So, I know that I promised I would start blogging regularly when I started my clinical. Then, I said that if I was too busy to blog about being a student nurse during clinical (which I definitely was), then I would blog about being a nursing attendant while attending nursing college via distance ed. 

But here we are, 2 months later. No regular blog posts. Sorry. Too busy? Well, always, but that’s not really the reason. The reason I’ve found it difficult to blog about being a nursing student/attendant is because I don’t know how to properly maintain my patients’ privacy.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are simply TONS of nursing blogs out there, whose authors manage to share amazing stories while (successfully) respecting the privacy of their patients. I’m just… kind of scared to try. I don’t want to say anything that could incriminate myself either - not that I’ve done anything illegal, or wrong, for that matter. It’s just I’m flashing forward to potential employers somehow finding this blog and taking something the wrong way… you know?

Anyway, suffice it to say, I LOVE MY JOB. I haven’t revealed my place of employment on Facebook or anything, but I do know that some people must know where I work. Anyway, during the interview process, my employer and I referred to the job title as “nursing attendant”; however, we actually refer to each other as “PCAs (Personal Care Aides)”. It’s just semantics, it’s the exact same job (Health Care Aide = Nursing Attendant = Personal Care Aide). Since I have one year of nursing school behind me, I’m qualified as a “certified” PCA, which means I get the certified wage, which is good. 

I work at a private facility, so the wages are awesome, too. I don’t get benefits because I’m just a casual worker (my choice), but I hear they’re awesome as well. The building is literally a 3 minute drive from my neighborhood, which itself is a 3 minute drive from my baby’s daycare (also a 3 minute drive from my neighborhood) - something I was immensely grateful for the day I had to leave work early to pick up my sick child.  

But, I digress. Back to loving my job: I love the clients. I like the staff. I like the system. I like how as a PCA, I’m working on a very personal level with my clients. I can really get to know them and to help them in very important ways, and I can really feel that the work we do (as PCAs) makes a huge difference in their lives. I mean, this is all very obvious, and profusely advertised in job postings (“Make a Difference in Others’ Lives!”), but it’s so true. It is both immensely gratifying, and deeply humbling. I am a little sad to know that when I graduate and become a nurse, I will never have the same kind of opportunity to develop the same kind of closeness that a PCA can with a client, but I think this makes me even more grateful for the time I have with them now. 

Of course, I’m not saying that LPNs or RNs (or NPs for that matter) cannot develop a close, personal bond with their clients; in fact, they’re supposed to. But what I am saying is that PCAs/NAs/HCAs work with clients in a way that facilitates a relationship that is more human-to-human; something a little less centered around nursing diagnoses and problem-solving. It’s the dressing, the bathing, the ambulating, and the portering - it’s all very, well, personal! As a PCA you can really know your clients, not just as patients, but also as people. 

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT MY COMMENTS REFER TO MY PARTICULAR WORK SETTING. I work in a designated assisted living facility - which means that we work where they live, rather than the other way around. In such a setting, the clients are vastly more healthy and able than those in long-term care (for example), and therefore only interact with the LPN (we don’t have RNs; the LPNs act as the team leaders) if they need narcotics, anything with needles, wound care, cancer meds, etc. You get the point. So in this setting, the PCA interacts with the client waaaayy more. 

Also - and this really cool - since we’re a private facility, the PCAs administer medications as well. Love it. Love the practice I’m getting. Of course, the LPN does the insulin, narcs, etc., as mentioned above. 

As for school, right now I’m studying for my Mental Health Nursing Final. Every course I take inspires me to want to work in that area (last month I was convinced I wanted to be an OR nurse; now, I want to work in Mental Health). I just love my work as a student and as a PCA. I’ve never been happier studying anything in my entire life! Really. I’m so glad I decided to look into this two years ago, and finally got the guts to apply. And now, this time next year, I’ll be an LPN! So excited. 

So ‘till next time!