"Stupid Habit..."
Though a rather, dare I say, quiet day, at times it got a little personal. Nothing bad....just a glimpse of reality of those around me that I care about. I'm not really sure what to call it; divine intervention, random chance, whatever, but both clients I saw today had similar problems. The first patient I saw today...well, I can't remember why he was there, but we were passing meds again today and I only had to apply a nicotine patch. As I was talking to this guy (he was really nice), he seemed really regretful and muttered to himself " it's a stupid habit. Might as well quit." Me and my instructor both encouraged him to do so, but to be honest I'm not really sure what is going to happen. Odds are, since Med/Surg is almost always different 99% of the time I'll never see this guy again. But from the bottom of my heart I wished him luck....and still do.
Again, I found myself passing meds to a nice old lady with....a lot of meds. Instead though of handing her each pill one by one, she just wanted to play go fetch the pills immersed in applesauce, which hey, works out great. But as I was going through her chart, I found another trend; chronic smoker. It breaks my heart; really, it does. For the 20 years that I've been alive I don't understand why if something is bad and is harmful to one's health, then why do they do it? Is it really worth the hundreds of dollars each month? Each year? To me it's sad; to me it's quality time that was lost with loved ones, quality good health for themselves, etc. And it makes me sad.
I feel that my current position I am in is a good one; I'm young. I've lived a good, long life filled with things that I am NOT going to do. And it made me all the more reason to keep myself healthy. How would you feel if you were a patient being treated for COPD because you smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, then come the day of discharge find the nurse who cared for you outside smoking? No. To me that's not only wrong but unacceptable. Talk about practice what you preach. I promised myself going into this profession I am going to teach and intervene with a clean conscious....and I will not break that promise! I've learned so much about myself ever since starting this process of clinicals; what I'm going to do and definitely what I'm not going to do.
But now after today I believe I have a responsibility; I have to do something. I'm not sure what it is yet, perhaps educating my loved ones, or what I'm doing now by keeping myself free from nasty substances. So help me God and join me in praying for these individuals, as well as for me to resist temptation.
Again, I found myself passing meds to a nice old lady with....a lot of meds. Instead though of handing her each pill one by one, she just wanted to play go fetch the pills immersed in applesauce, which hey, works out great. But as I was going through her chart, I found another trend; chronic smoker. It breaks my heart; really, it does. For the 20 years that I've been alive I don't understand why if something is bad and is harmful to one's health, then why do they do it? Is it really worth the hundreds of dollars each month? Each year? To me it's sad; to me it's quality time that was lost with loved ones, quality good health for themselves, etc. And it makes me sad.
I feel that my current position I am in is a good one; I'm young. I've lived a good, long life filled with things that I am NOT going to do. And it made me all the more reason to keep myself healthy. How would you feel if you were a patient being treated for COPD because you smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, then come the day of discharge find the nurse who cared for you outside smoking? No. To me that's not only wrong but unacceptable. Talk about practice what you preach. I promised myself going into this profession I am going to teach and intervene with a clean conscious....and I will not break that promise! I've learned so much about myself ever since starting this process of clinicals; what I'm going to do and definitely what I'm not going to do.
But now after today I believe I have a responsibility; I have to do something. I'm not sure what it is yet, perhaps educating my loved ones, or what I'm doing now by keeping myself free from nasty substances. So help me God and join me in praying for these individuals, as well as for me to resist temptation.
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