Week 15 as a level 3 Nursing Student

This week was exciting for me because I was able to hang out with a super cute baby. This was the first newborn baby I was able to feed - she wasn't my patient assignment but I had some free time, so I wanted to get as much exposure as possible. This patient was born into addiction but contrary to the assumptions we may each carry, this patient's parents were quite involved. The interesting thing to me is the notion of drug use and our own beliefs about drug use, misuse, and abuse. Which word would you choose to use and why?

The semester is slowly winding down and funnily enough, the last paper to do is the final family theory paper. My assigned patient this week was a 10 year old boy who had been diagnosed with diabetes a year ago. He had had multiple hospitalizations these past 4 months due to poorly controlled blood sugars. I was able to watch patient teaching regarding nutrition and blood glucose monitoring. I think one thing I struggle with is being firm with patients. I have an inherent need to be 'friends' with people, to be 'nice' to others, and to be liked, essentially. While this may be acceptable in my personal life, it can be a barrier to the therapeutic relationship I develop with patients. This experience exemplified this weakness to myself. When the nurse was discussing nutrition with the patient, she was firm, not mean, but firm. It's definitely more firm than myself and what I'm used to, and I could see that the patient was a bit uneasy with the talk, but I also realize that it needed to be done. This little boy needed to learn the importance of diabetes management for his own health and well-being. Another interesting point is for me is the flexibility of being a nursing student. I was able to stay with the patient during the nutritional consultation, but also able to play video games with him! It was actually a very meaningful experience for me, believe it or not.

The joys of being a nurse!