From the Memory Box - "Learning from Tapes"

"Remember how you put all your notes on tape so you could listen to them as you carted us around? The sounds of children fighting were in the background."

I enrolled in Nursing School when my children were deemed old enough to function, at least somewhat, by themselves. It was quite a shock to our home system to have this stay-at-home mom going back to school. Time was of the essence. DH did what he could but he was travelling a lot at the time so I tried to make every second count. I had no family close enough to help and would only call on friends in case of a real emergency.

There was a ton of reading and absorbing new information. One of my techniques for covering information, was to read certain notes into a tape recorder, then play them back as I drove to and from classes more than an hour away and as I delivered the children to their various activities. It was not what the children wanted to hear. I sometimes played tapes when I went to sleep, thinking my subconscious would remember it even if I didn't.

Eventually, I realized it was taking too much time to listen to all those tapes and I reverted to my original study habits. It is not easy for an old dog to learn new tricks but, with patience and perseverance, it can be done.

I finally graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The next day, my children lined up to present their physical complaints one by one and I gave them the benefit of my new-found expertise.
"That's the same thing you told us before you became a nurse!" one protested.
"Maybe so, but now it is official!" said DH.

True Tales From the ER - #1

Caring for a patient in the trauma room, I asked what had happened before she came in. She was the driver of a car that ran into a laundromat and half-way into a brick wall.

"I think I blacked out and the gas pedal got stuck," she told me. "I didn't hit the brake until I was in the building."

Tales From Triage - Take One

When you visit the Emergency Department at the hospital, you must first be seen at triage. The nurse at triage does a quick assessment to determine the acuity of your situation and where you should be seen. I have kept track of many of these conversations over the years and will share some highlights.

I encountered this patient at the triage desk of a large inner city hospital, a Level I Trauma Center......

Me: “What is your emergency today?”
Patient: “I‘m here for a checkup.”
Me: “What kind of checkup?”
Patient: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Who sent you here?”
Patient: “The doctor told me I had low blood and was supposed to come back and get a checkup.”
Me: “Which doctor?”
Patient: “I don’t know.”
Me: “Which floor?”
Patient: “I don’t know.”
Me: “What is your health problem?”
Patient: “I don’t know.”