Black Jeans and Boots at Med-Surg-Blog#6

Our first day at Evergreen started early in the chapel. Meeting in the dimly lit, serene chapel calmed some of my nerves. We were to report in the staff meeting at 7.00 am to meet the nurses we would be shadowing for our first orientation day. The nurse that I was assigned to was not there. She came in frazzled and late at 7.15. She wore black jeans and leather boots, had tattoos on the side of her head, and chewed gum ferociously all day. T* was not your stereotypical nurse. My first day at Evergreen was a whirlwind of events, observing T* go from room to room, while personally trying to sift through all of the information we had learned in class about correct nursing techniques and watching T* do almost the opposite in just about everything. "Hey Hun! Did you poop, pee or did your heiny make music today?"T* asked the patient loudly as she went about the room. The patient's face mirrored my puzzled face. As the day progressed, I found that this was a typical interaction between T* and her patients. As she flew around the room referring to the patients as "sweetiepie" and roughly adjusted their IV lines, more than once the patients would look at me, with worried or confused looks. More than once, as she left the room they would comment to me "I think that lady has had enough coffee for the day," or "she seems a little crazy, you might want to be trained by someone less nuts." Shadowing T* for that first day was a wild experience. Before nursing school, I would have been completely ignorant to correct practice, but watching T* allowed me to scrutinize her communication and actions and realize that I could learn from this experience. It allowed me to sharpen my understanding of good technique, since I could contrast it against her actions. During medication administration, I noticed the lack of caution and conscientiousness in the preparation of the drugs. By the end of the day, I realized this experience with T* gave me a solid understanding that someday I would be working alongside nurses with all kinds of different backgrounds, philosophies and styles. By the end of the day, I was grateful to T* for allowing me to follow her around all day. This experience gave me a clearer understanding of the nurse I would like to become, and the importance of sensitivity and conscientiousness. At the beginning of the day, T* seemed frustrated with my presence, but throughout the day I was able to have conversations with her and this seemed to lessen her hesitation towards me. It was a great experience to build a relationship with someone like T*, who describes most of her life as "rough". This first day was the opposite of what I was expecting, it will be a memorable first day, it allowed me to construct a clearer vision of the nurse I'd like to become. It was also useful experience to show me how my focus shouldn't merely be reaching out to patients, but it will be so important to reach out to my co-workers as well, and build strong relationships with them despite opposing work ethic.