Patience With The Patient Patient

Hello,

I now know why a patient is called a patient...because he/she has to be!  I started working with patients at a sub-acute care center.  People are there for different reasons, such as illness recuperation, post-operative care, injury rehabilitation, various chronic maladies, and hospice.  The student CNA's, such as myself, shadow and train under a licensed CNA, branching from assisting with care to performing tasks independently.

Here is where the theory, knowledge, and medical/technical training we receive in the classroom meets the reality of a living, breathing patient actually receiving care.  There is clinical excellence expected amid checking patients' vital signs, bathing and dressing them, changing linens, preparing patients for therapy and doctor appointments, and assisting with feeding.

The "patient" patient is the focus, but while providing excellent care to one in a slow-paced manner, another needs immediate attention.  As my CNA told me, "There's a way you learned in class, and the way it truly works in the "real world".  So, after being advised that I would never get finished if I spent too much time with each patient, I decided that 'TLC with speed" would be my goal.  I will not compromise omitting a caring touch, a smile, and a kind word, for the sake of being a perfunctory, but efficient caregiver. 

In my utopian viewpoint, there is room for both, with the err being on the side of  "patience" concerning the patient.  I want to give the same care I would want to receive myself.  "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you".  If I move too quickly I could injure a patient, or my light might extinguish.

"Til next time,
Stephanie