Nurse Days

Monday, February 14, 2000

Today I worked at the pediatric clinic. I got there at 8:30 a.m. The nurse I was assigned to had a migraine headache, so I tried to help out as much as possible.

Within an hour and a half I was doing everything myself. I called the patients back, asked them what they needed to see the doctor about, weighed and measured them, etc. It was kind of fun. The day was slow, however, so it got fairly boring after a while. Also, I don't think the clinic setting is for me. I felt as though I was running an assembly line. It's very impersonal and abrupt...I prefer to spend more time with my patients. I don't think I spent more than 5 minutes with any of them, and I was there for over 5 hours.

We had an 11-year-old boy brought in today with ulcers. He's been taking Prilosec only when he feels a flare-up. They didn't seem to be working, so his dad brought him in for another prescription. I thought this was odd--young kids with ulcers, I mean--so I asked the doctor about it. She said she sees a lot of kids with them.

I guess this is just another sad example of our changing times.