Nurses Week: Interview with Anna

HEY GUYS IT'S THE BEST WEEK EVER!
This week, May 6-12 is National Nurses Week.

I could write a whole book on how nurses are so so so awesome, and how nursing theory is one of the best things to happen to health care since sliced bread (or penicillin, or whatever). It was actually my nurses and my nurse practitioner who made my stay at Phoenix Children's Hospital such a positive experience.

Anyways, I thought I'd interview my favorite blogger, who also happens to be a nurse, and not only that, a nurse in the CVICU (ICU for heart patients).  Is that cool or is that cool?

Without further ado, here's Anna!

Name: Anna Rodriguez

Occupation: Registered Nurse

Unit: Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit

Photo courtesy Anna @ The Days When I'm Not a Nurse

Why nursing?

Two main reasons: childhood dream, and a natural inclination toward empathy and a desire to develop it. 

What do you like most about working with heart patients?

I love watching the transformation that a fresh post-surgical patient experiences, from having every tube, wire, and line imaginable, and then getting rid of them one by one, getting up out of bed for the first time, walking in the hallway for the first time... It's pretty incredible what the body can take and how it can recover. 

What's the hardest thing about your job? 

Taking care of the very very sick ones, getting to know their their families and growing attached... it's hard because not everyone makes it. The other hard part is being in emotionally draining situations. I can run on my feet all day but nothing is quite as exhausting as the emotionally draining patient or family when you're doing everything you can to try and make them happy and you can never get there. 

Describe your most memorable patient.

For me, the most difficult and complicated patients are some of the most memorable ones. Probably because I go over and over their story in my mind, trying to make sense of it or trying to see if there was something else I could have done. The very first patient who coded on me. The patient who had to have their chest emergently opened in their room. The patient who spent months at the hospital in critical condition and ended up passing away on my shift. But I'm trying hard to remember the happy ones too. I have a little green notebook where I write down the great things they've said or the notes they've given me. It's my "burnout book." I plan to read it every time I feel a little burnt out on nursing as a whole to remember why I'm doing it. 

What's the best "thank you" you've ever gotten? 

I was working on a Telemetry unit and a former patient of mine showed up at the nursing desk and asked to talk to me. He explained that he'd been in the hospital a couple weeks before and had wanted to thank me for my care and had brought me a gift: an Audrey Hepburn movie. Once I saw the DVD, I remembered our many conversations about Audrey, her movies, and how, with my hair up, he thought I looked like her. SO sweet!(I even blogged about it here!) I love having patients come back and see us, all healthy and recovered. It makes our day. :) 

Lastly, the best advice I've received from a patient: "I like to tell people I'm 5 years older than I really am, so then they tell me I look good for my age." 

Photo courtesy Anna @ The Days When I'm Not a Nurse

Thanks, Anna! 

Make sure you check out her blog, "The Days When I'm Not a Nurse"... She has fun stories, pictures, and an occasional reader giveaway! What's not to love?