My Value as a nurse
 One of my favourite nurse bloggers at Those Emergency Blues, challenged nurses to make their own nurse as to what value we have as nurses. Nurses often talk about how hard their job is, and that’s why they get paid. How the job is physically demanding and pretty gross sometimes. But I could teach a high school student to do the physical aspects of my job. Anyone can take a blood pressure, turn a patient, or wipe an ass. My value is in knowing why. This is what I know

·         The signs and symptoms of hypoglycaemia

·         The difference between delirium and dementia

·         Why one antibiotic a is being used instead of antibiotic b

·         When it a pt with a C2 spinal cord injury is diaphoretic, has a headache, anxious with a BP of 120/90 that is a medical emergency

·         Why the nurses are waking you up to ask you where you are, and want you to hold your hands out while you count to ten.

·         I know how many calories a burn patient needs to heal

·         What medications cannot be given while a tube feed is running (more than you would think)

·         I know how to place an NG (despite the administration telling me nurses don’t)

·         What to do when you start seizing. And what to do when you think you’re seizing.

·         When an SBP of 200 is okay, and when an SBP of 90 is okay.

·         I know how to explain the treatment to you and your family so you understand it.

·         I know how to keep families in the loop

·         What words to use to make the doctor get their asses to the ward.

·         The difference between types of chest pain, and what to do for them.

·         Why your shoulder hurts when your gallbladder is inflamed.

·         Why your suddenly confused elderly family member most likely has a UTI

·         When an SpO2 of 88% is okay, and when an SpO2 of 100% is dangerous

·         Why the prescription bottle tells you to take it on an empty stomach

·         Why a stroke patient can’t have a sling for their paralyzed arm

·         Why bed rest means BED REST. No you cannot get up to go to the bathroom; no you cannot sit up to eat.

·         Which dressing will give your wound the best chance of healing
·         I know how to hold someone’s hand while the die, and how to make that process peaceful and dignified.

 



And probably more that I have currently forgotten.  So my value in as a nurse? has nothing to do with what I know how to do, and everything to do with why and when I know to do it. 

What's your value as a nurse?



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