bedpans

Today in clinical lab, we went over how to give bed baths, change bed linens, and position our paitents on bedpans. I've never used a bedpan, so being on one today for simulation purposes was slightly uncomfortable, and I can feel for those who've really had to use them. Well, it was my turn to position my partner on the bedpan, and as she settled on top of it, she commented on how uncomfortable it was. I agreed, trying to sound professional as if I were really talking to a patient. My instructor came over to check in, and my partner told her the bedpan was uncomfortable. My instructor looked at my placement, and I had put the bedpan under her facing back to front instead of front to back. Needless to say, if she had really needed to use it, the urine probably wouldn't have been caught by the bedpan because it was at the wrong angle. Great.

Lately at times I've been feeling like I've put on this experience, this transition, in the wrong direction. Like maybe I'm not going to catch all that I'm supposed to in my time here, however long that will be. But today I learned how to place a bedpan beneath my patients correctly. Hopefully I'll learn to really take one day at a time in this journey through learning to love Atlanta (however that looks) and nursing school.