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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: PATIENT (11/25/21)
Elizabeth was ill. Becoming a patient shook her up. All her years she had thought of herself as a provider of care; a nurse, until the day she woke up in the hospital bed. Immediately her mind leapt back. No longer a provider of care, she was now a recipient. The busy staff seemed to skate busily on flat shoes from room to room. Her mind went back to the heyday of her forty years of professionalism.

Elizabeth hoped that her nurse would be kind, loving the profession and seeing himself or herself as a messenger of the outstretched arm of God. She lay and reflected on her nursing days. She remembered walking to and from patients rooms. She often had twenty or more medications to 'pass'. Many patients had difficulty swallowing and she had to crush the medications and give them applesauce, taking care with perfect smiling accuracy to perform at her highest ability.

While meeting all the activities of daily living based on care plans, she sought to always do so with patient efficiency. Hurrying did not help because mistakes might be made. The key to competence was patient diligence knowing that after medications, came dressing changes, intravenous medications, supervision of nursing assistants and of course, documentation.

The focus of nursing is the patient. Personal wishes did not come into play whilst on duty. Optimistically, getting the patient through whatever medical disorder was theirs to the desired end and through to discharge meant everything.

Elizabeth was a praying Christian, so she prayed before, during and after her shifts. She prayed that the side effects of the medications she administered would not happen. As a nurse, she had to love her difficult patients and even her unkind fellow workers as she loved herself. Jesus did say "Love your neighbour as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.” {Mark 12:31}.

A highly stressed professional environment such as a care unit, be it a hospital or elderly care unit, took so much out of her, but deep down she knew that she was doing good work.
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This article has been read 508 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Marlene MCPherson
12/03/21
It is good when one can reflect with on one's career path with pride.
Marlene MCPherson
12/03/21
It is good when one can reflect with on one's career path with pride.
Loni Bowden-Horn 
12/03/21
Thank you for sharing your perspective about being a caregiver versus being cared for

We are blessed to have so many medical staff that help keep us safe and well.

Philippa Geaney
12/06/21
Oh Miss Elizabeth of this story- I was a nurse too. I don't remember ever being rude or off hand 🤔but over a 45 year period I must have been grumpy sometimes.
Some seemed sent to try us.
I enjoyed your story personally. It would be fun to one day write a story centered around nursing. Seems you could easily do that.
Thank you.
Arlene Baker
12/07/21
This story has so much potential! First, exchange passive verbs for active. Second, make her hospitalization a surprise ending. Keep the reader moving along through active writing and surprise endings! Keep writing!
Shann Hall-LochmannVanBennekom 
12/07/21
I used to be a nurse before I too became a patient so I could really relate to this piece. It's hard to be on either side of the bed, yet being a patient gave me great insight too. Nicely done.