A nurse had the a t-shirt on today…here’s what it said:
“I fight the angel of death 36 hours a week…what do you do for a living?”
I like it. What do YOU do for a living?
I fought the angel tonight. My 2 year old was choking on a taco shell. I could still hear air movement. He could get air through. I could hear him. Kim and everyone freaked. Kim asked what should she do? I told her to calm down and do nothing. Liam panicked but could still breath. It looked bad, but I watched at the ready to act if necessary. I did nothing and Liam was able to work it out. The family was freaking out, but everyone calmed down, things got better. It’s hard when you see the angel rear his head to take a peek. Sometimes he just looks on and does nothing. Sometimes he does act. It is inevitable – death is life. But nurses and health care professionals fight the angel as long as we can. Sometimes we win – even when we do nothing. I think one of the best things we can do when we see the angel is to be calm. Reactions can sometimes make it worse. I think panic the in Liam’s face got worse when the kids were crying. Our natural tendency is to tense up…then to observe the alarm in others can further spiral our own response. One of my mentors told me that when you enter a code situation (code means a life threatening event), then the first thing you do is take your own pulse, breath and calm down…then begin to take it on. This can be a split second…but it can give you the time to think, adjust, assess, plan, intervene and evaluate. There’s nothing like the nursing process…nothing like it. You know…nursing is a paid job, but in actuality, I am not a nurse only on the job. I am a nurse. I am forever changed and different than who I was before. I am a nurse 24 hours a day and I can be called upon…paid or not…to use my new skills and help others in need with perceived, potential, imminent and actual health risks and human responses to wellness and disease. As a nurse, I believe it is my duty to always, actively and nobly stand at the ready to defend against the angel of death, treat the sick, support the healthy, and move for what is right in my community and for individuals. An ideal? Yes. Sometimes that is reality.
Today, I took on a different battle. I took MOAB yesterday and today. That’s a class on the Management of Aggressive behavior. It involved learning how to deal with verbally and physically violent people. Today’s class was the physical part of the training. I learned what to do when trying to control another person and defend against attacks including weapons and choking. It was really neat. I feel sore. It’ll be worse when I actually encounter it. It’s my understanding that I will…especially in emergency nursing. By the way…It’s quite freaky to have a gun pointed at your chest with the intent to kill or threaten…even if it is a metal replica that isn’t even a real working gun. It’s just a sobering feeling.
