Nursing Tuesday

    I'm linking up again for Nursing Tuesday with Anna @ The Days When I'm Not a Nurse & Renee @ This Won't Hurt a Bit.   This month's topic is "The Time I Was a Patient" and is for EVERYONE! Tell us about your experience with nurses while being a patient!   Thankfully, ever since I've started nursing school, I haven't really had experience being a patient. Of course, I've gone to the doctor for a sore throat once or to get my TB or flu shot for nursing school.    I felt like, when I went to get my sore throat looked at, I knew what the nurse would be looking for to fill in my chart on the computer. Example? The pain assessment. The bane of my existence in the clinical setting this past year. It was always so frustrating when my patient would say something in response to the pain question like "I don't know" or "3 or 4" because those aren't options! And, I admit, I used to be one of these people. Not anymore. I have a new-found appreciation for the pain scale.   I also remember, as a patient, when I was in 1st grade and got my tonsils taken out. I remember the nurses being so sweet and helping me out and making me feel as comfortable as possible. This is what I hope I'm doing for my patients. And I hope I never become cynical about my profession.   That's part of the reason I love writing about nursing school because whenever I have a bad clinical or am particularly stressed about classroom work, I can look back on here and read all my positive experiences with patients and remind myself how lucky I am to help people for a living. And to be a part of the most trustworthy profession.   Wow, I went off topic!