Wednesday, September 26, 2007

In the presence of people with advanced stages of disease, you (Nurse) become sensitive to certain expressions of speech, or how they describe how they are feeling at the moment. Some of those expressions, portend impending doom and disaster.
For example, when the patient who has had a major Myocardial Infarction, suddenly states, "I don't feel so good" , yet all the while, everything has been looking peachy-keen. Don't ask questions, just call out the door, and say something like, "Would someone please bring the crash-cart to room-17, ASAP!!!". Yes, that is a clear example of your critical-thinking skills kicking in (aka, "intuition"). If you overlook it...................

Cruisin' Heaven

A mysterious event
Happened just today,
The man said, "I don't feel so good"
Then his heart-beat went away.

I told him not to do that
But he didn't seem to care,
His heart rate slowed dramatically
Until it wasn't there.

With bells and buzzers ringing
We wailed upon that man,
His color went from purple
To a lovely desert tan.

He received a hit of atropine
Some calcium and epi,
He replied with tachy-rhythms
But his pump just wasn't peppy.

With the force of seven doctors
And the strength of twenty nurses,
Collectively their aura
Dispelled the evil curses,
That had bound him to his destiny
In a room without a view,
Now he's cruisin' heavens highways
With an angel friend or two.

Fibril_late; 1997

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