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I recently had the misfortune to be a patient at a large Chicago
hospital for five long days. Being in the hospital is miserable,
even when you’re lucky enough to end up in one known
for its exceptional patient care. I can personally attest
that if it weren’t for the dedication of my nurses and
nursing assistants that I would have had a much worse time
of it. Here’s what I learned about the daily job functions
of nurses and nursing assistants, and why they are such important
members of hospital staffs.
Hospital nurses are responsible for patient care.
While I was in the hospital, I had a doctor, a “team”
of residents, and a specialist on my case. I saw them all
once a day as they made their rounds, usually between nine
and eleven in the morning. If it weren’t for the nurses
and nursing assistants, I could have easily gone 22 hours
without seeing another medical professional to attend to my
needs.
Nurses are responsible for so much of patient care, including
administering medication and performing check-ups to make
sure that a patient hasn’t worsened. I came to depend
on my nurses as the real people who monitored my condition,
and I learned to alert them whenever something changed. I
found out that in a medical emergency, an actual doctor is
going to be the last person who shows up in your room.
Hospital nurses provide physical comfort.
While I was flat on my back, my nurses made sure to ask frequently
if I needed pain medication. I needed a new IV site every
day or so, and when my arms looked like they had run out of
veins, a nurse with 38 years experience came to see if she
find a new place to poke me. If someone else had unconfidently
started fishing for a vein, I would have been in for a world
of hurt. Another nurse brought me an icepack, and I didn’t
even have to tell her I was in pain. Even the nursing assistants
made sure I had fresh ice water in my pitcher and offered
to bring me food in the middle of the night.
Hospital nurses provide emotional comfort.
More of all, I appreciated that if I needed anything, all
I had to do was ask. My nurses genuinely wanted me to be comfortable
and responded quickly to calls. Even though I was pretty out
of it for the first couple of days, they always introduced
themselves at shift changes and wrote their names and hours
on a board in my room so I would know who was taking care
of me. They took the time to explain tests and medications
and what would happen next. When I felt like I might be stuck
in that bed forever, it was their kindness that made me feel
like I could hang in there.
The nursing shortage is very real.
I’m very, very lucky that I was in a good hospital.
Even so, I could tell my nurses and nursing assistants were
spread thinly across the patients on my floor. I sometimes
had to wait for routine procedures like getting IV antibiotics
when other patients had more pressing needs. While I never
felt slighted or ignored, I could tell that the hospital badly
needed more nursing staff.
We’ve all heard news stories about the so-called nursing
shortage. The sad truth is that there are far more positions
than registered nurses to fill them. There has never been
a time to earn a nursing degree and begin a career. While
nurses can work in many different settings, about 59% of them
do work in hospitals. The average salary for a nurse was $65,130
in 2008.
If you’re interested in a career as a nurse or a nursing
assistant, check out these nursing
colleges that offer associates degrees in nursing,
bachelor’s degrees in nursing, or nursing diplomas.
There are many schools that also offer online nursing degrees.
To see these and others, visit the Online
Nursing Schools directory to get started.
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