What a crazy day yesterday - a 29 yr local guy decided to shoot 3 cops yesterday. They were responding to a domestic violence call from his gf - he had been beating her for the last 4 days, 3 weeks, 3 years, etc....why do women stay in such bad situations? Anyways, after shooting the cops, he took off into the woods & next thing you know - there are over 500 cops from around the state in the woods searching for him. It took 9 hours, but a bloodhound finally found him, more shots were fired & the suspect is in custody. He's at a local hospital in critical condition - rumor has it that he's paralyzed. Meanwhile, one cop died, the other 2 were taken to the hospital I used to work at. They'll both make a full recovery. It was like watching a movie yesterday as the media were right there via helicopter watching the capture in the woods & transport of the lunatic gunman to the medic helicopter. I can't help but feel sad for the fallen officer's family. It leaves me trying to figure out what the gunman was thinking, like what was going through his mind. I know it's something I'll never understand, but I can't help thinking about it.
I worked last night & overheard another nurse say that most of nursing is based around allowing people to die with dignity. It kind of shatters my belief that we are there to help them regain their health & continue to live life. I suppose it depends on where you work in nursing. I feel like our ICU is mostly filled with people that are very close to death. But then there are the few that will recover & go back to living life.....but those are more the exception than the rule. That is sad, isn't it? I suppose a lot of it has to do with the location of the hospital - the average age of our patients is 67. We have no peds or ob floors, so it is mostly the older generation who are our patients. I don't think I'm making any sense here - just lots of thoughts going through my mind.
I had 3 patients last night. One was a lady that had an episode of syncope at her doctor's office. For some reason her blood pressure drops when she sits down - then when she goes to stand up, she gets dizzy. They haven't been able to figure out why - but they discharged her today! My other patient got transferred to med/surg - he came in last week with a necrotic bowel that had to be surgically removed immediately or he would die. He was doing very well post-op, hence the reason he was downgraded to med/surg. My last patient was a new admit - a lady with small bowel obstruction. She has high blood pressure, so they needed to get that under control before doing surgery. It was a pretty good night. I got to talk to my precptor quite a bit. She is very helpful & amusing. She has me do pretty much everything on my own, which is a little stressful, but at the same time - the best way to learn is by actually doing it. She is there for guidance if I need it - which I often do. She says I'm doing a good job, which is nice to hear.
1 comment:
I agree with the nurse's statement about allowing a patient to die with dignity. I work in the ICU-my floor specializes in trauma and transplant patients. I am new, but death is reality on the floor I am at and I believe in giving families both hope and reality.
A lot of what I do is respecting my patients, respecting their families and walking through the grieving and letting go process. As weird as it sounds, it is a beautiful thing. It is really easy to get dragged down and burnt out on the trauma the tragedy and the sadness. We all as nurses could tell you a million of those stories. To me, my most important job is to ease suffering and allow my patients and their families to be where they are at and truly protect their dignity.
Those that do get healthy and walk out of the ICU are a beautiful thing and those that don't-it is our responsibility to make their passing just as beautiful.
Take care-
Nora
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