The Heart of Nursing

Copyright © 2020 by Jeanne Koester.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/20/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

818652

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Nursing School

Chapter 2 Dormitory Life

Chapter 3 First Nursing Jobs

Chapter 4 Back To Nursing

Chapter 5 Nursing in the Southwest

Chapter 6 Rural-Hospital Experience

Chapter 7 A Real Eye-Opener!

Chapter 8 Opening and Running an Ltac

Chapter 9 The Job of a Lifetime?

Chapter 10 Adventures in Assisted Living

Conclusion

To my husband, John; my son, Steve; and my daughter, April, who supported me throughout all the changes in jobs that created changes in wherever we lived and often took me away from them during family time.

INTRODUCTION

T HIS BOOK IS about the adventures and experiences I had as a registered nurse for over fifty-three years. I wanted to share these experiences to inspire young men and women to choose nursing as a lifetime career for the true reasons. Nurses truly make a difference in the lives of the people they care for. All these adventures touched my heart in various ways. They made me realize how a simple act like a hug or a smile can mean so much to someone who is scared of dying, feeling like there is no one who can help them, or having a baby for the first time. There is the excitement of saving a life or holding a newborn and the rush of energy you get when there is a crisis in a patient’s condition that makes your heart pump faster. There’s also the look of peace on the face of a woman who died while knowing that you cared for and were there for her. As a nurse, you must make sure that you always treat each patient or resident like they are the only one at that moment and use all your senses to be sure that you don’t miss any signs or symptoms that would help you and the health-care team. Your goal as a nurse is to give them every chance to recover or at least give them the treatment they deserve. I believe that the training I received as a nurse in diploma school prepared me for all the adventures I had throughout those years. Nursing is not just some theory or based on computer technology but is also true hands-on care. It should be a collaboration of all those elem ents.

For anyone else who reads my book, I hope you laugh at some of the adventures and shed a few tears at others. I hope it gives you a true insight as to what nurses really experience in real life, not just what you hear or see in media.

The friendships I made throughout my nursing career gave me support when I needed it and helped me both physically and emotionally. Working with others who truly love caring for people makes all the difference in the world.

I also want to mention that I couldn’t have done all these adventures without the support of my family. My husband had to go through my mood swings, my unreliable schedules, and changes in jobs and locations for both of us over the past fifty-three years. I can’t thank him enough for always being there for me. My two children often had to grow up with a mom who often came home late or missed an important game or event because of her job. They still loved me and knew I loved them whether I was physically present or not. I am very proud of both of them. I hope this book will help explain to my family why I did each adventure and the lives I touched throughout my career.

CHAPTER 1

Nursing School

W HEN I WAS three years old, we moved to the apartment above the family-owned funeral home in the Midwest. My dad and his brother were running the business, and my mom did the hair, makeup, and some tailoring when needed for the funeral clothing for the people who died.

I saw my first autopsy when I was seven years old. My dad let me stand at the door of the embalming room, and the coroner, who looked like Boris Karloff (an old-time horror-movie actor), said it was okay. He wore a black suit with a white shirt and was tall and thin in stature and had long arms and big hands and long white hair that was slicked back. He also had a very gentle nature and a calm voice. He even explained things to me as he performed the autopsy. It was fascinating and piqued my interest in human anatomy. My brother and I also had a babysitter who was studying nursing, and she would tell us about the fascinating experiences she was having in nursing school.

When I went to high school in the early 1960s, girls had three career paths to choose from. They were teaching, secretary work, and nursing. I chose nursing because of my experience with watching the autopsy and the fascination I had about our babysitter’s experiences. During the summer months while I was in high school, I also volunteered at the hospital where I was born. It just so happened that there was a diploma-nursing school that was affiliated with them there as well.

As graduation approached, I applied for and was accepted into the diploma-nursing program, which was a three-year program that included summers at the hospital I had volunteered at. I had to move into a dormitory next to the hospital and live there for the next three years. We got to go home every other weekend and on some holidays if we were not assigned to work. In my first year, weekday mornings were spent on walking or taking the bus to the university for the nonclinical classes. These classes included English, chemistry, nutrition, math, anatomy and physiology, and microbiology. In the afternoon, we headed back to the dormitory and went to the clinical classes in the basement of the dorm building. Those consisted of pharmacology, fundamentals of nursing, medical terminology, basic skills lab, customer service, and communication. In basic skills lab, the clinical instructor performed demonstrations, and then we practiced those skills on one another. Some of the basic nursing skills were the four assessment skills, but all of them don’t seem to be taught today. They were observation of the patient; palpation of the abdomen, chest, or extremity; percussion of the chest or abdomen; and auscultation of the chest or abdomen. We also practiced each type of injection modality, intravenous insertions, bed baths, and even soap-suds enemas, which were very embarrassing, to say the least. Performing these skills on one another gave us an idea on how our patients felt when we performed such skills on them.

During one of our clinical classes, we went on a field trip to learn sterilization methods. We got in a yellow school bus and went to the Miller Brewing Company. We got out, and our instructor met the tour guide who took us through the brewery, which had a very impressive sterilization process. After the tour, we got to sample the beer in the rathskeller before returning to the school bus. I guess that experience is what made me choose beer as my choice of liquid refreshment.

One of the nonclinical classes that we had to take was nutrition. We all disliked that class as it was very boring. Some of my classmates had Walkman radios with earphones and would sit way up in the back of the classroom, which was like an amphitheater. The instructor for this class looked like one of the characters on The Howdy Doody Show, which we all watched on TV when we were kids. The character’s name was Mr. Bluster. She would start each class by ringing a handbell to get our attention. We were very frustrated with attending this class, but it was required. One time, a couple of us got together and decided to tape the clapper to the inside of the bell one morning before she arrived. Seeing her reaction was a hoot. Of course, she got upset and tried to find out who did it, but no one let on.

During one of the nutrition classes, we all saw the American flag lowered on one of the state buildings across the street from the window. A black flag replaced it and was flown at half-mast. One of my classmates, who was listening to his Walkman, yelled out, President Kennedy was just assassinated! We all stood up in shock and walked outside. The rest of our classes were canceled. Our instructors at the dormitory brought a TV into the classroom so that all of us could watch the newscast. It was a sad day for our nation. All of us called home to talk with our families on the public phone one at a time.

One of my classmates and I decided that we wanted to get a hamster, so during one of the Friday trips downtown, we decided to walk to the pet store that was close to the university and buy one. My classmate had a straw purse; when we bought the hamster, we placed him in the straw purse. We had one more class to attend before we could walk back to the dorm. The class was anatomy and physiology. During the class, the hamster was chewing on the straw, and as we left the class, the instructor came up to us and said that as she was walking up and down the aisle, she heard a strange noise coming from our seats. We showed her the hamster. She smiled and gave us a box to put him in and also an extra aquarium tank that she had so we had a place for the hamster to live in at the dorm room. We named him Timmy and took turns in keeping him in each of our rooms. During classes and clinicals, we hid him in a closet so that the house mother, who did room inspections, wouldn’t find him. One evening about a month after we got him, we had a surprise. He had two baby hamsters. It was our luck that it happened on a Friday night, so we walked downtown and gave her and her babies back to the pet shop. We never told anyone else about it. It was our secret.

Finally, after the first quarter, we were scheduled to go into the hospital for our clinicals. On our first day, we wore long white lab coats and our white nursing shoes. Our assignment was to take the TPRs (temperature, pulse count, and respiration count) of a group of patients on the medical floor. After we documented our findings, we had to clean the mercury thermometers and then read patient charts at the nurses’ station. I finished first, and while sitting at the nurses’ station and reading a chart, I noticed a call light that kept going off. All the nurses were really busy, so I decided to answer it. What harm would that be, right? I entered the private room and found a young woman, who was in her thirties, in bed. She needed the bedpan badly, so I decided to help her; after all, we had practiced this in skills lab. I got her situated, and when I turned to leave, my foot got caught under the bedside table, which then swung around and upset the water pitcher on it. Water spilled all over the woman and her bed. I instantly apologized, and she laughed. I told her I would help her get off the bedpan and change her bed linens with her still in bed as I learned that in skills lab. She agreed, and we proceeded quickly as the bed linens were already in the room. I finished up, and the patient was comfortable when I turned around to leave. In the doorway stood my instructor. Now please try to visualize her: coal-black hair, bright-red lipstick, a nursing cap, and a long-sleeved, buttoned white uniform dress. She had her hands on her hips and a look that could bring chills to most who saw it. I knew I was in trouble. I excused myself and followed my instructor to the clean utility room. She proceeded to remind me of what I was supposed to do and asked me why I did not follow her instruction. I explained myself after apologizing to her, which turned her glare into a composed look of understanding. I understood my expectation because of that experience but never ignored my desire to help and apply what I learned to every patient encounter.

After two months of minor clinical experiences, we were given our uniforms. Because I was short, I had to sew the hem up to midcalf length, which was acceptable. Our uniforms were made with blue-and-white gingham and had white cuffs and a white button-on full-length apron. My last name had to be sewn on the front top of my apron. Each of us got a chevron; we had to sew one on our left sleeves for each year we completed. Each of us got two white nursing caps that we had to pin together ourselves. One of the really cool parts of our uniform was the long navy-blue cape with red wool lining that we had to wear on cold and snowy days. Each of us got three sets, and when one was