There are currently over 630,000 employed vocational nurses in the United States. A licensed vocational nurse provides basic care to nursing patients and typically works under more advanced nurses. Vocational nurses need to pass rigorous licensing requirements before they can start working.
If you’re considering vocational nursing, then you have to be prepared to deal with a wide variety of patients. No two days are the same in this role, so adaptability is crucial.
So, keep reading to find out how to become a vocational nurse and handle some of the different patients that will cross your path.
Anxious Patients
Almost 40% of Americans feel nervous before going to a doctor’s appointment. This number increases when it comes to hospital visits or more serious circumstances. This is why it’s important to know how to handle an extremely anxious patient.
Everyone exhibits anxiety in different ways, so there isn’t a one-stop guide you can use to identify an anxious patient. It can take some time to recognize the ways various people show their anxiety. Some people start talking faster, sweat a lot more, and have difficulty concentrating, but anxiety can also manifest as barely talking, delayed reactions, and extreme stillness.
When working with an anxious patient, it’s important that you remember to be patient and kind. Some useful tips when working with anxious patients include:
- Having your patients rate their anxiety and let you know when it gets worse
- Ask if there are any sounds or visuals that are making them more anxious
- Offer to close the blinds if they’re sensitive to light
- Offer to speak to them in a different space
Working with anxious patients means you have to understand their possible triggers. Some people find hospital settings extremely uncomfortable, and there’s nothing you can do to alleviate that.
Quiet Patients
As a vocational nurse, you’ll often meet patients who are loud and tell you exactly what they think and feel. While they might cause a disturbance, in some cases, they’re much easier to work with than quiet patients.
You have to be able to communicate with your patient to adequately help them, so if your patient isn’t telling you much, it can be difficult to move forward. Sometimes a quiet patient just requires some nudging to get them to open up to you.
When working with quiet patients, it’s best to use open-ended questions. If you give them the option of just saying “yes” or “no,” you won’t get anything else out of them.
If it’s a patient you see often, you can even ask them to keep a healthcare journal where they write down all of their medical problems and questions.
Becoming a Vocational Nurse
Being a vocational nurse isn’t for everyone, but if it’s your calling, then nothing should stand in the way of your dreams. Becoming a nurse can be difficult, but with the right support and training, you can step into a nursing career with your head held high. So go ahead and consider pursuing a career in nursing.
If you’re interested in becoming a vocational nurse, fill out this form for more info. Healthcare Career College has helped thousands of students gain the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in a healthcare career.