PATIENT CARE ASSISTANT
At the beginning of 2024, I recorded my experience as a PCA at Mercy Anderson over the course of seven weeks. During this time, I worked one 12-hour shift a week where I would provide individualized care to patients who stayed at the hospital. This care involved assisting patients with activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, toileting, ambulating, dressing, etc. I was also responsible for monitoring the health of patients by taking their vitals and blood sugars per routine. Since I was the one who spent a lot of time with patients, I would interact with them and their family members as well. My goal was to be a kind face that patients could rely on, and create a welcoming environment while they were away from their home. Because this is a difficult setting to take pictures in, I included a photo of my name badge to help show how I tried to personalize it and
make my presence friendly and approachable. This also served as a good conversation starter.
Throughout this experience, I learned basic things like how to perform the specific tasks for my job, which included changing patients, properly ambulating them, and taking their vitals and blood sugars. Beyond these superficial tasks though, I learned about communication, teamwork, and attitude. Working in a hospital requires the highest level of communication with patients, the friends and families of patients, and the nurses and doctors. Proper communication is vital to the health of the patient and could be life saving in this scenario. The same can be said for teamwork, which became especially important when it came to completing patient tasks and rounding on them to see who needed what. Without this close team relationship between the aids and the nurses, we would never be able to complete all of the necessary tasks for each of our patients. Finally, I learned all about the importance of a positive attitude in this environment, especially when dealing with difficult or frustrated patients. For me, it was important to remind myself of the situation that these individuals are in. They are away from home, in pain, and may feel vulnerable, so they want to keep as much of their dignity as possible. Therefore, I had to remain as understanding and empathetic as possible so that I would not get frustrated myself, which was a difficult thing to do when I first started.
This experience impacted me by reassuring me that patient care is for me and that no matter what, I want to work in the medical field. I was also able to gain the perspective of the health issues that individuals face and the kind of support that they may require. Lastly, this experience will help impact my future patient interactions going forward because I was able to gain this perspective. I now understand how essential it is to stay calm and have a positive attitude so that I can continue to provide excellent care to all my future patients.