The Doctor

I happened to stumble into a favorite movie of mine (which I haven't seen in a while) this afternoon..."The Doctor" starring William Hurt (1991.)

The last time I watched it was well before nursing school was in my mind. Medicine, for that matter. It touches on the main point of finding compassion in medicine-well worth the two hours. I had thought early on that nurses would be less immune to this "stoic" attitude, but quite the contrary...everyone is busy. In my case, in the ER, busy to get them to the room, busy to triage, busy to just start that line and get labs going. I have seen many times nurses neglecting to even introduce themselves. We even forget that the gown is an uncomfortable experience for people more private. I also think of the transfer from the EMS stretcher to the bed, especially for older or larger patients....how this might feel.

Toward the end of the movie, Hurt has his residents strip down, don the gowns, and go the next 72 hours in their own room, being treated as patients to hopefully allow them to walk in the shoes and get back in touch with this aspect of the healing experience.

I have two books I have also put on the back burner (Pharm & Psych Books lead the way at the moment) that touch on this theme as well: "Medicine & Compassion, a Tibetan Lama's Guidance for Caregivers" by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche with David R. Shlim, MD, and"Empathy and the Practice of Medicine", edited by Howard Spiro. I highly recommend them...

until next time....

Summer Semester Begins

So, we are off.

I have Psych in Summer A, OB/GYN Summer B, and Pharmacology and Statistics the entire Summer semester. I also am in the midst of attempting to get back into the gym and practice for my upcoming USBC National Bowling Championships in Reno June 14-15. Once again, too much on my plate.

Our Psych instructor is wonderful. "PI" as I will call her for confidentiality, has explained to us that she will feed us bite-size information packed with everything we need for exams. I love her! Clinicals are also over a 3-week period, that's it. I chose Psych in Summer A for this reason: get my feet on the ground and take a bit of a break. My friends are getting used to the response: "How are you?" Me: "Tired."

We lectured yesterday on the basics of Psych, with the emphasis on Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorders, its assessments and treatment/medications with their side effects. Thank you Mrs. "PI", she is not needing us to memorize dosages, routes. I guess she know this will come in Pharm and we will be crying enough there.

So, now I am off to schedule my day. I am now part time at work, only Sat& Sun (a great relief + one day.) Lots of reading to do. I also received my new subscriptions to Critical Care Nursing, AJN, and Nursing 2006....have to put them aside and get my nose into the textbooks now.