The Best of Nursing
Some of our home nurses have been wonderful home nurses. These women & man have worked tirelessly to provide my kids the necessary medical care, caring and developmental support in the best of all possible ways. When my children first came home, they were 2- and then 3- VERY complex, fragile infants. At 15 months old, my twins wore 6mos sized clothing, their trach masks were nearly the size of their heads, and only my daughter could make sounds and crawl.
Nurses came into my home and were trained to change a trach in less than 20 seconds because my children could get no air in without the tube in their neck. They were taught to suction for less than 10 seconds and at a very specific depth, lest they collapse one of my children’s miniature lungs or cause more damage to the trachea. My kids were problem feeders, constant vomiters, attached to multiple pieces of medical equipment all day and these nurse came to work on the front lines of my kids’ medical care to help me keep them home, keep them safe and succeed as a family.
Who were/are the successful ones? The successful ones are nurses who have good, basic clinical skills. They can auscultate lung sounds and differentiate wheezes from crackles from rhonchi from a pleural rub. They know to count heartrate & respirations for a full minute with young children. They know to give a child a minute to cough & clear before heading straight to suction. They can watch a child at play in their fleece outfit and know their respirations are above normal and they’ve begun retracting- before lifting the shirt to count & see.
These nurses also have the ability to LISTEN. They take direction from the parent while following the orders of the doctors. They measure carefully when using a graduated suction catheter. They remember this is “home”, not “hospital”, so they take the time to play, to laugh, to sing, to enjoy. They follow through on exercises, strategies, procedures and activities that help the kids move forward in their development, while continuously monitoring and assessing their health status.
These nurses also have communication skills in the area of bringing information to families. They sometimes come with other experiences or discover a more effective way of doing something. They might have new medical information about a child’s diagnosis or information to share about a medication. They are able to talk with a parent without talking down to a parent. They give information that supports more effective care of the kids, better quality of life.
I have appreciated every minute of support from these nurses. I have worked to be sure they know how much they are valued. My children have thrived under their care & with their support. Many of these people have had to move on with their careers, their lives, but we still think of them often and cherish their support in this complex medical life.
