Personal Narrative: My Shift In The ICU

An interaction that deepened my interest in Nursing would have to be when I interned with Dr. Morin, an Orthopedic Surgeon. I was granted this opportunity by the Southwest Virginia Governor's School, as their students have to complete an internship. I chose to do mine in the operating room, because I was fascinated with all that went on inside the operating room.

A music box like sound twinkled with a bright tune throughout the hospital. Its tune was heard from the quiet and calm patient rooms, through the long white hallways, and to the comfortable hospital lobby where I stood waiting. I wonder what that sound was? Well, who cares? I’ve got other things to worry about. It was my first day of volunteering at the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital. The first tasks I was assigned were to greet, to help, and to escort visitors to their destination. My shaky hands were clasped together in an attempt to stay calm. Jeez I hope I don’t get lost while escorting a visitor.

I was born on June 26, 2002 in Albany, NY. I lived there until I was about 5, then we moved to Edinboro. For about three years of my childhood I maintained to average an emergency room trip a year. First when I was in Kindergarten my brother accidentally shut a door on my face. The edge of the door knob hit my lip and cut it in half. I started gushing blood. I was crying because that bad boy hurt and then my mom asks, “do you want some Tang”. I didn't want the Tang because my lip was gushing blood. So we went to the emergency room and I got eight stitches. My next injury happened the summer of me going into first grade. We had this croquet set, and me and my brother were pitching an exercise to each other and hitting it with the croquet mallet.

I am most familiar with the Urgent Medical Center. In my opinion, it is very well-structured place with a diverse staffing. It was always a pleasant environment when I had to visit the center for an illness. The center has at least two physicians and nurses on-site at all time. Also, there are several medical assistants to help provide quality of care as patient wait to be seen by a physician. This organization promotes health and wellness services to all patients. Theirs mission is to provide an affordable, quality healthcare with respect and compassion to all patients. The urgent medical center mainly focuses on treating common illness and non-life-threatening injuries. One thing that they do not have on-site is an equipment for diagnostic,

It was the worst thing in my life. One sip of the wrong drink and my best friend, Brady, was in the Intensive Care Unit, with a small change of survival. How was I supposed to know that his ex-boyfriend was going to poison the water supply? No one is supposed to know about that, until it already happened.

This is 50 year old AAM. Patient is here with several issues. Patient reports, he had been incarserated and now he is in half way house. For past 3 weeks he haven't had any of his medications. Patient denies chest pain, SOB, N/V/ D, or fever. Patietn reports some depresive moods, deneis thoughts of sucide or homicide. Current pain

Today was my first day in the Paramedics department. I shadow EMTs tech today, his name was tom. Everyone in the Department was very welcoming and they were glad to have PFE student over in their department. Tom, showed me the truck and the different kinds of bags they have in the truck for different kinds of patients, he told me that they get 30 calls each day, and about 1400 calls a year. He asked me about what I want to be and we talked a little about the career I want to be pursued in. He told me when they are free, they go to wawa to get coffee, they took to me to the wawa and they were nice enough to ask me if I want anything but I simply said Thanks. We came back to the unit and then waited for call but we did not get any call.While

“Moral issues greet us in each morning in the newspaper, confront us in the memos on our desks, nag us from our children’s soccer fields, and bid us good night on the evening news” (Velasquez et al 2015). Let me take this time to share one of my student’s testimonies on what she experienced on her recent occupation as a Medical Assistant in a psychiatry clinic. In her short time operating as a Medical Assistant, she saw one prevailing ethical dilemma daily in the clinic she worked in. Most days she experienced an overwhelming and unexplainable joy and excitement knowing that, she was fulfilling her greatest passion in life. Not everyone has the opportunity to work in the field of their studies, but there she was functioning in the capacity,

Oh my sweetness, You always make my heart flutter... I enjoy our chat as well. Thanks for sharing with me, and I'm sorry once again... How was your weekend? I hope you had a wonderful one with your cute kids? My weekend is long and busy, today is my day off, but there is an emergency, and I'm recommended to work at the emergency Department; I hope I don't work late tonight. Despite my busy schedule, you never leave my heart. Time runs fast, and I'm patiently waiting to finish work and feel you next to me. I'm excited to have you in my world. I can't wait to meet you in person. You're incessantly on my mind

My wrists burned terribly and the stinging pain seemed to rivet through my entire body. I didn't mind it though,it gave me a sense of being alive, a sense of that somewhere in the midst of this all, I'm still human and even thought I feel dead, I know I'm not.

I remember when I started my recovery I was discharged from the detox program into a six month transitional program. Transitional living that deal with people recovering from addiction are often referred to as recovery residences. The Transitional Living Center provided me a place where I could re-establish my own self-worth. When I was at the transitional housing I felt safe from the possibility of a relapse. My recovery plan was individualized according to the determination of my needs. They taught me what my triggers were and how deal with them in positive ways. I remember when my six months were up and I was getting ready to be transferred into the supportive housing program to be integrated back into the community. Supportive housing allowed

At 8am the doctor came by to do another check and I was now at 5cm. I wanted to have a natural birth and to experience labor as it is. Before this visit I asked for nitrus oxide to get me through labor. The nurse came in a few minutes later and got me set up with the nitrus and it was such a relief! As long as I kept the mask intact and took long deep breaths the contractions felt mild and were bearable. My nurses name was Diane and she was fantastic. Diane wasn't like the other nurses whom I encountered. She was kind and personable and I can honestly say she made everything a little easier.

There are many monumental events that have occurred in my life, but the incident that left me paralyzed and partial blind was the turning point.

Nigeria, 2001, I awakened startled with people screaming indiscriminately. My dad's head was bleeding profusely, and my cousin, sitting in the passenger seat was bleeding from his neck. There were shards of shattered windshield everywhere. I was in the backseat uninjured but scared. This commotion was the aftermath of a car accident involving my dad, my cousin and me, while he was driving us to school. Next, we were rushed to the hospital, however, upon arrival, we were refused treatment until we paid an admissions fee. This practice was common in my country. Although the incident was disturbing, it drove me towards a career in healthcare, mainly working with patients who have a difficulty affording their medical care.

On the night of April 2nd, 2016, in Destin, Florida, I jumped off of a lifeguard stand and hit a sharp metal pole which tore my skin open a little above my right ankle. The way in which my foot was cut open is medically defined as a laceration. A laceration is a cut through one or more layers of skin. The laceration I suffered was definitely a cut through multiple layers of my skin. As you can see in the image on the right, a doctor repaired my wound by tying the two flaps of skin together using 5 stitches. The picture was taken 3 days after the stitches were sewn. As you can see, the top flab of skin was so stretched out and traumatized that it began to develop into another gash of its own. About a week later the gash developed into a scab with a valley in the middle which opened up into another open wound. Since this wound was already present for more than 8 hours (about 10 days), my safest option was to allow for the wound to heal from the inside out.