Year One / Month One ... teaching new caregivers

Whether someone is a professional or family caregiver, learning how to provide personal, compassionate care is hard. My first year nursing students are learning just like a new family caregiver would. Trial by fire. Jump in, like it or not, and get your hands dirty. Our first month, we are learning the new terms of our anatomy; Where is your uvula? What is the professional term for 'butt crack'. Is it hard? Yes. Is it funny at times? Yes, very :) And we take it with a grain of salt, keep our heads up, know we are going to make mistakes along the way (forever) and keep going.

Find your support team. It could be at home, it could be at work, it could be a group on social media. But find your team that will help pick you up when you are having a moment, or a day. And there will be days.

My favorite learning -- try it and learn how our patients / loved ones feel. We were learning how to move our patients in bed and we ended up putting a diaper on our lovely volunteer.

She was such a great sport !!!! And it helped us laugh and create a supportive learning environment for each other. Never underestimate the power of laughter when learning!!

My other volunteers this week, they got wound care supplies to try on their arms and a few ostomy products to wear all day and tell us how they felt about it. Anxiety control is a skill that takes some training and practice. As a caregiver, professional or family, we first need to control our anxiety (easier said than done) and then we can work on controlling our patient or loved ones anxiety. This is not easy and takes time. It took me a long time and there are still times, 15 years later, when I need to check myself and remember to breathe.

Keep up the good work and know that we are here for you!!!

PS: your uvula is the little thing hanging in the back of your throat. And gluteal cleft is the professional word for butt crack. I know you were wondering.