student nurses

so i had a student nurse helping me out today and giggles just couldn't stop. maybe it was the ridiculous amount of washes we accomplished or how patients just lit up today, even the sleepy ones. it was really nice to see the ward in an upbeat atmosphere for a change :)

How can we be right?

so yesterday i was faced with a prominent issue at work, our ward was invaded with post operation patients from the surgical ward. problem is, we've never had training on how to deal with these type of patients (us HCAs). everyone was so different! 2 patients came from EMT (ears, mouth & throat ward), 1 from  plastics, 1 from cardio and the remainder were abdo-pains/ gastroenterology. we had to change the boards 3 times in my shift because of ortho patients no longer were able to stay on the wards because of this influx. so predominantly i was making beds.
to tackle the problem with these new patients i had to keep asking for help because unlike ortho patients, these guys obviously were more in pain, required more nursing needs rather than what is required in the HCA job description.

bed-bound patients & muscle atrophy

it really hurts seeing people bed bound. one popped hip or fracture due to a hospital fall and there you go, a week in bed at least for recovery!
on top of it all, you'll be admitted into a place with so many other terminally ill patients you become to think in a similar way to them. its only when someone educated comes along and gives you a reality slap.
you lose 2% muscle mass for every single day you stay bed-bound without activity. it makes sense that you'll start to get weaker and weaker. even the young would feel these effects, if not a little less than the old.
research suggests that muscle loss or 'atrophy' begins within 4 hours of bed rest!
if you're a healthcare professional please please educate your patients! get them to carry out bed exercises, get them to roll around the bed independently, get your patients to do repeated movements and sit them up really well in their beds/chairs. put some music on, start dancing, change the atmosphere in your ward. these people are here not to die, their recovery needs to be enhanced with motivation. emotional labour only goes so much, get to know your patients and treat them as individuals.
its infuriating being a healthcare assistant, especially dealing with incompetence on the wards.

We are the change

Today we had a complex patient with dementia and an unstable blood sugar level. The first thought cropped into my head was 'mismanagement'. Despite the efforts to restore the blood sugar levels to normal, obviously the nurse had no idea of how to handle a patient like this. I felt challenged today that despite my best efforts to bring the patient into perspective, nothing was registering. Curious case, and for the first time, in all my time here, I feel motivated to be a healthcare assistant. Maybe there is hope after all..

lazy nurses and their wisdom

i think we can all agree that doing what we do, we do it because we value life and want to help others get better in the process. this kind of thing gives value to your life, its like your way of doing good in this world.
problem is, when you do kindness it often doesn't get recognised. yet, when you make a mistake, its all hell-fire on your ass.
i had a lazy nurse telling me i have good qualities. i asked her to elaborate and she merely said that

people want to work with you

it really makes me question - so if she knows this, why does she try so hard to make it impossible to work with her? *sigh* nurses!

3 out of 4 nurses would not recommend nursing as a career path

so i tried to blog this in my break at the hospital and it went so terribly wrong! phone would not cooperate!
one of the main reasons i have applied for healthcare assistance was to find out whether nursing is a suitable career path for me to pursue. unfortunately current nurses and trainee nurses have given me their opinions, and they haven't been very positive. in fact, 3 out of 4 staff nurses admit that they have made a terrible career choice to do nursing, and would prefer other professions given the choice. there were various reasons for their choices and i can completely understand where they are coming from. considering the busy environment  of the ward i currently work in, even me as a healthcare assistant i feel swamped (perhaps even more considering that i'm also a newbie to healthcare assistance).