I have struggled over the past several months to adequately describe my frustration and lack of ability to debrief the stresses of my job with others. It's not black and white. There aren't just good days and bad days. There are bad days and then there are worse days. I absolutely love my job and would not be doing anything else in this whole world. I adore the people I work with and share their compassion for caring. BUT IT IS THE HARDEST WORK I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Can I stress that again? MY JOB IS HARD, STRESSFUL, DRAINING, EXHAUSTING, AND HARD. Did I mention it is hard? Not that your job isn't important, not that your job isn't stressful. But in my job, if I mess up people could die. That's a lot of emotional accountability to take upon yourself. We have patients that are sick, patients that are dying, families that are challenging, doctors that are demanding, and situations and circumstances that are out of our control but that we are required to fix. Multiply that by five patients, three days (mind you it is 14+ hour days) a week; it easily leads to exhaustion and fatigue.
BUT.....
I love it. I wouldn't change my career for anything. For these people, I would do anything, for these people...
...For the patient that thanks you for helping them to the bathroom,
...For the patient that is relieved when you bring them pain medication,
...For the patient that relieved because you set up their lunch tray for them because they are too drained to do it for themselves,
...For the stroke patient that can no longer hold their arm up to dress in the morning,
...For the family that needs questions answered,
...For the patient that needs to be told what low fat and low cholesterol means,
...For the patient that needs you to hold their hair has they vomit,
...For the patient that needs someone to hold their hand when they hear bad news,
...For the family that is making funeral arrangements,
...For the family and that finds treatment unsuccessful,
...for those families, that is why I am a Nurse.
...they are why I teach,
...they are why I wake up at 0500 every day,
...they are why I soak my calloused feet at night,
...they are why I wake up in the middle of the night with leg cramps,
...they are why I make time to spend time when people that are important to me, because you never know when they will gone in an instance,
...they are why I take a 15 minute lunch break instead of 30,
...they are why I never get restful nights of sleep,
...they are why I breakout and binge on ice cream far too much,
...they are why I only sweat the small stuff,
...they are why I find a moment to breakdown and cry out of pure frustration,
...they are why I have laundry piled up all over the place,
...they are why I find gratitude in the small things,
...they are why I only sit down when I pee while at work,
...they are why I continue to go to school,
...they are why I am still a Nurse.
Philosophy of
Teaching
Nursing 653
James Madison
University
Heather Galang
Introduction
Education is the key to progression
in many ways. Without educators
finding time, patience, determination, and dedication, successful teaching
would be nonexistent. Teaching is
more than just valuable, but it is a means to understanding of life and how to
survive. I have had such an
instrumental education that has been valuable and engaging, I feel it necessary
to contribute back to a community that has given me so much. In many ways my professors in the past
have guided and educated me in order to take care of their generation in the
future.
What
I Teach
Having only been a nurse for about
two years, bedside cardiac education is all I know. Bedside education is forced and pushed most of the time, out
of necessity to fill requirements and meet outcomes. Often the patient feels trapped, generally surrendering to
the education out of inability to physically relocate themselves in order to
avoid education. Though this style
of education is not always successful, it can be when you have, generally
speaking, isolated attention. Though
the topic at the bedside over the past two years has been cardiac related in
order to fill job requirements, I still have a passion for this subject. Cardiac disease is unfortunately
rampant in my family, so every patient I teach could be my mother, my father,
or my brother. I have seen the
positive outcomes and lifestyle changes in my own family, resulting from this
type of bedside cardiac education.
A bedside nurse first took time to teach my father about the importance
of exercise and diet in order to save his life; it is the least I can do to
return that favor to someone else’s father. It is humbling to teach patients about their life and death necessary
lifestyle changes and have them reach their “aha!” moment, when they realize
that they have to change. I speak
of excellent educators having perseverance and patience, because this specialty
topic of cardiac education, as well as multiple other topics, is repetitive and
never-ending.
How
I Teach
For me, teaching patients occurs
every time I enter their room.
Every conversation we have includes ‘teachable moments’, opportunities
that can lead to redirecting and furthering their knowledge. A patient may be drinking a Pepsi when
I enter their room, but they are diabetic. This presents opportunities for teaching that do not require
outside resources, but could initiate further teaching using those outside
resources such as brochures, specialized educators, audiovisual, etc. When I am passing out AM medications, a
patient asks questions about their upcoming procedure. I use this as an opportunity to teach
the patient and family, if available, about the procedure and what they can
expect. Teaching is never-ending,
and impromptu teaching often leaves a lasting impression. I find impromptu teaching most
encouraging when I learn, often the reason why I also use it when teaching. I learn best when I receive information
in small amounts so that I have time to process the information before using
it.
I hate that I have judgments when
teaching, but I think it’s impossible not to have judgments. We are human; prone to error. However, I find it frustrating,
draining, and incredibly apathetic when patients can make lifestyle changes and
simply choose against that, taking self-accountability out of their care. Healthcare changes, in the way
hospitals are reimbursed for care, require an increased focus on special areas
of education, including Heart Failure, Stroke, and Heart Attacks. Patients will need to become
increasingly more accountable to their care, taking more proactive steps to
prevention versus reaction.
Although I do find my role as an educator being increasingly more important
because of these changes, I also struggle in teaching patients that ultimately
will choose to be nonadherent. I
think that this will be a key role of research and problem solving as an
Advance Practice Nurse.
How
I Know I’m Making Progress as an Educator
Even though there are hurdles to
jump and education is exhausting and draining, I find fulfillment as an
educator in the very small mountains climbed. I took care of a patient once, admitted with Acute
Respiratory Failure, secondary to Acute on Chronic Congestive Heart
Failure. Even though prescribed by
her doctors, her diet never consisted of restricted salt or fluids, she never
weighed herself, and she didn’t adhere to her medications on a routine basis. I took time away from nursing the desk
to take a full hour as a bedside nurse to teach this patient about her upcoming
Pacemaker Insertion procedure and her disease process. Regardless of what teaching styles or
materials I used, the mere fact of patiently taking time and dedicating myself
to her and her alone created this successful learning environment. She looked at me, after I was done
teaching, and she said, “You are such a great teacher! You should have been a Doctor, you
would be so successful!”. I
thanked her, and quietly slipped out of the room. On the other side of the wall, my thoughts? “No. I am exactly what I was meant to be, an educator. I made a difference with her; that was
enough success.”
Conclusion
Since education and learning is key
to success in life, I know that my role as an educator is invaluable. It is my personal and professional goal
to continue my own education in order to continue to fulfill my own goals of
successfully educating patients and leading them to improved health. Impromptu teaching will continue to be
my means of growth and success for others and will continue to be key to my
philosophy of teaching. I
take education seriously and know that finding time in a chaotic, busy schedule
is important and key to progression in health and in life. I will take the small mountains climbed
in the field of education as a measurements of success.
