A deputy head nurse: I love working as much as I love life

In the emergency department of a hospital, things have alway happened unpredictably. The nurses who work here need to have excellent professional skills, and they need to be able to adapt to all situations in 24 hours.

Cao Xiaoxia first arrived at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in 1991, when she was 18 years. She volunteered to become a nurse in the emergency department. In the past 28 years, she has been an experienced deputy head nurse, but she still maintains a passion for her work as well as her life. The photos show a day for her work.

At 7:30, Cao Xiaoxia comes to the emergency department to carried out a practice of cardiopulmonary resuscitation with other nurses. Such a practice is often arranged in the morning before work.

Cao makes records. “Things are easy to forget without practicing,” says she.

Cao explains the meaning of "Stroke 1-2-0": a rapid response program for stroke in China.

8:00, Shift handover begins. The evening shift doctors and nurses give a detailed account of the patients' conditions.

In the emergency department of Xiangya Hospital, most of the patients are suffering from brain injury and cerebral infarction. Even at night, the monitoring is required for patients' conditions.

Cao arranges the main daily work of the department.

8:30, after shift handover, Cao and the medical staff of the department go round together to explain the main points of nursing and to check patients' conditions.

Cao says that it is more scientific and reasonable to raise the bed of patients with no contraindications by 15-30 degrees.

In the emergency department, most patients have lost their self-care ability. The nurses are turning a patient over.

In front of each bed, there is a bottle of disinfectant. In order to ensure hand hygiene, medical staff should wash hands and disinfect at any time.

At 9:45, Cao begins to prepare for the oral cleaning of patients. Khan, a nursing graduate student from Pakistan, assists her.

The nurses are doing oral cleaning work for the patients every day.

Cao says that many of her work is done with colleagues, and she enjoys working with them.

At 10:10, a patient's treatment list has already come out. Cao gives the prescription to the patient's family and explains how to pay and take the medicine.

Cao's work has won the recognition of many patients. A pennant sent by the patient is hung on the wall of the emergency department.

At 10:30, after the patient's medication is delivered, Cao is dispensing medicine.

Cao says that nursing work is very trivial. It is necessary to be good at observing and paying attention to the psychological feelings of patients.

At 11:00, Cao receives a call for a patient who is treated in Xiangya Boai hospital needing to be referred for treatment. She immediately arranges the work.

Cao instructs Khan to study nursing points and communicate with him in fluent English.

Cao has begun to learn English by herself shortly after her entering the hospital. She keeps learning English for more than half an hour every day. She still keeps the habit now.

At 12:00, Cao comes to the hospital canteen for lunch.

After lunch, Cao takes a walk in the hospital. Singing, dancing, or taking a few nice photos are the source of fun for her. She is more cherished for her current work and life after seeing more life and death in the emergency department.

15:00, Cao come to the ward, the first thing is to check the patient's ECG monitoring. Nurses have to check the data to monitor the vital signs every hour due to the critical condition of patients.

As the deputy head nurse, Cao is also responsible for the management of the daily affairs of the department. At 15:30, Cao checks the treatment of medical waste.

Cao and her colleagues checked the medical equipment of the medical ambulance.

At 16:00, Cao performs a pressure therapy on the leg for a patient.

Cao operates a barometric pressure therapy device.

At 16:30, Cao checks doctor's prescriptions and the medical records of their patients. As a head nurse, she is responsible for carefully checking the daily record of patients' conditions and conducting a disease analysis.

The nurse's medical record is the first-hand information for the doctor to perform the treatment. An accurate record is very important. A nurse has questions during the recording, and Cao discusses with the nurses.

Even as an ordinary nurse, Cao has always asked herself: to have critical thinking and use professional knowledge to analyses the conditions.

Cao joined the CPC in 2001 and she is already an old party member.

At 17:30, Cao finishes the work in the ward and rushes back to her office to handle other work in the department.

Cao handles departmental affairs in the office. As the deputy head nurse, Cao also undertakes the quality management of the department.

At 18:30, Cao's work is done. In the bookcase of Cao's office, there are a large number of books in both Chinese and English. Whenever there is a condition that I don't understand, Cao always consults the books for the answer.

Cao is also very keen on popular science popularization. As a mentor to the American First Aid Association, she often goes to the community, schools, and institutions to teach residents about cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The picture shows Cao explaining Heimlich Maneuver to the parents and teachers of the kindergarten.

From 1996 to 1998, Cao was sent to the Singapore Central Hospital for further study by the former Ministry of Health. In 2013, she went to the Maryland Emergency Center for study. After coming back, she is committed to promoting first-aid techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation and Heimlich Maneuver.

Bilingual Link:

双语丨急诊科副护士长：像热爱生活一样热爱工作