This is a series of occasional articles geared toward new nurses entering rehab. If you've been around the nursing world for ages and you have some comments, feel free to throw them out there.
Recently, I attended a conference about multiple sclerosis and one of the presenters talked about how important the roles of a rehab nurse is to patients and the vaunted interdisciplinary team. Here are a few roles you play that may not have been so obvious.
1. Scheduler
Rehab nurses get schedules thrown at them by PT, OT and whomever else can think of something for them to do. We get to coordinate how people get from A to B and sometimes, we even get to say, "No way. You're not taking my people." Knowing how to work the schedule is a very important thing, for your sanity and the sanity of your patients and the rest of the rehab team.
2. Cheerleader
Rehab nurses cheer on patients, to be adherent to medication regimes ("That sounds nicer that 'compliant' "--actual quote by a presenter), to get out of bed and do therapy, and also to look at the sunnier side of life. Yes, some days suck, but you just have to deal with whatever gets in your way and motivate your people. I do not use pompoms, although, I have been known to use Diet Pepsi (or patient's drink of choice) as a motivator. Sometimes, as they say, you gotta fake it 'til you make it.
3. Marketer
Yes, this plays into the previous role of cheerleader. I have to "sell the program" as I always tell people. The program is, you will get out of bed, you will get your life going and you will have a routine. You can be sick and tired, but you have to at least try. Sometimes the best sales pitch is the one where the patient derives it from himself.
4. Therapist
Sometimes, all you may do is to listen therapeutically. You don't get the alphabet soup after your name like those therapists, but you get an earful. Think about how you can use that rant, rave or entreaty to help that patient. If you need help, ask for it, from your charge nurse, manager or your psychology staff. I couldn't live without ours.
3 comments:
I think all nurses take on these roles at different times.
Good stuff - never thought about it that way. I guess this is what attracts me to Rehab Nursing!
Divagirl:
Sure, we all do these things at one point or another.
I just keep noticing when I work day shift that I'm doing this more often.
The nice thing is that I seem to have more resources to back me up on days versus evenings.
I do enjoy rotating shifts, because I know that I can do somethings during the day and others in the evenings, depending on how I'm working. That is a benefit for me.
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