Move the baskets; a day off lesson of going the extra mile

I was at the Dollar Tree today getting a bunch of things I really didn't need but ended up squandering anyway. While waiting in line...the only line, with a lot of people in front of me, I couldn't help but listen around me as some were clearly starting to get frustrated. Some were spouting off comments and being a bit rude; I on the other hand waited patiently and quietly until it was my turn. When it was my turn to check out, I asked the cashier where she wanted me to place my basket. She looked a bit puzzled and wasn't really sure what to do, so I asked if I could set it along the other baskets that were to her side of the register. She looked even more sheepish and said that she didn't even notice they were there. So I took my basket at my feet, along with the other two baskets that were sitting there and when I walked out of the store I put them on the rack. She thanked me when I took them. I shrugged it off and said it wasn't a big deal, but then when I got to my car and drove back to my apartment, my mind was taken back to a valuable lesson one of my clinical instructors taught me.

I don't even remember what rotation I was on, but I went into a patient's room, completed the task and was all like "yay I did it I'm a big girl nursing student!" I was getting ready to leave the room and my instructor praised me for doing a good job at completing the task but asked me to stop for a moment and look around the room. I really didn't see anything that needed to be done and the patient was asleep. She then pointed out trash on the floor, by the bed, on the bedside table, on the counters. She told me "Kelly, we are their eyes and ears. We have to do what they can't do for themselves while they're here." So we picked up the trash in the room, and I felt so much better knowing we left the room a little better than we found it. The point; you're going to miss out on those little opportunities if your primary focus is just looking at the big picture and taking off the blinders to any and everything else. So many customers passed through that checkout line and didn't notice the baskets sitting there because they were all in a hurry to get what they needed or were too distracted elsewhere to notice them.

So let this be a lesson to us all, whether you've been a nurse for a year or 20 years. There is absolutely no harm whatsoever in taking a few extra seconds or minutes to go that extra mile, even if no one else around you is. Your patients will be happier, you will be happier, and I won't regret it. I'm sharing this for me as a reminder too.