Today was a non stop busy day on the unit. To start everyone was scrambling to get through report because the unit was short staffed for the day. Instead of 4-5 patients on a regular shift we had 6 to start with. Even the charge nurse was taking 3 patients. It also was a little interesting because once again my preceptor was unable to show up because of family obligations and she asked me to work with another nurse on the unit for the day. This is a bit frustrating because the timing for my shifts to finish up is coming up soon and with only 2 more shifts remaining I need to stick to my schedule of shifts I have arranged to meet the deadline.
So with all that going on the nurse that my preceptor assigned me to work with for the day was fantastic. I felt like I was very helpful with the patient load and busy circumstances. Some of the things that I noticed that my nurse was very good with were helping the rest of the staff throughout the shift. Their attitude and approach to nursing was really refreshing. There was a noticeable amount of altruistic and patient centered care that was done in a way that made the busy and stressful day enjoyable and almost easy to deal with.
When I think of skilled nurses I usually think of the actual ability to perform tasks and the knowledge base needed to make critical decisions and accurate assessments. Today was the situation where I witness how a nurses' "other" skills can make a difference in not only the patients care and overall experience but the unit as a whole. Even though throughout the shift we were able to perform and do some great care and perform skills such as removing a JP tube, dressing changes, insert new IV lines, discharges and admits I feel that the I was able to get so much more education on how the "other" things a nurse does and how noticeable of difference it was.
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