Thankful Thursday | windows open!

This week, I am thankful:

for a lovely, cool morning

As I type this, my office window is open and there’s some delightful air coming in.

It’s been a little on the hot side this week (high 80s, which is a bit unusual for early May) but we’re still having some wonderfully cool mornings.

for beautiful natureI’m always, always grateful for that!

that the bridges on my trail are getting fixed

The nearby trail that I can walk to has had dilapidated bridges ever since I moved here.

Passable, but dilapidated.

However, in the last few weeks, these have all been getting repaired. Woohoo!

for how much I have learned this semester

I was thinking about things like…how much better I am at knowing baseline levels for not just vitals but all sorts of bloodwork.

I also understand fluid shifts in the body way better now.

In fact, a few weeks ago, I was able to figure out, without even looking at the bloodwork, that a patient’s albumin levels were probably low and that’s why the patient was having low blood pressure readings, despite having received plenty of IV fluids.

And sure enough, when I came in the next day, I saw the blood results and the albumin was indeed low. I was so proud of myself!

for patients who say yes to student nurses

Not every patient is comfortable allowing us students to assist with their care, but I am so grateful for the ones who say yes.

There is no better way to learn than by getting hands-on experience, and it is impossible to do that without willing patients.

Also, just an FYI in case you are ever asked if you’re willing, as a patient: nursing students are always supervised, there are lots of safety rules in place, and the care you get is not going to be compromised if you say yes to having a student nurse.

The care we give doesn’t replace the care the assigned nurse gives; you’re just saying yes to us getting some practice with tasks at our level, and we are so thankful for the opportunity!

And sometimes when you say yes, you actually get a little more time and attention; student nurses aren’t spread as thin as nurses and techs are, so we can devote more time to listening, figuring out what you need, and helping you. 🙂 

In fact, a lot of times when I went in at the end of my shift to say goodbye to my patients and to thank them, they were saying thank you to me.

So, a happy experience all around.

that I’m braver than I thought

I can’t remember if I’ve said this before, but I was a little nervous that my dont-rock-the-boat personality would make it hard for me to fulfill my role as an advocate for my patients.

But right outta the gate at med surg, I spoke up for my patients. And if I can do that as a second-semester student nurse, I definitely am gonna be able to do that as a full-fledged nurse with experience.

I’m willing to stick my neck out if it’s gonna help someone I’m responsible for. 🙂

that my powerpoint for our group presentation is all done

I tackled it yesterday, and we’re gonna give it a run-through over Zoom today. Luckily this one is only 5-7 minutes, so not too bad to work through.

Chiquita sat on my keyboard and tried her best to change my powerpoint, but luckily I was able to hit control-z a few times to get back to my previous spot.

WHEW.

I’m not that good at powerpoint so I would have been unhappy if I had to redo the work!

What are you thankful for this week?