Driving That Train, High on Cocaine

Holy Cow. If you would have asked me a week ago if I would have ever considered a day working in detox "awesome" I would have laughed. Guffawed even.

I won't go too into detail as I've recounted this to many people already, but last weeks shift in detox was everything I don't want to be as a nurse. Sloppy unprofessional dress, combative language with every patient, and no interaction besides going into the room to give someone meds then leaving and returning to Farmville on facebook. Everyone hits burnout in their given profession at sometime, but I hope its never as bad as what I saw last week. Lordy.

However, today was a different set of nurses and that changed the atmosphere tremendously. Also, with a better concept of things I was able to do in detox I worked on being more vocal about things I could do, which helped so very much. The two main things I involved myself in were observing psychiatric assessments and administering medications.

What I love about psychiatric assessments is that it gives you a chance to really understand how someone became so involved in drugs and/or alcohol that they reached a point of dependency. It puts a face to notes like "drinks a fifth of vodka every day" or "has 29-36 beers a night" and humanizes addictions that can affect everyone and anyone. The assessment that struck the closest to home for me today was a young man who had spent a significant amount of time in the military and had been deployed to Iraq twice. His heavy drinking began when he entered the military and continued to get worse once he left for medical reasons and because of boredom from unemployment. None of his medical conditions were that surprising: PTSD, tinnitus from being to close to an explosion, anxiety and depression. The one that I thought was most interesting was that his chronic psoriasis, in his case tied directly to his stress levels, was only completely cleared up two times in his life: both of his tours in Iraq. He explained that while its stressful over there, and the cause of his PTSD, you don't have the same kind of stress like you do here (i.e. financial, relationships, etc). You have an assigned duty and you know where you are going to be and what you are going to be doing at all times. Anyways, I was most touched by this particular patient because of how young he was and because I am always fascinated by people who have life experiences that are so completely different from mine. I hope he is able to get his life back together and recover from his addiction.

To end on an exciting note, today was my first day EVER of administering medications!! I felt like a real nurse and am so in love with using the automated medication carts. Nothing beats flashing lights, popping drawers, and getting your fingerprint scanned! I also got to administer my first tuberculin skin test which was frightening and exciting at the same time. The patient had super thick skin which made the process difficult and extra scary, but in the end he had a bubble under his skin so my job was successful!

I am absolutely pooped now, and my time in detox is over. Next week I'll begin a two day stint in the stabilization aspect of recovery. Until next week!