Obviously, working with children has some advantages. The main one being the inherent cuteness of said children. Here are a couple of gems from the last few weeks.
1. One of the nurses was having a really busy day, so when her one of her call lights went off and she was in the room with a different patient, I answered it. I walk into the room and see that the patient (approximately 15 months old) has puked. Everywhere. I mean this little person just nailed his/her parent. It was down the front of the shirt, all over the pants, the chair, and in a puddle on the floor. I walk in, take in this huge mess, and check the patient to make sure he/she is o.k. The patient just looks at me and gives me this little smirk that says, "Oh, yeah. I know what I just did, and I think it's awesome."
I did not think this was awesome, but I cleaned it up anyway, and the parent and I had a good laugh about how thorough the puke job was.
2. Recently, one of my patients was a little African-American child. When I walked in to do my assessment in the morning, said patient ran up and gave me a HUGE hug, so I'm already thinking this kid is about as cute as they come. Later in the day I was starting an IV medication while the patient was playing on the floor. I knelt down to hook up the IV, and the patient starts stroking my hair. I was kind of having a bad hair day, so I felt like the patient was trying to console me with this stroking by implying "It's o.k., lady. I have bad hair days too. Don't feel bad." Either that or they were just fascinated because my hair was so much different then theirs, but I'm pretty sure it was because of my bad hair day. So, I pretty much wanted to take this little patient home by the end of the day. He/she was just that cute.
3. One of my favorite parent interactions just happened recently. The parent's child had been readmitted for observation because the doctor was concerned he/she might have a really serious respiratory disease, and the child was only a couple of months old. They had been admitted for several hours, and the mother calls me into the room. Here is the conversation:
Mother: "My child just threw up. I am really concerned."
Me: "O.k. When was his most recent feeding?"
Mother: "Just now."
Me: "Were you burping the patient?"
Mother: "Yes."
Me: "How much did he/she throw up?"
Mother: "At least 2-4 tablespoons."
Me: "Did it come out of the side of his/her mouth, or was it more projectile?"
Mother: "No, it just oozed out the side of the mouth."
Me: "Does this happen at home?"
Mother: "Yes."
Me: "Does it concern you at home? Do you feel like it's excessive compared to how much the patient eats?"
Mother: "No, not really. But we're in the hospital now, so I'm worried about it."
Me: "O.k., well that is something that is a totally normal occurrence for a little baby. It's not something that you really need to worry about at this point. Just let me know if you feel like the patient is spitting up his/her whole feeding or if it's more projectile then out of the side of the mouth."
Nursing school is so. much. fun. sometimes.
