Nurse Days

Monday, March 6, 2000

Today was my first day of med-surg this semester. I was assigned to M.S., an 87-year-old woman admitted with MRSA-infected venous stasis ulcers. She has a history of chronic venous insufficiency in both legs, severe degenerative joint disease, hypertension, anemia, reflux esophagitis and depression. She's on a myriad of drugs for these conditions, yet appears to be quite healthy both mentally and physically.

M. was a great client to have for my first day. She told me stories, jokes, and told me that I could experiment on her if I wanted to. "You have to learn somehow," she said.

As I was giving her a bedbath the news was on and they were talking about "Super Tuesday," which is tomorrow. I asked her what she thought of the presidential candidates. She said, "I like the Vice President [Al Gore], but I think any of them would be better than the one we've got now [Bill Clinton]. I never have liked him. My son still swears that he'll never smoke a cigar again!"

I mentioned that I'd seen her on the commercial for a local nursing home. She said, "You know, that's been on for months now and I've never seen it."

"Really? Never?" I asked.

"Well no. I'm blind," then she laughed that she'd "gotten" me.

M. told me several times that Peggy Puliosi (one of my nursing instructors) is her niece, so she must be very proud of her. I really liked working with her, and I found myself in her room a lot just to check on her and talk to her. She told me, "You're gonna be a wonderful nurse. You already are. You're doing such a good job of taking care of me." That made me feel better than any "A" I've ever gotten on a test.

I got to experience several new things while caring for M. I got to do a wet-to-dry dressing change on her leg ulcers, I got to flush a heplock, and I got to watch my instructor discontinue it because it wasn't in the vein.

Even though M. is in isolation because of her methicillin-resistant staph aureus, she still had several visitors and I know that her family visits regularly. She was quite upset about the fact that the nurse who took care of her last night made a huge deal about her being in isolation. M. said that the nurse said something to the effect of, "No one can go in there except personnel. She's highly contagious and others could get infected." M. even told her doctor about it when he came to see her. It really upset (and humiliated) her. The doctor told her not to worry about it and that the nurse had overreacted. M. said, "I would really like to go home, but I don't want to infect anybody."

This is just another sad example of how people's words have such a huge impact on others, and medical personnel should think about the ramifications of what they're going to say before they say it.

Another thing...while I was giving M. a bedbath I was trying to be gentle because her skin is so fragile, and as I was cleaning her vaginal area I said, "Let me know if I'm hurting you in any way."

She said, "Oh no, only my pride." This is the reason why we should be extremely sensitive to the feelings of others. She felt embarrassed and humiliated that she needed someone else to clean her. I told her that I understood, but that I was there to help her and make her as comfortable as possible. After hearing this she seemed to relax a bit and feel more at ease.