"Inside jokes" and funny familiarities are too good to keep inside. We have to laugh (or at least exchange smiles) -- sometimes at our patient files, often at our idealism and always at ourselves. A few recent file entries:"Patient reports being bitten by a snake. The assailant was brown in color."
"Patient absconded when his pants were returned." (A drunk piki-piki driver sneaked out without paying after we stitched him up. It would be funnier if he hadn't also left two unrelated 15-year-old passengers -- with related wounds -- on Ward II.)
"Oxygen administered when meter read '0.'" (For all of our non-clinical friends, a pulse oximeter measures oxygen saturation in the bloodstream via clamp-on finger probe. We get pretty worried when the meter goes below 90%. At 0, a patient would be long-since dead. Fortunately, ours was alive; only the oximeter's battery was dead. And a little extra O2 probably gave 85-year-old Tom a temporary lift.)
My personal favorite, however, is a photocopied sketch of "The Ideal Nurse" that is posted on Ward II's bulletin board. In case this picture is too blurry, the labels read: "Head: full of knowledge of nursing and the Bible. Eyes: to say 'I care.' Ears: alert and listening. Mouth: to smile for Jesus. Heart: warm with love... for others. Hands: gentle to soothe and comfort patients. Feet: quick to respond to calls."Smile, everyone!
1 comment:
God bless you Dianne. I love it when I see a new post on your blog. Have shared this address with the teams before that have been to Maseno. It always makes us "homesick" though. Blessings to you. Keep smiling! May today hold more smiles then tears! Nancy Rowe, Baldwin WI
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