Saturday, July 23, 2005
~ It's a REAL World out there... ~
8:06:00 pm
Welcome to the REAL world, Nadiah... You finally know what it is like to be in the working world... Well, nothing is a bed of roses... If you think it is, dream on!! *Sigh*... Yup... That was my subconscious mind alerting me... Now that I'm working as a full-time staff and NOT a student on attachment anymore, I should be more aware of things around and surrounding me... And one more thing... Don't EVER take things for granted... Yeah, I've learnt my lesson, only today...
Was on morning shift today... Since we've just graduated, we are assigned to do junior work which is AN's role... I was paired up with one of the SAN in the ward on the male side... Alright, I'm totally fine with the fact that I was paired up with her... BUT I'm not fine with the fact that she totally pushed the checking of the CSSD items to me when I know nuts about it... In fact, she was kinda annoyed when I told her that I was unsure how to go about... The least she could do was to demonstrate once to me... *Urgghh*... Anyway, I just did as I was told... Cuz I can't say 'NO' right?
Most of the things that we did took longer than usual such as turning of patients, parameter rounds and updating of the clinical charts... And she practically pushed all the 10am parameter rounds and updating of the clinical charts to me while she went to order diet for the patients which is quite a simple task... Okay, I shall not grumble about this cuz I told her that I could manage it... But yes, I did struggle to complete them cuz there were 12 parameters to be done and 18 clinical charts to be updated... And yes, I admit that I was SLOW...
By the time I completed updating all the charts, we had to start the second turning round... Thankfully, the two SNs on duty on my side, one of whom is my preceptor, were willing to lend the extra hand when the SAN went to send one of the patients down for some procedure and hence, going for her break without informing me... Not one, but almost all of my colleagues in the ward, including my ward Sister, noticed that I was stressed due to the
"I AM STRESSED" look on my face...
A couple of times my SNs tried to get me to go for my break but I profusely refused because I have not completed my work yet... And it seems that it was not paid off... Yes, I was scolded by the SAN because I did not collect the clean CSSD items from the AGV... HELLO!! I already told her that I was not sure about the CSSD items and what time the AGV will arrive cuz no one have briefed us about the AGV timing... And yet, I got a scolding from her... Never mind... I shall ignore that... Thank goodness one of the ANs taught me on what I should do while I was in the tearoom having a short break... And yeah, many people had asked me whether I had went for my break... Sounds like they are concerned but maybe they are just being 'kaypoh'... *Heh*...
Even after my shift, which was supposed to end at 2.30pm, I was still pacing up and down the ward to finish up my stuff... Only really managed to settle down at 3.20pm... Totally fine with that cuz eventually, I stayed on till 4pm to go through my checklist with my preceptor...
Okay... Enough about my 'bad' day... On a brighter scale, there were some events that would be fun to share with...
Had this Thai patient who was involved in an RTA... Anyway, this patient of mine could not communicate in English cuz he knew limited words so we had no choice but to show hand signs or act out certain actions... Example, yesterday when we had to assess his pain score, I ended up saying, "Got any ouch, ouch, ouch?"... *Haha*... Well, he started laughing so we deduced that he had no pain... *Hehe*... And so, he was discharged today and guess what?? Suddenly he started talking in Mandarin!! Oh gosh!! I did get quite a big shock... *Haha*... Honestly, I did not anticipate that coming... So I started to converse with him in Mandarin although my command of Mandarin wasn't good either... Found out that he had worked in Taiwan before for 3 years and so, that explains... *Haha*...
Well, at least thinking of that made me smile... And so, today's lessons are:
1) Work is not as easy as you think...
2) Must learn to work at a faster pace...
3) Don't wait for others to start... Must learn to initiate...
4) Don't take things for granted, assuming that all work is done...
5) When people scold you, accept it as a constructive criticism and from there, you will learn & change... Don't take it too hard...
6) Please... Try to converse with your patients in any language until you know what language they are able to converse in... *Haha... Dumb*
written, NaDiaH eRNiYaNTi
