Nursing Life

Hello people,

surprise surprise!!

Well, it's been a long journey for me but my attachment in TTSH is almost over and just thought i'd share some interesting things to you guys.

You all know i havent been going to church lately thanks to my nursing job and fatigue and sickness and other excuses, etc etc. But i can say when i'm done with this, i guess i'll be seeing you guys around church more often.

Anyway, wow what can i say, nursing life really is darn interesting. Meeting all sorts of people and seeing all sorts of cases. But i'd like to share with you guys one particular case, for interest sake.

In a C-class ward (12D, the ward i was in) you'll have about 6 cubicles with 6 patient in each room. A minium of 2 staff nurse will be assign to 2 cublicles (12 patients) and yes, it's a lot of work. On a particular day, there was a shortage of nurses and i had to help out another team and had a total of 18 patients under my care. So while i was busy doing my work and stuff, a patient started having a really bad cough. We call it a smokers cough, or chronic cough. He was a trachea patient (go google it) and had cancer. His upper respiratory tract was removed, which meant his only source of breathing was the hole in his throat. He had a tube inside and stitched to keep it intact. Blood was trickling down his throat and i alerted a staff nurse (AN - Claud you noe what an AN is right? Haha), and she just said must be due to the stitches.

*cough cough* and i saw something fly, *cough cough* and when i turned, blood was everywhere. His tube was the flying object and, if i'm not wrong, it forcefully opened a hole in his throat which exposed his atrial vien. If you know your science you should know what happened next. The curtain was quickly drawn for privacy and to prevent blood from squirting to other people. By then his shirt and sarong was already soaked and there was a pool of blood forming on the floor.

Haha, okay i cannot really reviel what happened next because it's too long and will be quite confusing. But blood was really everywhere, on nurses, bed and clothes soaked with it, on curtains and even on our emergency trolley. He did managed to survive and is currently in ICU. That was one of the worst case i've seen and one of the most exciting, i also found out i work well under pressure so cheers to me. Haha.

In addition to learning nursing stuff, i also learned about politics in the ward and the basic, first impressions. They are both very important in the working world and dont get invovled in it, because i almost got kicked out of TTSH thanks to that. The only people in my ward that didnt like me was my preceptors and they were the ones who were grading me and at the same time, gossiping and sprouting lies and what not to the higher ups. But God is gracious and the patients and staff likes me there. Always encouraging me and watching my back, giving advice to help me as my preceptors werent willing to teach me. Patients were nice enough to write in complement letters for me and feedbacks in the feedback form.

So i really have to thank God in this because i almost got kicked out of a government hospital and you can imagine where my nursing life would be heading then. A meeting was called to decide if i would stay or go and that was a huge turning moment, the decision to stay or go would affect my future and what i would become. For the older people, you should know what happens when a second chance is given also right? How they watch over you and everything.

But yeah, all in all, i really enjoyed myself and i have to say this is what God has planned for me. I finished O-level not knowing where to go, but he showed me the way. I face many struggles and hardship in the hospital, but he showed me the way. I've been yelled at, screamed by patients or their family, but all i did was laugh and smile, because they were going to die soon. Haha, kidding. I just kept my patience and i really think nursing is a good place for hot-tempered people.

And i'm not implying i'm a hot tempered person.

So cheers and enjoy your studying, you'll miss it when it's gone. Oh and dont smoke.

-Johnston