As I am about to reach my halfway point of my internship in the upcoming week I thought why not give you guys an update. It have been four moving weeks already with a lot of challenges, stories and showering people. Not to forget the mount Everest of essays and assignments I try to get done however the persons that are have been chosen as my mentors for this internship aren't around when I need them. Right now I am about one week behind on my assignments... yay me.
I am trying though, it's just that my internship mentors need to check, approve and sign every bit of my essays and assignments before I can turn them in at school. This really slows things down.
So far I have discovered a lot already. First of all, my former judgement about elders seems to be mostly untrue. Yes there are also elders that are all grumpy and down but on my ward live the sweetest, loveliest, alive and mostly happy elders I have ever met. My grandparents aside of course. My ward counts 19 rooms of which 18 are currently inhabited. Luckily all residents get along really well and most participate in the activities that are held in the afternoon. I have come across a lot of different medical conditions and a lot of different personalities. Most elders on my ward have physical diseases only but a few suffer from mental illnesses like borderland or schizophrenia mixed with paranoia. The diversity in personalities and diseases make my internship very interesting and diverse.
Second of all, as a new, first year intern the elders love to ask me about me. Luckily we have a lot of time for the clients during the day and we don't have to rush from one to another. This enables us to sit down and have a nice chat with them. The elders love to learn a lot about me (and forget it again five minutes later) but they also love for me to learn a lot about them. You should try once to go in and out a room within five minutes. Believe me it's not possible when the person's awake. As most elders are from around the 1920's they have lived through a lot. Knowing their age makes me aware of the amount of stories they have to tell and I am a sucker for stories. All the things I've heard so far and all the stories they have yet to tell me. My mind is filled with knowledge, personal stories, the stories of their lives. I could write multiple books about what I've heard there in the mere four weeks I've been around. It's absolutely amazing what some of the residents have endured, what they've lived through and how life has made them experience joy but also great suffering.
Elders really are under appreciated and nowadays youth should visit homes for the elderly more often, if only to listen to their stories. We would all become much more educated and learn about the worlds history through a much more personal and interesting way than a stupid history book. Elders carry along so much knowledge and so many interesting stories about life in the old days. When you think about it it's a miracle that some of them are still keeping up with all the changes that have been thrown at their heads the past decades. The uprising technology, from simple black and white TV to touch-screen TV.
I could talk about my internship for days. It's such an interesting place and so different from what I've learnt in school so far. Despite the severe lack of sleep I get from my internship, the fact that I'm only allowed to practise the basic aspects of nursing, the lack of communication between my two internship mentors and I and the essays and assignments I just don't seem to get finished I am really enjoying my internship and can't wait what the next six weeks will bring.
All I know now is that becoming a nurse has always been a dream of mine and that dream is now coming true. The dream hasn't changed into a nightmare and I don't think it ever will. A nurse is the perfect job for me, it brings along a lot of challenges but it also combines the things I find most important in life. Helping people and bringing happiness. To nurses all over the world, all 5 million of you, you are incredible, the work you do is amazing and appreciated by so many! Never give up the good work and don't let anyone bring you down! Also, I hope you had an amazing day on May 12th, the official international nurses day!! A little belated congratulations!!!
And as an anonymous person once said: "Save one life you're a hero, save 100 lives you're a nurse."
Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96
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| source:dekhnews.com |
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