At Christ, high-caliber report wasn’t a problem. The charge nurse, a stout black woman with very short hair and blowsy purple scrubs, went methodically though each patient’s name, room number, age, reason for hospitalization, current status and vitals, and what was expected for the new shift. IV fluids were done right here. It was always bad karma for the rest of the day to tell the oncoming shift that there were still 200 cc’s in the IV fluid bag, only to have the light come on and the patient say over the intercom that the bag was dry and the machine was beeping.
“You have to run and take care of that and the rest of your planned day goes up in smoke,” Cheryl Beth had lectured her students. They couldn’t count on landing jobs at the best hospitals, but they could improve what they found by giving and insisting on getting a thorough report.
The status of wounds: the term referred to post-op patients, but it made her think of Lauren and Holly. Then she had seen the newspaper that morning, with a page one story about the murder of a Cincinnati policewoman. It said she was the star of a reality television show, but Cheryl Beth had never seen it. She was more attracted to Masterpiece Theater kinds of shows, Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Morse, plus some gardening and cooking shows. The title of the reality police show sounded demeaning, but the woman herself seemed very accomplished. Found in her boat on the Licking River, dead of multiple knife wounds. Cheryl Beth’s hands had turned cold as she read this. Could there be a connection with what happened in the Formal Gardens or was she reaching? Was Will Borders involved in this case? Unlike the typical crime story, his name wasn’t mentioned.
Focus on report, Cheryl Beth.
Afterward, she huddled with the students once again, being a nag about their nursing care plans.
“NCPs are the work of the devil…” one of the charge nurses said, laughing.
“Don’t listen to her,” Cheryl Beth said in good-natured dudgeon.
Her students chanted in unison: “It is a tool designed to identify the needs of the patient based on a physical assessment, the medical diagnosis, any treatments or surgical interventions past, present or future. Family, social, psychological, and spiritual needs, and the most important, the nursing interventions to meet the needs.”
Cheryl Beth laughed hard for the first time in two days. “I’ll expect them from you at the end of the week. And remember, I want one in-depth NCP on one patient of your choice at the end of semester. That’s coming right up.”