Mary's Pad

Classic statement that! This is what my clinical instructor said to us yesterday. I thought it was so meaningful that I haven’t forgotten it since. Here’s the thing. Critical Care is tough! It’s the toughest part of Nursing School that you ever have to go through, but so far I LOVE it. The paperwork is insane, the patients have numerous conditions, all of which have to be correlated and put together; I have not been able to sleep more than 2 hours a night during clinical nights, and from the volumes of paperwork I’ve had to type I think I have no fingerprints left… I don’t want to check though.

Think of all the possibilities… no fingerprints… hmmmm…

Anyway, I digress. I love the rotation, and I love the instructor. I have learned a tremendous amount of information in these three weeks about putting the pieces together, and about what questions to ask to be able to make the correlations I need for my patients. I have learned of illnesses I had never really heard of, and I have learned that caring makes a world of difference. I have learned that Critical really does mean Critical, and that it’s called intensive care for a reason. And I love it.

Here’s another classic statement from the same instructor:
You have to be perfect, because if you’re not, people die.

How much do you want to bet that I will never forget that statement? Some might consider it too much pressure, unfair pressure, unrealistic pressure. I don’t. I consider it a call from the heart, which is what I believe it is. I like where it’s coming from, and I think I like where I feel it’s taking me.

One more week in Critical Care, and then off to the ER.

And yes, I am still alive. And I still haven’t thought about the dying and ethics thing yet, and I haven’t played any Wii in ages…