OK - so this Blog is supossed to be about my journey from nurse to doctor, but my fathers' stroke (see last entry) has put medicine into the background.
I think I have learnt more about basic nursing care this week than in all my years of nursing. I am a big fan of Dr Crippen's blog, http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/ and having seen the lack of basic care given to my father this week, I absolutely 100% agree with Dr Crippen's call for a return to good nursing skills.
My dad is on in a stroke rehab unit. The one thing that has surprised me this week is that although I am sure it is hectic in the morning, the rest of the day seems to follow a nice steady pace. There are always nurses at the nursing station and my hours of watching have convinced me that although heavy, it looks a nice place to work.
This is why I have been surprised at the lack of care. Each night when I have arrived, my dad has been wearing food stained clothes with a bulging catheter bag and sitting with his bare feet on the floor. In front of him, every night has been a cup of congealed cold tea. My dad has never been the fussiest of people and won't give a hoot that he has liquidised cauliflower down his front, but he looks uncared for.
I certainly don't mean this to turn into a moany blog, but as a nurse I can clearly see what is lacking.
poem
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* Two Men*
One man withdrew from life
Falling ever deeper into
An alternative reality entirely
Of his own making
He never left his desk, the
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1 week ago
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1 comment:
Mate, as Nursing Student just about to finnish up and head to Medical School, I know EXACTLY what you are talking about.
Im from a long line of Nurses, and each one of them has a "it was better in my day" story, but I dont even need to listen to my gran, I can look at the decline in care I have seen over the past 3 years since I started. Its simply gross.
I used to write a Blog on the woes of a Nursing Student but I just couldnt bear to write about it anymore, existing through the sham that is nursing education is hard enough day-to-day without having to come home and write about it.
The whole system is upside down, and its poor patients like your Dad who suffer in the end.
I wish him well, and hope he can get back to somewhere near where he was pre-stroke as soon as poss.
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