“What is the nicest thing that a patient has ever said to you?”
Here is what nurses answered. Punctuation added/corrected for clarity. “We loved you so much we’d like you to come home and be our nanny. We couldn’t think of leaving our baby with anyone else.” Patient's daughter gave me the book 5 people you meet before you go to heaven. Wrote in it: “Thank you for being my dad's last angel to help him pass with love and dignity.” I cried for days.... “Thank you for everything, I really felt like you were my mom today.” (Labour & Delivery) They loved my bedside manor and wished me all the luck in the world. I had been off of orientation for a week at that point. I had just got my license. Shift change- bedside report - as we left the room a visitor entered and stopped. She looked at me and then at the patient and she said to me - "You probably don't remember me, but you were my favourite nurse. I was here two years ago and you made all the difference. I'm so glad you're her nurse tonight!" Live for those moments. I was saying goodbye to a patient because she would be discharged before my next shift. She was on the phone to her daughter who asked who she was talking to. She said “our favourite nurse.” The daughter must have said my name because she responded “of course!” Still makes me smile.
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The year was 1989.
😁 I finished Nursing School in May, 1989. Graduation was in June👩🎓and I started my first job 👩⚕️at Toronto East General Hospital (now the Michael Garron Hospital) in July. I wrote my provincial exam in August to become an RN! I worked at TEGH for about 2 years, until I moved to Florida for a year while working at Broward General Medical Centre. Then I spent 2½ years at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, AR before moving back to Canada. I have been working at the same Home Care Agency since May 1997! 😃 The only time that I ever put on a Nurse's cap was for my Graduation photo. Health Care Professionals work in all kinds of settings: hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, Long Term Care facilities, prisons, schools, home care. Each area has its own good and bad. When I asked Nurses and other Health Care Professionals “What is the scariest thing a patient ever said to you?” this is what I got. From the funny-scary to the violent-scary to the downright creepy-scary, here are a few! Punctuation added/corrected for clarity. I was there to do wound care. “Come sit in my lap and let me show you what you can do for me,” with his older son and friend there. I grabbed my stuff and literally ran out.
Absolutely nothing...had a 6 year old on my psych rotation. He would follow me down the hall and hide behind doors watching me through the crack. Scared the crap out of me! “I see you driving your car and I don't want to ruin my probation.” “Listen to that beautiful music, it’s like angels singing.” Coded and died fifteen min later. “Thank you for helping me get off.” |
Shana
I have been an RN for 33 years. I have worked in Toronto, Fort Lauderdale, Little Rock, Niagara Falls and St. Catharines Archives
August 2019
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