Mary, out!

I had my last shift Monday night, and I was lucky enough to work in Pediatrics. As my belly has grown, and my body changed, it had become increasingly difficult to work on a normal medical-surgical floor and have up to 8 patients in my care. I really enjoyed working with a majority of the staff in these other departments, but I really like Pediatrics.

I am a HUGE believer in patient education/teaching, and make it my personal mission to answer every question posed, or find the answer. In my experience, as a patient, I often forget to ask the doctor questions during appointments and the military has more of a reactive approach to patient care. So, when I got this card in my box last month I was completely giddy!There are so many times that I attempt patient teaching and either the patient doesn't care, or I'm not as clear as I would want to be. It was also nice to run into the family, that wrote this, at Walmart 2 weeks ago, and they remembered my name and asked about how I was doing, and were excited to show the progress in their family.

With all the crazies I have come into contact with over my very short nursing career, it is patients & families like this that make it all worth it.

I'm going to enjoy taking a break while on 'modified bedrest' (which is just a precaution), but I truly look forward to having the opportunity to work with the community as a nurse.