TAKING SOME TIME

Time is a funny thing to me. Some people want more of it, and some want less. Depending on the situation, I can say that I’ve consistently wished for both. Time is affluent, but doesn’t seem that way most days. I can say that in my short life of 24 years I’ve seen time speed up and slow down respectfully. I’ve seen people’s time on this earth come to an end, and people’s time on this earth just begin. Unfortunately for me, I mostly see time end. I bring up time because as a nurse, traveling or not, time is important. When a patient enters the ER with a heart attack (STEMI to be specific), the ER team has 90 minutes to get that patient to Cath lab. Within 90 minutes we are expected to start 2 large bore IV’s, get an EKG, completely undress the patient, page the Cath lab team, send blood work, and attach them to every monitor imaginable. Not to mention administer medications including aspirin, nitroglycerin, morphine, and oxygen (if needed really). 90 minutes from when that patient checks in.
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​If a stroke patient comes in, the ER team has 4 hours to administer TPA (thrombolytic therapy) from the time of their symptoms. If someone checks in 3 hours after the onset of symptoms, that time is now 1 hour to administer the medication. A medication that can ultimately evaporate all symptoms nonetheless. I say this not to scare anyone or make my job description seem cooler than it already does, but to give a perspective on the time crunch that I am constantly in. If you know me on a personal level you know that I don’t like being rushed and I don’t work well when I am stressed. In fact, in college I would have to nap if I got too stressed in order to be productive at all. These qualities may seem contradictory to an Emergency Department nurse, but I believe it makes me better at my job. I consistently think ahead so I don’t need to be stressed or rushed. Instead, the time clock seems to slow down and I am able to concentrate and get shit done (pardon my french… or get used to it). That being said, on my time off I like to take some time for a lack of better words. I take some time to appreciate the slower, less productive days and the faster paced, busier days. I take some time to appreciate the life I have and the lives I hope to change everyday. I think that if everyone self-reflected on how they spend their time, maybe we’d have a better world. Regardless, I hope that traveling will help me learn about different cultures, different places, and different ways people spend their time. Who knows? I just might learn something.

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