Supernurse Blog#7

A total of two of my clinical days were spent following a nurse from Uzbekistan named Frida. This time gave me a clear impression of a nurse I admire and will try to emulate. Frida shared with Chanda and I her almost unreal story of how she had been nursing in her country for a children's hospital. Not for the money, but for the principle of helping the sick. She was forced to immigrate to America for safety's sake. Uzbekistan was a war-ravaged country in the late eighties, and Frida was a part of all of it. When she was in the hospital ready to give birth to her son, her mother wisely suggested they should move up to the top floor of the hospital, where it would be less likely that the Russian soldiers would find and harm them. Frida had her son and lived to tell the tale. Now she works as a nurse on the Med-Surg unit at Evergreen and is someone who just by spending a couple of hours with, I have come to admire and desire to be like. Frida was able to handle all of her patients with care and with calm authority. She was able to answer all of her call lights almost immediately and showed utmost conscientiousness with all of the tasks that she completed throughout the day. I respect Frida for her demeanor, her confidence and her care. I think of her as "supernurse". One of her four patients was an older lady with a very rough attitude, who spoke to Frida in a very rude demeaning way. Frida, instead of complaining about this patient as she left the room, as I've seen a lot of the other nurses do, shook her head and said - "She's had a rough morning. I'd be upset too if I were having to go through what she is right now". Frida seemed to incorporate the "golden rule" with most of her patients and treated them with respect, honest and empathy. At one point in time, she was hanging up an IV bag of blood to be transfused into the patient. Minutes later, we found out the blood was leaking from the bag and spilling onto the floor instead of flowing fully through the line. Frida fixed the situation, cleaned up the floor and kept her calm throughout it. I was grateful to Frida for her kindness to me as well. She really went out of her way to be the "teacher" and made a point to highlight things she thought we would find useful and necessary later. The experience of following Frida showed me a lot about the kind of nurse I would like to be someday. Amidst her history, Frida was able get hired as an RN at Evergreen and daily care for patients with a gentle, confident ability. I will remember Frida as a good example of the kind of nurse I'd like to be someday.