Dimple's Discoveries

I knew from the day I started my clinicals that this was the job for me. I had studied and practiced skills for months, but the day I donned those scrubs and entered that first facility was the day I knew I had found a job doing something I love. After I finished my clinicals and had been bitten by the bug, all I had to do was pass the state tests: one is written and the other is a skills test performed in front of an instructor. The written test went well, I passed with flying colors, and was on to my skills test. This exam includes a test of your ability to take vitals and finishes with a simulation picked from a stack at random with you doing certain cares for a dummy in a bed. I was scared to death doing those vitals. You are sitting next to a woman who has worked in the medical field for years, and you have done your list of 30 required vitals sets, and maybe a few more for practice. She has a two headed stethoscope and hands it to you and tells you to get started. On blood pres...

These last few weeks have been pretty wild for my family and myself with 5 visits in one week of my loved ones into the E.R., it started at 10:30 pm on Sunday, I was getting ready for bed, just finished brushing my teeth when from the bathroom my roommate sticks her head out the door and says "Do you have a problem with vomit?" Now, were that to have been said to anyone else, it would seem a strange question, but I'm a CNA, craziness runs in the profession :) My reply was "No", to which she asked me to come sit with her, that she didn't want to be alone, so I came in and sat on the edge of the tub and rubbed her back and encouraged her as she threw up. I have absolutely sense of smell anymore, (little blessings haha) which is perfect for situations like this! We had a little miracle while we were enduring this long night. My poor little roomie had diarrhea and nausea and couldn't get a bit of rest before one or the other was coming, and we hit about 2a...

"You're a CNA? That's cool, I have a friend that does that. How much do you make?" The CNA replied: "How much do I make?! “I can make holding your hand seem like the most important thing in the world when you're scared... I can make your child breathe again when they've stopped... I can help your father regain some function and movement in his limbs after a stroke...I can make myself get up at 5AM to make sure your mother is sleeping well and her vitals are good...I work all day to improve the lives of strangers...I make my family wait for dinner until I know your family member is taken care of...I make myself skip lunch so that I can make sure that everything I did for your wife today is charted...I make myself work weekends and holidays because people don't just get sick Monday - Friday. Today, I might save your life. How much do I make? All I know is that I make a difference.” I make a difference every day at work. Every day I make pati...

Hysterical strength- defined as a display of extreme strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal. This term among the medical community is still considered a myth, but I for one, believe in it. Teamed with adrenaline, this can be a powerful tool in the arsenal of a CNA, especially when push comes to shove (which often happens to us unfortunately) I was doing my clinicals when five firefighters brought in a woman who weighed...I can't even remember now, easily 400lbs. They transferred her onto a stretcher, on which she had to lay sideways to fit, and then told us to have a great day. We got a bed ready for her, and then called all available staff to the room. It took every aide, nurse, and assorted staff member that was available to transfer her, which was 8 people. In coordinating and a lot of work, we got her transferred to the bed, but it took about ten minutes. As soon as we had gotten her across, they sent us new aides to answer the call lights that had been goin...