Back to basics

"Be a simple kind of man.

Oh won't you do this for me son,

If you can."

Shinedown (2003)

 

Well it's the morning after the weekend before... and 26hrs on the Ward as I've been on shift all weekend. 

 

I was working with a good team over the weekend - reliable, hard working and fun to be on shift with.  I got to work with one of our colorectal team, right hand woman to the consultant, and one of my Wards old manager.  She does extra shifts on the weekends (anyone would think that she didn't have enough work to do!) and when we are both on shift at the weekend we normally get put to work together as she works until 15.00 and I take over for the rest of the day with Sister doing my meds.  I enjoy working with her, not only because she is a wealth of knowledge but also because she is fun to work with.  She is great with the patients, laughing and having a joke with them.  A lot of them she has seen in pre-op clinic or in theatre itself so there is a bond before they even hit the Ward.  She always jokes saying 'You have drawn the short straw again.  I will let you do all the work, I don't know why I bother coming in as you end up doing everything. Ha Ha Ha'.  By this she means I normally tell her to go and do other thins that I can't do such as cannulation, prescribing and doing discharge letters as trying to get hold of a Dr at the weekend is like getting blood from a stone.  When it comes to documenting in the afternoon I normally tell her again to go and do something else as I know she has a mountain of work to get ready for Monday and the start of theatre.  'I got this, you go do something more useful.  I'm sure that slave driver of a consultant has left you a mountain of work to do while he is relaxing at home watching the rugby.'  This made her laugh and after 5 minutes of arguing about me not letting her do any of the care plans she went and made me a cuppa and got on with her mountain of work.

 

But as the lyrics say at the top of this blog - "Be a simple kind of man. Oh won't you do this for me son, if you can"  I look after a lot of elderly people in hospital and you find that it's the simple things that can make all the difference.  One of the patients in my bay I had looked after before on a previous admission.  He was a little bit confused on this admission and he was dependent on the staff more.  When he saw me walk in the bay he smiled and called me over.  He remembered my name, always a nice thing as I feel it shows that I must have done something right for him to remember me.  We had a little chat and there was one thing he asked me a question: 

 

'I know it's silly, but is there any chance I can have a shave this morning? It's a simple thing I know, but I'm struggling and I don't have a razor.  Can I borrow your comb as well as I don't have one and could do with combing my hair.' 

 

I looked at him, raised my eyebrow and smiled...

 

'Not a problem, let me go find a razor and we will get you looking good for when your son comes in.  As for borrowing my comb... Do I look like own a comb??? I'm bald... I haven't needed a comb for about 10 years.  I will get you a comb from our store room... unless you want me to shave your head so you can look as good as me?' 

 

He laughed at this, as did the chap in the bed opposite him.  Later that morning after breakfast I got a razor and a comb (not one of mine though) and helped him have a shave and comb his hair.  The smile on his face following this was great, you would think he had won the lottery.  This one action made me feel like I had made a huge difference to his stay in hospital.  I guess this makes me a simple man as well, when something as mundane as giving someone a shave and combing their hair made me feel so good.  It's one thing to be able to give out medication, catheterise and cannulate, but it's the simple things that sometimes have the biggest impact on people, something that me and some of the staff I work with try to emphasize to students and new staff... go back to the basics.

 

Well that's the end of another instalment for 'Trials of a Shaniepoo', hope that this story of how simple things make the biggest impact made those of you who read my blog smile as much as it did me.  Later peeps :)