt put me off speeding though

 

[hipsta_jess]

Best: showing people that despite their disability, there are ways they can still do things. One woman had had a stroke, and had quite a bit of spasticity in one hand, and couldn't figure out how to undo lids and stuff, so we told her to hold the item (deoderant, etc) in the affected hand, and use her good hand to undo the lid. It was something really simple, but something she hadn't thought of, and was really greatful to us that we had shown her how to do something we generally just take for granted.

Worst: Seeing people that want our help, but then sabotage our efforts. We had one lady who'd had 13 (yes, 13!!) strokes, and was still smoking like 70 cigarettes a day. Its really hard for me to see a person with whatever problem, and want to help them, but then they just kick us in the teeth.

 

[Maxi]

i had one experience where one kid (just 7 yrs old) had an ear infection and had found out hed be stayin in hospital over easter (his stay had been lengthened by 5 days)...he was clearly distressed cos hed already been at the hospital for a week...but my clinical tutor decided that we could examine him anyway...he almost forced the mum to let us examine the kid

mind u....there must be a lot worse out there....i only go to the wards once a fortnight