Jennifer Rock|Pictures by Leah Huebner
Actress and ER nurse Jennifer Rock shares how small acts of treatment, team effort, and personal regimens aid registered nurses stay grounded and efficient.
Can you share a minute from your job that advised you why you chose nursing?
I had a physician once inform me, “If you can actually touch a single person a shift, it’s been very successful, which’s a good shift.” As a registered nurse, you’re constantly rushing around; it’s extremely hectic, especially in the ER, so it has to do with the moments of tranquility with somebody that just requires comfort or somebody to care for them. Whether it’s an older person who doesn’t have anybody and simply wishes to talk, or if it’s someone that’s actually terrified, you can simply attempt to make time, stop a little, and be like, “Hey, you’re alright. You remain in the very best possible place, and we have actually got you.” It’s those minutes of being a feeling of certainty for somebody in a time of unpredictability that remind me why I do what I do.
What’s one piece of technology or equipment that’s made your job as a nurse a lot more effective or efficient?
That’s an excellent concern. A great item of technology that has actually made taking care of much more effective is, I hate to claim, the PureWick. We have a great deal of non-ambulatory people, so the PureWick, a prophylactic catheter, assists people remain more comfy without making use of something like a bedpan, which can feel type of demeaning or awkward or create bedsores. Likewise, things like ultrasound equipments for hard-stick IVs. Those are video game changers. Additionally, updated charting systems. Having excellent shorthand to be able to chart successfully and return to individually individual treatment is fantastic.
Has there been a time when solid communication, with either a client or colleague, made a large difference in your day?
I didn’t expect that there would certainly be many parallels in between acting and nursing, however one of my favorite features of both is the partnership.
Whenever I have a nurse that remains in my group– whether they enter when I’m stuck in one more area with a person or I do the same for them– it’s that shorthand of seeing that a nurse has a requirement and collaborating. We’re all on the exact same team. We’re all trying to accomplish the exact same thing– better individual results. When I have a nurse that, without me even asking, will certainly jump in and aid me with the individual, that makes me seem like we’re all collaborating on this together for an usual objective. That’s something that just means the world to me– when nurses will certainly aid each other out.
What recommendations would certainly you offer to a nurse who’s sensation overwhelmed or underappreciated now?
Focus on what you can control. I’ll be really sincere. For me, I know often, specifically in the earlier years, I would certainly obtain very upset at things that were really out of my control. Whether it was problems with the medical care system, or the way the system was established and falling short, I would discover myself obtaining very angry and discouraged. What’s helped me is to focus on things that I can manage. Yes, they may be on a smaller sized range, but I can control just how I react to negative thoughts at the workplace or positivity at work. I can manage just how I talk to patients. I can manage what I allow and what I don’t. Especially in an ER atmosphere, or any medical care bedside environment, there can be a great deal of negative thoughts, unfortunately, and it’s within your control what you let in.
I’ll be sincere: Some days I win, and some days I shed and enable things in, for sure. There are changes I finished where I was like, “Alright, this shift defeat me.” Yet I try to make it so I am in control of just how I reply to the health care market, and to understand that it’s all a selection. Although some days it’s harder than others.
What daily routines or little routines help you stay grounded and really feel good throughout lengthy or stressful changes?
Obtaining outside, to be straightforward. Time stalls when you get on a 12 -hour shift, so I carve out time if I can– and not every shift enables it– however when I can, I carve out time to simply obtain outside, get some vitamin D, and take a look at some nature. It’s something to remind you that the entire globe isn’t those fluorescent lights. It’s just sort of reconnecting with life outside of the medical facility.