professional opinion

sometimes the hardest part of my day is not nursing related! today i had quite the funny predicament. it might be one of those incidences that only seems funny to the people involved. but i laughed pretty hard.

my patient asked me to heat up his microwaveable chicken pot pie. i asked, "are there any special instructions? or is it pretty self-explanatory?" the patient's wife, also an ICU nurse, replied with "if yesterday's nurse figured it out, you should have NO problem!" i implied that as both a criticism of yesterday's nurse and a compliment to my mad skills!

so, i grabbed the pot pie - marie calendars - and read the instructions. not as easy as the regular TV dinner, which unfortunately i am pretty adept at preparing! you have to cook the pot pie in the box with this special pad on top to crisp up the crust. cook on high for 6 minutes, rotate one quarter, and cook on medium for 7-8 minutes more!?! really, 13 minutes for a TV dinner? i got confused. was i reading the directions correctly? after the patient's wife's comment, i really didn't want to screw this up!

in nursing, we are always taught to ask questions, to ask for help. so, i asked a colleague of mine for his "professional opinion." i chose to ask this specific RN because his lunch typically consists of pot pies, corn dogs, and taquitos. in fact, i think today is the first time i saw him eat an apple! my friend offered me a seat, ready to discuss some serious nursing dilemma. and instead, i asked for assistance with the pot pie! his response - a punch in my arm! but what followed was quite a crack up. i got three nurses to surround the microwave, poking and prodding, guesstimating how many more minutes, seriously discussing the nuking instructions of a pot pie. it made me laugh. most of the time, we gather to discuss sad scenarios, to debate whether someone should be a do not resuscitate or what nausea medication would work best for projectile chemotherapy induced vomiting. today, we huddled over a chicken pot pie!

13 minutes later, i returned to the patient's room, chicken pot pie in hand. and i had to laugh! yesterday's nurse is smarter than she appeared, if she made the chicken pot pie without difficulty!