 Hi everyone and welcome back to the vlog. My name is Claire Carmichael and I am a newly qualified general practice nurse and today's vlog is all about nursing life versus the reality of nursing life which is two very very different things as to what you think in your head and you imagine it to be to actually what you do as a nurse. So if you have never been in healthcare before, you've never gone into nursing, you haven't got a clue what anyone does but in your head you're thinking oh my god nurses are amazing, they save lives, they're incredible, they're always so amazing and helpful, patients are always saved and oh my god it must be amazing to be a nurse because it just must be a great feeling to help someone that really needs it and do you know what it's not always like that. In reality it is nursing's tough, nursing's not easy, it takes a lot physically and mentally, a lot more probably mentally than physically for probably me, I don't know if everyone else is like that but it's such an emotional job and it's really hard to detach your emotions from the reality of what you're dealing with and your patients will not always survive. Sometimes unfortunately they do pass away and you have to sort of care for the family members, you have to handle that bad news. It's not very nice, it's not very nice sometimes and it is very very tough and you know what I'm going to say it, I wasn't going to mention it but the nurse's uniform is this whole sexualized symbol, oh the sexy nurse and no, no people why, why are you attracted to the nurse's uniform? Do you know what we get on our uniforms? Firstly my tunic trousers come up to here, I'm like this, my uniform is like this and it's the most uncomfortable thing to wear although the uniform I now have is very very comfortable I must say but nine times out of ten it's like cardboard and you get vomit on it, you get feces on it, you get urine on it, you get sputum and things that you don't even know what it is on your uniform and this is unavoidable, sometimes it just happens and it's just there and yeah that's what I'll tell you, story time. So I was a student nurse and I was in this bay of patients, I was there like I'm the student nurse, I'm going to save lives and make a difference, this is going to be amazing, this is going to be a great day, let's go guys, come on I'm here for you and this one patient was very very constipated so she needed to have an enema, so if you don't know what an enema is, an enema is a suppository that goes up the rectum that you put up there and it flushes it out basically it softens the stool so that you can go to the toilet a lot more easier that's the easiest best way I'm going to explain it so I gave her one of these and then a little while later the patient said really need to go to the toilet now so okay however as she stood up from the bed to turn and sit onto the commode yeah it came out all down my leg because the way I was standing I was standing here and the patient was here and I was sort of trying to guide her onto the commode because she was a little bit unsteady on her feet she couldn't mobilise and stuff but I was just that a little bit of extra support for her and the way my leg was it just sort of went all down my leg and I was just there like don't say anything don't say anything don't make any facial expressions it's okay it's okay it's just bit of poo it's fine so they're like come on then yes let's go in my head I was panicking I was like oh my leg oh my god what am I going to do I've got no other uniform to wear for the rest of the shift this was at the start of the shift and on the outside it was okay sit down lovely got a sat down I ran out of there I ran I had to scrub my trousers oh reality guys you will get all sorts on your uniform and you won't even know about it sometimes so my next story I would like to tell you it's all about my home visit this week so I've been doing home visits to the shielded patients from the GP practice during this COVID pandemic I went to this patient's house in my head I was like yes I'm doing home visits I'm visiting these vulnerable people and protecting the world from COVID this is amazing I got to the patient's house and I said oh hello so and so and she said yes yes come on in so I went into the house um and she said I wasn't expecting you till next week I said oh that's weird um let me just check your date of birth so check the date of birth and she said no that's not me I said oh was your name so-and-so she said no that's not me that's somebody else I'm really sorry you're in the wrong house I was like oh my god in the wrong house I'm going to be murdered oh I was so embarrassed that I was in the wrong house I almost took blood from the wrong patient but even the same GP surgery she's from a different GP surgery but the mistake had she had the exact same address as this other patient the only difference was one was caught and one was mused that different ending on the the address and so I said to her where's the court version of this address they said oh it's literally across the road I was like oh easy mistake guys easy mistake but word of warning check your patient details I'm so glad that I always check my patient details anyway before I do anything but that's the reason why we do it because if I had taken blood from her that would have been the wrong patient would have been wrong everything and the blood test would have been given to the other patient and it would have caused a whole load of problems so yes that is my other slip-up we do make mistakes we do get it wrong so you have to be extra extra cautious be alert your nurse expectations versus reality so you are you might be that person that's going on to a shift and you're gonna be like this is gonna be a great shift I've never worked here before it's gonna be amazing I don't even know what nursing is but I'm here I'm ready to save lives and then you go on and they give you a bay of patients to wash and you're going around you're giving the wash some people literally have no use of their limbs so you have to wash every area of their body even the genitals and you're gonna be like oh my god I did not know that I had to do this I thought I was gonna be saving lives but you know what guys that area that there's always this term too posh to wash no you are not too posh to wash you will wash your patients and you will do everything you can because you're gonna give the best care possible to your patients as a nurse and this take this time to do that because reality is that you're building that rapport with your patient as you're washing them you're inspecting their skin you might notice a pressure saw come in you might notice a rash of some sort you don't know what it is things that the patient might not feel or see but could be on the back it could be on the bottom they can't see that they haven't got bad eyes on the back of the head so unless you're helping with the washes and doing that you're not going to be able to document that properly so it's really really important and that's the new time to make conversations with your patients it's an icebreaker it's really nice to get to know your patients and they will start to tell you things as you go that can really help their health and the treatment you're giving them as well they could tell you all sorts of things that you never thought to ask before but just that open conversation that you're having whilst washing and dressing them and taking that time with them is going to make a massive massive difference so although the reality of it is no one really wants to wash somebody else's genitals you really need to put this skill this amazing skill to use because it's going to really help you as a nurse not only that like i doubt the patient wants you to do that either i would feel so uncomfortable if someone had to wash my genital areas i would be mortified so i can only imagine what a patient was feeling when you can't physically do that and you're having this stranger coming and doing it so it's about making that patient feel as comfortable as possible around you because that's really important care people always say oh it's the basic care there's nothing basic about personal hygiene it's really really important and it's so important that we do that as nurses as well your nursing expectations are that you are going to be alert and bright and remember everything and you're going to be so knowledgeable and you're going to do this because you're going to save lives because you're enthusiastic and positive and that's all it matters it's amazing no do you know what it's exhausting nursing is exhausting in reality you're not going to be alert all the time you're going to be you might have to do a series of night shifts which completely mess up your body but you do get into a rhythm so don't worry guys don't panic it's all right to do night shifts um but in reality you're exhausted you're mentally exhausted because of the amount of stuff you have to deal with the knowledge that you have now gained is just filling your brain and you're just like oh and you will make mistakes you'll make really really like god-simple mistakes like you will write down the wrong words or something like that in somebody's notes and then someone else will read it and go clear what are you on about and you're like oh i have no idea i'm so tired um but it's really really important that if you are struggling and if you recognize that you're actually feeling a lot more burnt out or a lot more tired than you think or if you're feeling really really burnt out that you recognize that and take some time out for yourself because you have to be your best self to be able to be with your patients and care for your patients properly so make sure you are taking some time out if you are exhausted and look after your own mental health and your own physical health as well and something else that coincides with that is a patient will absolutely ask you something and you will have no clue what they've just said they'll they'll be speaking a foreign language that you don't know or they might say something um let's just say they ask you a cardiology question but actually you're not trained in cardiology you haven't got a clue about cardiology and you'll just feel absolutely mortified because you don't know the answer and you'll be really beating yourself up this is what i do i do it every day someone will ask me something and i'm just like i have no idea but i can find out um but it's about being open and honest to your patients and not beating yourself up too much about it like i do and just if you just say to your patient i'm really sorry i'm not an expert in this however i will get my colleague who is an expert and that's the best way you can handle that situation as long as you're you're giving them a solution rather than just saying sorry don't know see you later and ignoring it no you can't do that as a nurse come on get the help for the patient and find out the answers if you can but yeah but in reality you don't know it all nobody knows it all top consultants don't know it all i've said this before in a previous vlog it's impossible for you to know it all your brain isn't that amazing and big that it can store everything from all around the world there's going to be things that you come across that you don't know and it will make you feel rubbish but you'll get over it and it will be okay and the patient will be will leave happy if you do the right things your nurse expectation says you're going to be Florence Nightingale you're going to be whizzing around making change you're being this great nurse this fantastic nurse and then you get an award and you've got one patient buzzing over there you've got one patient that was just urinated all over the place you've got another patient where the catheter is leaking you've got another patient that's bleeding out you've got another patient that's also pressing their emergency buzzer you don't know why and everyone's running to that person because the emergency buzzers go in it's going to be chaos and you're going to be like how can i make change in a situation like this i'm no florin tonight and get i can't even cope with this but you know what you can and it's all about just being mindful as well it's about just taking a breath relax the shoulders and just go okay who do i need to see first where do i need to prioritize my time and it's something that we're taught as nurses as well on the course is prioritization because there's going to be a lot you have to deal with all at once throwing at you and it is about prioritizing your time and also making use of your team this isn't Florence's job this is yours and your team's job to do this collectively collaboratively you're going to provide the best care possible for your patient this isn't a solo job you're not there to save anybody and get all the recognition and all of that jazz you're there to save patients and give the patient the best care possible and hope that they never deteriorate under your care and yeah that's what it's all about so no you're not going to be this knight in shine and armor for somebody or Florence nightingale or Mary Seacoles of the world you are an amazing nurse with an amazing team because that's the main thing you have to use and abuse your team to help you out and prioritize your patients for patient safety nurses expect patients versus reality so you are so i'm so caring and compassionate and all my patients are going to love me because i'm so down to earth and i'm a really talkative person no patients especially if you're working on a ward patients are in hospital they've lost their dignity they've lost their rights to their own medication they've been put in a gown they aren't well they're scared they're nervous they don't want to be in hospital and they are hating everything including you it doesn't matter if you're the most positive happy person in the world this person has a lot going on right now and yeah quite rightly that they're scared and they're anxious and it doesn't matter how much care and compassion you give someone some people not everybody but some people will not be happy with any amount of care that you give them or any amount of compassion you give them or positivity or jokes or laughs or whatever you will always have that one patient throughout your lifetime i'm not going to say a day because realistically it's not a day but you will have that one patient who is horrible to you but you have to understand why you have to think you know what why they've been like this to me you have to think that they have been taken away from all of their loved ones they're alone they're in hospital they're not well they don't know what the outcome is going to be and they've lost all of their dignity and their rights to the medication and all of this obviously for the better for for their own good because you want them to get well and you're trying to help them but you have to understand that they have a right to sort of feel like that but also they're not right if they're going to start having a go at you swearing at your abuse we do not accept abuses nurses come on but you have to understand that someone might be a little bit abrupt or they might not want to talk to you they might just want to sit and be alone they might cry a lot and it's nothing to do with you and how you are as a person it is literally just they're not well and they just need some time to process what's going on but just to say that not everyone's going to love you you will have one or two people that really don't love you they don't care about your care and compassion they just want to get better and get out of there so i've probably put everyone off nursing now i promise you in nursing's amazing nursing is such an amazing rewarding fantastic career it is absolutely fabulous and but i just wanted to do like a fun little video to show that actually it's not what you think sometimes and you are going to have a lot to deal with but that's where your knowledge and your experience comes in this is why nursing is a degree only course now so that you can build that knowledge the anatomy and physiology all of these things to make sure that you're doing it right for patient safety and to make sure that you are the best nurse possible so yes it is an amazing career i promise you please don't be put off by this this is just a little bit of like hearted fun and just sharing some stories that things do go wrong it's not all roses and it's tough but i wouldn't be anywhere else and if you have any funny stories to share that's happened to you and the wards are out in the community with your patients and please let me know comment below i would love to read your stories obviously keep patient confidentiality don't mention names don't mention where you work anything like that and but just let us share some comical little moments that we've all had in nursing see you next time