Wednesday, February 17, 2010
interview
For our latest assignment, we had to conduct an interview with an informant related to our subculture. Since my subculture is nursing, I was lucky enough to interview a nurse currently working at North Broward. The woman I interviewed goes by the name of Lil. She would rather me not put her full name. I learned that ever since she was little she wanted to become a nurse because it is what her mother did. I asked her if certain jobs she had to do while in the nursing field bothered her, and she told me she grew up with four older brothers, she could handle any ‘gross’ thing that came her way. She said it would help to have a strong stomach on a job like this because you never know what you will encounter. Before she became a nurse at the hospital she spent a few years, two actually, in a doctor’s office near her house. While still employed at the office, she decided to become a certified nurse’s assistant (C.N.A.) When she figured it was really what she wanted to do she took it a step further and became a RN. Since shes been a nurse, she said she wouldn't change it for anything. She did tell me that it isn't a job for everyone but she gave me great advice and told me I should look further into it. The best way to look into the job is to get a look first hand. I spoke with her about volunteering and I think I am going to take her up on it. Overall, I think the interview went rather well. I would like to ask a few more question, but I told her I would definately keep in touch. She is certainly a person I would refer back to if I need further help.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Fourth Observation
If you have ever been in an emergency room before, you know that before you can get treated, they take your name and then the wait begins. Sometimes patients wait for hours on end. Actually, every time I have ever been to the emergency room, whether it was for me or someone else, the wait was over an hour, minimum.
When my teammate started to get sick, we never thought it would be a trip to the E.R. I volunteered to take her because everyone else was either in class or doing their workout. I knew it would be another opportunity to observe. This time, I observed the waiting room.
When we arrived at the E.R. at around 6pm it was packed. It was the busiest waiting room I had ever seen. It was filled with pregnant women, broken bones, illness and their family members. Within the first hour, I saw people getting anxious. It was obvious they had been there a long time. Within two hours, only four of those people were called in to be treated and by that time, more had arrived. We both knew where weren’t getting out of there any time soon. By this time, one man in a wheel chair was ready to have a fit. He was mumbling and cursing under his breath and was hitting the side of the chair. He made it apparent that he wanted to be helped because he was tired of waiting. He had gotten up quite a few times to ask the nurse at the front desk how much longer it would be, and every time he asked, he got the same answer, “I don’t know sir, will you please sit down”. Finally he had had enough. He got up from his wheel chair and when he stumbled I saw why he was in a wheel chair in the first place. All his toes on his right foot had more stitches then I thought imaginable. This wasn’t your average sized man either, he was well over 6’5” and when he stood up and the nurse went to assist him he could have easily picked her up with one arm.
What we didn’t know at first is that he was a “regular”. Most of the nurses knew him on a first name basis and you could see how frustrated they were with him. He had a complete fit. When he was done flailing his arms around cursing at everyone and realized that wasn’t getting him any faster, he tripped himself and tumbled to the ground. One nurse came over so furious she called him a baby and an actor. I personally didn’t think it was very professional but I didn’t know his past history at the hospital, or his condition. She grabbed him with another nurse and placed him in the closest chair. They told him to wait there until it was his turn to be seen; it felt like he was being talked to like a second grader who misbehaved. He continued to mumble and curse them out under his breath but he calmed down.
Everyone was speechless. I’m not sure if it was his reaction, or the nurses but it was a little less loud after that. Hours began to pass quickly as we still waited and nothing was really as exciting. A homeless man tried to get a dollar off everyone in the waiting room, and he would come back after every dollar with a new food item from the vending machine in the hallway.
The nurses continued to call people in while others left because the wait was just too long. After waiting a little over six hours, we finally got shown to a room. By that time, there wasn’t many people left waiting, but some were there from before we arrived, so God only knows how long, or how much longer they were going to wait.
When my teammate started to get sick, we never thought it would be a trip to the E.R. I volunteered to take her because everyone else was either in class or doing their workout. I knew it would be another opportunity to observe. This time, I observed the waiting room.
When we arrived at the E.R. at around 6pm it was packed. It was the busiest waiting room I had ever seen. It was filled with pregnant women, broken bones, illness and their family members. Within the first hour, I saw people getting anxious. It was obvious they had been there a long time. Within two hours, only four of those people were called in to be treated and by that time, more had arrived. We both knew where weren’t getting out of there any time soon. By this time, one man in a wheel chair was ready to have a fit. He was mumbling and cursing under his breath and was hitting the side of the chair. He made it apparent that he wanted to be helped because he was tired of waiting. He had gotten up quite a few times to ask the nurse at the front desk how much longer it would be, and every time he asked, he got the same answer, “I don’t know sir, will you please sit down”. Finally he had had enough. He got up from his wheel chair and when he stumbled I saw why he was in a wheel chair in the first place. All his toes on his right foot had more stitches then I thought imaginable. This wasn’t your average sized man either, he was well over 6’5” and when he stood up and the nurse went to assist him he could have easily picked her up with one arm.
What we didn’t know at first is that he was a “regular”. Most of the nurses knew him on a first name basis and you could see how frustrated they were with him. He had a complete fit. When he was done flailing his arms around cursing at everyone and realized that wasn’t getting him any faster, he tripped himself and tumbled to the ground. One nurse came over so furious she called him a baby and an actor. I personally didn’t think it was very professional but I didn’t know his past history at the hospital, or his condition. She grabbed him with another nurse and placed him in the closest chair. They told him to wait there until it was his turn to be seen; it felt like he was being talked to like a second grader who misbehaved. He continued to mumble and curse them out under his breath but he calmed down.
Everyone was speechless. I’m not sure if it was his reaction, or the nurses but it was a little less loud after that. Hours began to pass quickly as we still waited and nothing was really as exciting. A homeless man tried to get a dollar off everyone in the waiting room, and he would come back after every dollar with a new food item from the vending machine in the hallway.
The nurses continued to call people in while others left because the wait was just too long. After waiting a little over six hours, we finally got shown to a room. By that time, there wasn’t many people left waiting, but some were there from before we arrived, so God only knows how long, or how much longer they were going to wait.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Third Observation
This past week I got to visit the Emergency room. Unfortunately it wasn’t exactly as planned because I had to take my roommate instead of going free willed to interview nurses. My roommate became very sick the other night, complaining of shooting pains in her lower back. The pain was so bad she was crying so I suggested that we go to the E.R. We were relieved when we got there at 9pm and there weren’t that many people, but I’ve learned that sometimes doesn’t mean anything. Once they took her name, it was a few minutes until they called her into triage. That’s where a nurse will ask you the basics: what happened? When? Where does it hurt? They also take all your vitals when you are in there like your blood pressure. After a few minutes she came out, and said it was only going to be a few minutes because it was pretty serious. From the few times I have been in the E.R. everything goes by severity, which in reality makes sense. You will obviously take the more serious case and treat the one who needs urgent care versus the one who can wait if they have to.
When we were called back, we were lead to your typical hospital room. Hospital bed, chair for a guest, and a T.V. Although we got passed waiting in the waiting room that didn’t mean we weren’t going to have to wait to see the actual doctor. The first nurse came in at around 10pm and she seemed nice. She told us briefly what was going to happen during her visit and that was the last time we saw her. About a half an hour later, a doctor came in to inform my roommate that she would need a cat scan, or a CT scan. They needed to take a closer look before diagnosing her. Within another half an hour another one of our friends showed up because we told her we were in the hospital. Shortly after our friend arrived, they came to take heather to get the CT scan. It was about another thirty minutes before she came back and she was still in a decent amount of pain. By now it is 11:30 and they just came in to give my roommate an IV. They said it was most likely a kidney infection so it would help with the pain. The IV usually takes about an hour until it is fully gone so we knew it was going to be a long time before we got to leave. We killed time by talking and watching T.V. My roommate was exhausted and fell asleep while my friend Heather and I stayed up in case they came back with the results from the CT scan. Around 12:10 the nurse that put the IV in came to check on it. I guess she noticed that we were pretty cold so she asked us if we wanted blankets. It was a nice gesture and we had to accept because it was freezing in there. Once the IV was done, a little after 12:30, it was awhile before someone came in. It felt like they forgot about us but we knew that wasn’t the case. There are obvious a lot of people in a hospital, and of course they are busy, so we just waited and waited. At one they finally came in and took the IV out. They said they were just waiting for the doctor to come with the results. When he finally came in, twenty minutes later, he told us that it was a kidney infection after all and all we needed was a prescription and we could be on our way. When he left the room we thought we were about to leave, but it felt like forever before someone came back. It was to the point where Heather got up and searched for a nurse to ask if we would ever leave. She apologized for the wait and told us there was only one doctor on call; now we knew why it was taking so long. Once we got the prescription we left and finally got home at 2:30am. It was a 5 hour trip to the hospital but what absolutely necessary.
Overall I got a feel for the night life at the Hospital, but I wish a nurse could have stayed a few minutes longer so I could ask her a few questions. I realized that the graveyard shift might not be for me, maybe I will look into trauma centers for my next observation.
When we were called back, we were lead to your typical hospital room. Hospital bed, chair for a guest, and a T.V. Although we got passed waiting in the waiting room that didn’t mean we weren’t going to have to wait to see the actual doctor. The first nurse came in at around 10pm and she seemed nice. She told us briefly what was going to happen during her visit and that was the last time we saw her. About a half an hour later, a doctor came in to inform my roommate that she would need a cat scan, or a CT scan. They needed to take a closer look before diagnosing her. Within another half an hour another one of our friends showed up because we told her we were in the hospital. Shortly after our friend arrived, they came to take heather to get the CT scan. It was about another thirty minutes before she came back and she was still in a decent amount of pain. By now it is 11:30 and they just came in to give my roommate an IV. They said it was most likely a kidney infection so it would help with the pain. The IV usually takes about an hour until it is fully gone so we knew it was going to be a long time before we got to leave. We killed time by talking and watching T.V. My roommate was exhausted and fell asleep while my friend Heather and I stayed up in case they came back with the results from the CT scan. Around 12:10 the nurse that put the IV in came to check on it. I guess she noticed that we were pretty cold so she asked us if we wanted blankets. It was a nice gesture and we had to accept because it was freezing in there. Once the IV was done, a little after 12:30, it was awhile before someone came in. It felt like they forgot about us but we knew that wasn’t the case. There are obvious a lot of people in a hospital, and of course they are busy, so we just waited and waited. At one they finally came in and took the IV out. They said they were just waiting for the doctor to come with the results. When he finally came in, twenty minutes later, he told us that it was a kidney infection after all and all we needed was a prescription and we could be on our way. When he left the room we thought we were about to leave, but it felt like forever before someone came back. It was to the point where Heather got up and searched for a nurse to ask if we would ever leave. She apologized for the wait and told us there was only one doctor on call; now we knew why it was taking so long. Once we got the prescription we left and finally got home at 2:30am. It was a 5 hour trip to the hospital but what absolutely necessary.
Overall I got a feel for the night life at the Hospital, but I wish a nurse could have stayed a few minutes longer so I could ask her a few questions. I realized that the graveyard shift might not be for me, maybe I will look into trauma centers for my next observation.
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