Nursing care is at the losing END!!!!

Nursing profession has evolved from its humble beginning during Florence Nightingale until the 21st century. The impact of change in Nursing as well as to other fields of knowledge are unimaginable. During Florence Nightingale's time, nursing was not just a calling, It was a devotion to God to serve those who are in need. It was solely a woman's work. However, through time, Nursing evolved and became a profession. Amidst all the facets of changes that happen to Nursing profession. One thing is Intractable to this devotion and so called profession. That is the Caring attitude of nurses. Through time the Nursing profession evolved from its humble beginning up until this highly technical world, the word Caring is still unchanged over time. Despite the growing responsibilities of nurses to their patient, one thing is common to all the specialty fields of nurses, and that is to care for their patient.

Due to the growing body of knowledge that overwhelmed nursing as a profession, nurses are forced to go with the flow in order to meet the needs and demands of this generation. Nursing procedures became highly technical with the advent of machines and gadgets that made work a lot more easier than before. Monitoring patients and Recording pertinent data are now computerized and vital signs which were normally taken manually are now encoded in the computer monitors hooked to patients. Despite these advances in nursing, there is still a need for improvement for the betterment of the whole society.

As time passes by, Nurses can no longer handle their sole responsibility to patients because they were bombarded with the technical aspect of nursing which were also inherent to their profession. few of those responsibilities are medicating the patient, monitoring and recording vital signs, carrying out doctors order, and administering intravenous medications and fluids. Because of these, Nurses forget to realize that there are more important things than the rest of the responsibilities they have. THEY FORGET TO REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE A PATIENT WHO IS ILL AND IN NEED OF THEIR CARE, EMPATHY AND LOVE! and an Oath to Protect the welfare and well being of the patient.!

A very good example of this scenario happen the day before i wrote this article. My aunt who is a diabetic patient and was scheduled for cholecystectomy was admitted in a Tertiary hospital in our city. After her operation and after she recovered from anesthesia, she was trans-in to the medical ward. When she was in the room, nurses were so busy monitoring her vital signs every 15 minutes with progression as the protocol of the hospital. The monitoring was a hell out of a robot nurse. the nurse on duty did not even greet us when she went inside the room to take the vital signs of the patient. she did not even explain to us and to the patient why such protocols are followed. there were no teaching whatsoever which were in fact a crucial factor in promoting positive recovery after the operation. As i pass by the nurse's station, all the nurses were so busy handling their charts and recording all their monitoring. My aunt, after fully recovering from anesthesia was now stable and is able to move her legs. I did not mind that nurses never gave instructions to us and to her patient with regards to deep breathing exercise and the like which are so important during the post operative period to prevent lung collapse or atelectasis. But the worst thing is yet to come. Here comes a nurse carrying an Intravenous injection of antibiotic. IV antibiotics are usually given in slow IV push because it is irritating and it causes pain to patient. Ideally IV slow push antibiotics are given at a rate of about a minute or two depending upon the amount given. I was shocked when i realized that the nurse gave the so called SLOW IV PUSH in less than 10 seconds. I saw my aunt grimacing in pain because of its irritating properties of the drugs. the nurse did not even bother to asked my aunt what was wrong. an hour after, my cousin rushed to the nurse's station because my aunt complained of difficulty of breathing. when my cousin told me about what had happen, I rushed to the hospital immediately and checked what was going on. i asked the nurses what medication they gave to my aunt and found out that they gave nothing else other than the IV slow push antibiotic. confused and fuming, i rushed to the nurse's station and asked if they have done a skin test for the said antibiotic. and all hell breaks.! no one can answer my simple question. the reason was, no one did checked for skin allergies. though my aunt did not went to anaphylaxis, but a clear example of the lack of care of nurses to the patient in this story.

The day after the incident, another nurse went inside the room and was about to give Metronidazole to my aunt. Good thing I was there and asked why was this drug given since my aunt has no history of protozoan infection. the nurse went out the room and never went back in. i assume she went to the wrong patient..

Can you imagine the whole scenario? How many nurses out there in the hospital and doing these? How many patient suffered from the consequences due to poor nursing care? and how many more patient will die in the near future if this problems are not prevented.

Let us all remember that the essence of nursing is caring. and caring comes in a variety of ways in showing it. I hope nurses will read this blog and start to realize that they need to lift their games into new heights. and that if they don't act now, who would?

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