The Most Difficult of Patients

Blog # 8

For our last roation at the Med-Surge floor for this semester, I took care of a patient that all of the other nurses avoided. She had a history of being quit needy and was one of those patients that it seemed no matter how hard you worked, she could not be pleased. But the suprising thing to me was that she never displayed any disagreeable behavior for the entire two days I was with her. Sure, she did incessently call out for the nurse as soon as she was alone in her room, but when I answered her, she would thank me for helping and apologize for being such a bother. Many of the other nurses on the floor thought I was an extremely patient student since I spent pratically my entire shift in her room. But the truth is, I was paitent with a thankful client. This is no test of patience. Its like loving those who love you, somthing everyone can do. The true test comes when a nurse has to take care of a difficult patient who constantly complains about the job you do. A person who can provide the same compasionate care for this patient as he or she does for other grateful patients, is the one who really demonstrates patiences. When I worked in a nursing home, I had a little experience caring for patients who complain about and criticizes everything you do. Luckily, this patient had mental problems (I say luckily because I would hate to met a cognitive person who was that nasty for the entire six months I worked there). Even though I knew she had mental problems, it was still very difficult (nearly impossible) to provide the best care I could. After all, can you give your best despite how you feel? Perhaps to an extent, but there is no subsitute for that geniune love nurses can have for their patients. Its a difficult question and I am sure this will be one of my personal challenges as I progress further into the nursing field.