Lani's Blog

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea.......

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."


Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894)


Thanks OutofSync for the prompt





"But I'm coming back." I sputtered almost in tears. Everyone in the breakroom laughed. My supervisor on the night shift came over to me and hugged me.





"Of course you are.This is just a temporary assignment."





The break room was filled with my fellow nurses who had thrown me a pitch - in ( potluck) dinner. I was being assigned to another floor for 2 months to fill a critical need. The floor I was being assigned 3 South was known to eat up and chew out new nurses. I was one year on the job and low man on the staffing totem pole. I was not asked if I wanted to do this, but told about the reassignent two days ago by my head nurse.





And it felt like a demotion. I worked on one of the best floors in the hospital. That was not just my opinion but the general consensus of other Med-Surg nurses. It in the newest wing of the hospital, all private rooms and fewer patients. Ten vs fifteen or eighteen a shift depending on the wing.





I called my brother to whine. "Twenty patients.(Venting makes me exaggerate)  Sometimes no aides. All those all old people. And the staff I hear can be tough."





My brother let me vent for a while. Then he changed my outlook.





"Don't think of it as a demotion. You're just out of school. You're their best and brightest. Go and learn everything you can and bring it back. Actually, its a promotion that they think of you like that."





At the time, I thought he doesn't understand. He's military and they do things differently. Yet the idea took hold and grew in my mind. By the time I reported for duty on 3 South, I had the mind set that I was here to learn. The staff responded in kind. I made friends because my attitude was not "this is the armpit of the hospital."





I had a lot of firsts on 3 South. My first codes, my first patients in DT's and first AMAs or leaving Against Medical Advise. I had more diabetics that I could count. I began to hate the phrase "Uh..Nurse I feel funny." It usually meant the blood sugar was around 40 (normal is 80-100). I learned I liked the older patients better than the younger ones as the whine factor was lower.





The two months actually flew by and I was almost sorry to leave 3 South. I knew my brother's ideas had changed me when I overheard some co-workers talking soon after I returned.





"Lani is different since she came back. More self-confident and she knows everyone in the hospital now."





"Yeah, maybe it won't be so bad when I have to float."








I think Oliver Wendell Holmes would be pleased