POSTOPERATIVE DELIRIUM

Postoperative Delirium

Gary G. Reardon

Florida Atlantic University

NGR 7738

Delirium

Dr. Barry

Postoperative Delirium

Introduction

As a young man growing up on a small island in Newfoundland, Canada, I had always felt the call of caring for others. However, taking a summer student job in the local hospital there to work as an orderly, I don't believe I ever dreamed that I would be here in West Palm Beach about to graduate with a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. Nursing has been my life for as long as I can remember but as I reflect on these latest opportunities and learning experiences; my philosophy of nursing has become more clearly defined yet somewhat broader and more complex. The knowledge and understanding of the advanced practitioners' role has changed how I think about nursing and even how I carry out my responsibilities as a nurse.

I have always considered myself a good nurse, one who cares deeply for those in my care and one who willingly works hard for the organization. Having been exposed to this new wisdom surrounding the APN I realize that it has changed my vision of nursing. I saw nursing as providing care for individual parts of patients, institutional departments, giving my best care still, but always in separate components. Though I knew that these were all interconnected, they were goal-oriented objectives, very task specific, but still separate areas of nursing. It was here in this area that I found the greatest difference from the other health care providers. I think about this journey in the context of a jigsaw puzzle. In my former thinking I could see the various separate pieces of the puzzle as different areas of nursing or different patient needs trying to be met by caring nurses. Sometimes the pieces of the puzzle did not fit properly, the edges ragged from being forced where they did not belong, parts were missing or put in the wrong place, and there was no sense of the full picture of the puzzle. It is somewhat like that in our institutions. We have a shortage of staff, and nurses do not always work in the area of their strengths resulting in a stressed nursing staff because they are not a good fit in their work responsibilities. Of course it is next to impossible to have a vision of the whole in these circumstances. In contrast, I see the APN as the one who is putting the puzzle together. Here, the APN sees the full picture, takes each piece and places it where it belongs so it fits perfectly. Never forcing, but inspiring and encouraging, this one with the vision, the APN knows how to use staff wisely resulting in a less tattered, less stressed staff, which now sees the whole picture as well. Now they all begin to see the importance of the whole presenting a complete picture.

In this analogy through the basic concepts of caring and collaboration each piece of the puzzle, each area of nursing, knows the value of the other parts or ...