It's Literally Only a Couple of Extra Minutes in Your Day

Animals do make our lives whole. I work on the vet side of medicine. The animals are my patients...it's the owners that I nurse. These are the people who are very concerned about the well being, comfort and care of their animal family member. Many owners see the animal in the same light as a child. So I take that extra few minutes to comfort the owner. The animals are easy. The owners are harder.Fuzzy, Thanks for giving smokey a loving home.

In my case, common sense would dictate that I feed the hungry animal. They will be grateful for the food, will take it when we give it, and they will not manipulate PRN medication (food) to be scheduled every 4 hours whether needed or not. It will be given rather than taken. Unfortunately in nursing, and in real life, you just can't continue to feed and house the patient who is not only demanding on our time and resources but his wife who hasn't showered or left the hospital for days because they have nowhere to live. Nursing suspicion is that they have no place to go, so the longer he can keep up his vague complaints of pain, the longer they are out of the cold. but then reality: are you going to take these people home? Is this a nursing problem, or is it a greater problem of society? There is only so much the social workers can do. They go to a homeless shelter, then eventually they end up back in the hospital as self pay asking for guest trays three times a day. Yes we want to do it, but if we did, how long would we have jobs ourselves? Yes, this is a whole new topic, but a very real one. I adopted a stray cat myself earlier this year, and she is grateful for what she can get. I leave her to fend for herself the rest of the time.

For 33 years I have nursed patients from every walk of life. I have learned when I am able to stretch and grow beyond the person I am today and find a way to understand the patient's behavior, we are both served. They get there underlying needs met and I become a better person. Every behavior has an underlying explanation, the question is are we big enough to understand it?

phoenix, you are my new hero What an awesome article Brilliant! Wonderful! Beautiful.One million kudos