i'm finally published!

earlier today, i got this text message from our toastmaster club coach:

since i have 6 hrs work at starbucks, i dint have the time to look for it in the internet but jp (being the supportive boyf that he is) looked it up for me and i felt sooo giddy reading my first ever published article in The Freeman*

here is the transcript (((:

Doctor, patient came in unconscious. Bp is deteriorating at 80/50. Pulse not noted. He is afebrile with erratic heart rate. Patient currently on IV of plain NSS at 85 gtts/hr. Defibrillator already attached.

Good evening fellow Toastmasters. I have never wanted to be a nurse. A famous and excellent engineer maybe. A witty and well-loved teacher can be, but not a nurse. I just do not think I can pull it off.

However in 2004, the year I graduated from high school, nursing was the most talked about profession in terms of going abroad and finding a better living. Without my consent, my parents already decided to put me in nursing school no matter how expensive it was. So nursing I did.

Nursing was very demanding way back in college. We were the only department which did not allow students to chose his or her units and schedule. We are to follow the blocked schedule and subjects prepared for us.

For most courses, internships happen on the last year. Its just about a semester or 2 the most. But for nurses, our formal internship starts on the 3rd year which is roughly about four semesters plus the summers in between. During this time, we are not allowed to take up any extra curricular at school.

At this early stage, we are already ridiculed by doctors when a procedure is not properly executed. We get embarrassed in the station plus we get another set of embarrassment, sort of with our clinical instructor during post conference. Then we go home with loads of paper works like drug study, pathophysiology, patients history and nursing care plans. If these are not completed, we are not allowed to go on duty the next day.

On top of that, every end of a duty week we are to present a case study of a patient care to back up what we learned that week. And if we get lucky, whenever it's exam week we have to take the exams whether we studied or not. We also gave up some holidays and vacations so we can complete our assigned cases in the hospital. Because of the number of nursing students in a school, sacrifices like that are to be made for us to graduate.

Most of us who are trying to keep up and maintain our grades have to give up our love life and social life. The price we have to pay for taking up nursing.

On the brighter side, after college, one is sure of being able to learn the skill not everyone is endowed to have, multi-tasking. I for one mastered the art of cramming ater four semesters of studying about 1530 minutes before the exam. One could already be confident of his or her cramming skills.

But really, what is the prize of being a nurse? It is being able to care for a fellow human being not necessarily someone we know. They say, doctors cure, but nurses care. The doctor visits the patient and give orders, but it is the nurses who in turn make sure that the orders are accurate and should be carried out correctly. It is our job to wholeheartedly answer the doubts, the patient may have for the medications given or the procedures done by the doctor. It is us, who instructs and patiently assesses the patient for understanding of a going home order. The smile, the patient gives after changing his or her bedsheet. The warm handshake after being discharged. The genuine thank you from the patient's family for the outstanding care which was so generously given. These and a whole lot more.

Looking back, I realized that I do not need to be the excellent engineer or the witty teacher I wanted to become. Being a nurse and being able to touch someone else's life is reason enough to love this profession---that's the prize of being a nurse.

*This was delivered on October 9, 2012 by Jasel Prill Baliong as Basic Speech Project 2, "Organize Your Speech." * divisionc.district75@gmail.com www.facebook.com/groups /division C. district 75

tick-tock, what time is it?

Tick-tock tick –tock! I used to listen to the sound of my watch when I was small. I’d put my wristwatch near my ear and listen to the endless tick-tock that it makes. Have you tried listening to your own tick-tocks?

Before the 13^th century, telling the time was very difficult. By then, mechanical clocks were not yet discovered nor invented.  But somehow, people have a way around telling the time. They used sundials.  They merely rely on the shadow the sun will cast on the sundial and they will be able to relatively tell the time. Not the exact time but better than no time at all. It will be so unlucky if a day proved to be rainy or cloudy because there will be no telling of time.

Later on, the water clock was invented and so was the candle clock, which was a little more accurate. But still, it was a challenge for them to be well exact on schedule. I bet there was no expression such as ‘on time’ or ‘on the dot’ or ‘saved by the bell’.

It was in the Middle Ages when mechanical clocks were starting to flourish. However, it wasn’t standardized until the 1800’s when railways were also flourishing.

So what exactly is the importance of time?

For a person suffering from a heart attack alone, he has only 10 seconds to call for help before losing consciousness.  For a basketball championship game whose score is a tie, the last 2-minute play will determine how the game will be remembered. For Ben Carson who operated on detaching the first ever Siamese twins, 20 seconds was all he had to stop the hearts of the twins and determine their fates altogether. For a very busy businessman who missed his plane, 5 minutes was all he could’ve needed to catch his ride.

When you try to look back in your life, how many times have you tried wishing or asking for an extension of time? Was it during a very hard physics exam when the proctor says 10 minutes more and you are still halfway on the equations? Was it during one of those airport moments when you wish the time you have with your loved one would be extended? Or was it in a hospital bed when you try bargaining everything you have just to get an extension of that person’s life laying in front of you.

In reality though, when we are not in those kinds of situations, we always seem to neglect the importance of time. We do not care if we let people wait on us in meetings, in restrooms or even in crowded restaurants. We do not consider that a second of someone else’s time may be a matter of life and death. I am sometimes guilty of abusing someone else’s time. I am embarrassed to admit that procrastination sometimes gets the better of me and phew a few hours after, I just wasted some precious time.

Don’t get me wrong though, I also agree to what John Lennon said:  the time you enjoy is not wasted time. The point is, every single time you spent which gives your existence some meaning is not wasted time. So if it’s something that gives you relaxation and pleasure, go for it. Spend it.

So today, just before you turn in, take a few minutes to review your day and find something worthwhile on how you used up your hours. And if ever you find some lapses, there is always tomorrow. After all, we are a work in progress.

Tick-tock what time is it?