Helping to Save Lives Everyday ?

Hello everyone and happy Sunday! I hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and hanging in there!

Things in my life have been completely crazy with school and life changing ever since I accepted my position with Metro Health. I always try to stay balanced in life with work, school and taking time for myself, but with the world as it is, that can be harder some days over others. My University just happened to put a “stay home” order in place as the cases have been increasing rapidly at the main campus, so adjusting back to a complete online format again for the next two weeks has been a bit challenging. Being thrown those “change” obstacles has been a new normal for everyone though, right?!

People that know me and know that I have a new position with the hospital have been asking me how things have been going and I say to them, “It is the most wonderful, yet stressful job I have ever experienced.” They tend to laugh, but health care workers now and always, have been true superheros. Working as a Patient Care Tech, you get to spend the most time with your patients, compared to nurses, practitioners or doctors. You answer their call lights, help them with daily living, and get to know them and a little about their lives. Last week, I had a patient and I had her the past two nights I worked and being able to spend so much time with someone, you get to know them quite a bit over those continuous 12 hour shifts. This last night, I just knew something was off when I took her vitals at the start of the shift. I went back to check on her not too long after that and she asked if she could use the bathroom. I noticed more aspects of what she was doing wasn’t the same from the previous nights, so when I got her back to bed, she was in so much pain, she could barely lay down. I tried all I could to make her comfortable, but after I left, I went straight to her nurse. PCT’s are nursing assistants so it’s our job to tell nurses if we observe something not normal with any of our patients. When she went in there herself to check on her, I stood back by the door, just to be there if my nurse or patient needed anything. After examining her, we ending up calling an RRT, which is a Rapid Response Team, due to my patient having severe abdominal pain. After going down for an emergency CT scan, the conclusion was that she had a severe abdominal obstruction and ended up going in for emergency surgery.

Working in the medical field can definitely be very difficult sometimes, but the feeling you get of knowing that you did something to help save someone’s life is forever life changing. I never know how the night is going to go when I walk into the hospital and I always pray before I go in, but I do know that these life changing moments for me, are life changing moments for my patients. Whether it’s getting them a fresh ice water, a warm blanket or helping them with any other need, nothing is better than being able to save someone’s life.

I hope everyone has a blessed and beautiful week! Much love to everyone ?