my legs hurt

i have been working non-stop. waking up at 5.30 for 3 consecutive days a week is very tiring. i didn't used to get tired in first year or second year. this means 2 things: i am getting older or the work has become harder.

in all honesty i believe its a mixture of both. its taking its toll on my body. we are meant to protect our backs, so when we lift, we lift with our legs. so what about protecting our legs? my legs are very sore.

we were given our 1st yr student to help us during our exam. mine looks anorexic. she is painfully thin. her arms are like toothpicks. therefore she does not lift patients properly so when it comes to propping up patients in bed, i basically lift an 85kg person on my own. but she is such a gr8 student, i don't dare complain.

I have thought this before, but now i am convinced: female patients are lazy. there is a patient in my ward who wears a nappy because she is too lazy to go to the toilet. these things never happen on the male side of the ward. our clinical tutor tells us to encourage the patients to be independent. the problem is they prefer to be lazy bitches. And when a lazy geezer wants to be lazy, there is no stopping her. And one would think "hell, if she doesnt want to wash herself, tell the nurses to refuse and she will be forced to wash herself." ha! if only logic was part of hospital life. if we don't wash her, she won't wash at all and stink up the whole ward, making life impossible for the other patients and nurses. Or even worse, sue for malpractice due to neglect. So we have to wash her and change her nappy.

I also had a run in with a doctor this week. i had a patient with a drain. drains are never meant to be on the floor, so i put it in the holder. the bulgarian doctor had other ideas.

Dr: THESE DRAINS! THEY SHOULD BE ON THE FLOOR! WHO PUT THEM HERE?
Me: I did.
Dr: YOU BAD STUDENT! ON YOUR KNEES IN SHAME!! ON YOUR KNEES!!
Me: I am not going down on my knees because I am not wrong. The drain has a port, if it is on the floor, i will give the patient an infection.
Dr:WHO TEACHES YOU HERE? THE STAFF? IN MY COUNTRY YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PHD OR AN MSC TO TEACH NURSES!!
Me: Sigh. Its a pity your country is so far away.

He didn't answer me.

My back is hurting me...but you know, if it wasn't it would probably mean I'm not working hard enough.

take care everyone.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have high extroversion. You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends. You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation. Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!" Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have high neuroticism. It's easy for you to feel shaken, worried, or depressed. You often worry, and your worries prevent you from living life fully. You tend to be emotionally reactive and moody. Your either flying very high or feeling very low. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

A sigh of relief

I have finally finished my thesis, it is at the printer right now. I know I will probably have tonnes of things to fix but at least its the start of the end, if you know what I mean.

Easter holidays are here, so far I am enjoying them, because I don't have to go to work. I had my assessment on friday, which went ok, nothing exceptional. But one thing I noticed is that everyone really has their own style of nursing and there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to many things.

I am sick of my thesis. I really don't want to have to look at it ever, ever again. I get physically ill when i look at the lap top and open the file entitled "thesis documents." Now all I have to do is study for finals, and pass the practical. Then I can be officially called an SRN and it will be the end of this journey.

Or will it be just the beginning?

What a surprise!

Well, its soon time to give in the final draft of my thesis, I thank god i caught up with everyone else, even though this week-end im gonna work my ass off to have it ready and at A+ standard. I can only hope and pray.

So at the moment we are all having clinical assessments, that is, a clinical tutor comes to the ward which we chose to do our exam in and watches us work and corrects any potential malpractice we might perform and training us for our final practical. Tomorrow I have mine, and since I take it very seriously, I have a huge list of drugs to study and patient histories to read.

Therefore, this post is once again in point form to save time. Here are a list of surprises one may come across while taking the course of BSc (hons) nursing and working as a student on the ward.

1. Things on the floor: As I was walking into work, I see a huge dollop of pudding on the floor. And another. And another. Only it wasn't pudding. It was shit. All over the hallway. Yum. It trailed until the doctor's desk. When I looked in the doctor's waste paper basket I found a huge colostomy bag, overflowing with shit. It was smelly.(a colostomy bag is directy attached to the large intestine and shit drains into it.) The doctor was shocked. Over all it was a funny surprise.

2. Things on old people's skin: We went to wash our fully dependent patient (a fully dependent patient is one of those who could do nothing for herself). As we open her nappy, we discover a large bandage over her sacrum. When we remove the bandage, we find a waterfall of pus and pseudomonas (a green bacteria that turns pus luminous green) splashing out onto the bed. When we begin to clean the sore, we put in the swab and come across something hard. What do you know! Its a bit of exposed bone! Woo hoo! Yee haaaa!

3. Things in a patients history: I read a patient's history a few months back and it said that this poor old man had cancer. He was 85 years old. I thought about asking him to be my patient for the next day so I went to talk to him, to see who he lives with, his housing condition and other aspects of his social history. So after 5 minutes of talking to him, this old man exclaims "Yep, the doctor said I am great! I'm ok,nothing to worry about!" to which I reply "Heh heh, ok..." BOING! That had the potential to be a very,very ugly surprise. Thank God I was careful. Jesus.

4. Things in a patient's bed: I went to wash an old lady who smiled on my arrival. She looked so peaceful, all tucked up in bed. I went near her to say good morning. To return the gesture, she held my hand. The only problem was that hers had been in her nappy. And she had diarrhoea. And when I removed her top sheet, SURPRISE! she was swimming in it. She had shit from head to toe...piss too. What fun!

Sigh. I never liked surprises. Good night, much love.