Oh, The Irony: what makes nursing students happy.

Today I gave 50 mg of Demerol mixed with 50 mg of Visatril via Intramuscular injection in the patient's dorsal gluteal, or right upper quadrant of the buttocks. Or to put in plain words: I gave someone a shot in the butt (or her right upper butt, if you want me to be more specific). The patient was in a lot of pain and that was the medication that her doctor ordered for her. And right before I gave my patient her shot, I thought to myself: how ironic it is that I would inflict more pain on this patient when she asked for relief. Apparently, Demerol + Visatril burns all the way in. Not to mention that I used a three inch needle to give it to her. Ouch.

But I had the best day of my life today because I had the opportunity to give that shot. I know that that is a weird thing to say and No! I don't know what's wrong with me!

Nursing school can be described in many words, in many ways, objectively--as per requirements of the California Board of Nursing-- and subjectively--because it can mean different things for different people. However, today I realized that if I can describe my experiences thus far in one word, I would say: Ironic. I mean, nursing students get excited about giving shots and doing finger sticks and starting IV's and watching a live open-heart surgery. Those are the things that we get "pumped" about. Things we get giddy about, things we give each other high-fives for.

The irony is this: Nursing students are being trained to help people and help them feel better, but in our training, we inflict pain on our patients, and... enjoy it. Though, I think the enjoyment itself is not directly related to what we're doing to the patient, but the exuding joy we feel is directly affected by what it is we are actually doing. Advancement and practice in any skill we're learning is always exciting. And let's not forget the competitive aspect of learning. Sometimes, people try to outdo one another on what we get to do while we're at clinicals. For example (based on a true story):

J: "Hey, I gave three units subq [subcutaneous injection] of insulin to my patient. She was like, so not going to let me, but then she was like 'ok,' and then I gave it in her deltoid."
K: "Oh...that's cool. I gave 50 units. In the abdomen."
J: "What? 50 Units? Really?
K: "Yup."
J: "Yeah, well...I had to give 12 oral meds today. All at 9:00. It was like, crazy busy. I was so frazzeled."
K: "No way! I got to watch a CT guided Renal Biopsy and it was like, the last one ever that they're going to do in this hospital. They had to sedate the patient cause he was all combative and didn't want to be laying on his stomach. And the needle the doctor used for the biopsy was 18 inches long! "
J: "AH! Fine! you win!"

We're all good sports. And I admit we are a little overzealous over picking patients who have a lot going on, or patients who have various procedures, medications or intense psychosocial issues. But like I said, all it means is that we want more practice, more experience. I mean, you'd want us to be good, well-practiced RN's right? Yeah, one of us could be your nurse someday.

We love surgeries, too. Which is kind of scary, I guess. The other day, a classmate of mine said: "So my OR [Operating Room] rotation is tomorrow and I was praying for a CABG [coronary artery bypass graft a.k.a open heart surgery]." I added to that by saying, "Well, I'm really hoping to see a lobotomy or maybe a craniotomy."

I admit that the reality of what we're hoping for, if one were to cross examine our "requests," is not the best of scenarios. In actuality, my classmate is hoping that someone will have a really bad heart attack, caused by occlusion of major arteries; and I'm hoping that someone out there will pass out from either a brain hemorrage or a tumor or maybe have some sort of major head trauma that will require a neurosurgeon to crack his skull open to fix or prevent further damage to the brain. I mean, what are the odds that someone would openly volunteer for such delicate and risky procedures saying, "I will gladly volunteer my body and sacrifice it in the name of science and for the sake of the curiously insatiable learning appetites of overzealous nursing students everywhere!"

What a strange world we/I live in. But it is the way it is. Ironic.