3 posts tagged “clinicals”
As you all probably know, school started yesterday. Unlike the previous semesters, this semester we went straight to clinical duty on the first day. It really wasn't anything. It was orientation for the most part. But today, wow wow wow! Haha, we actually did so much!
Let's see, this semester I'm assigned to a long-term facility. No, this hospital doesn't have an emergency room. The patients in this hospital have been here for years and practically live here. It's a very old hospital, and it gives me the creeps. It kind of reminds me of the hospitals in the Philippines.
My professor? Well, aside from being a nurse he is actually an attorney. He's so particular about grammar and proper word usage. Earlier, he cut off my groupmate when she said she was nauseous. As opposed to being nauseated. He has 7 degrees under his belt, so I guess he really just loves studying. He is good anyway. He's not the professor who's always watching you. I haven't actually encountered him on the floor. He just simply lets us run loose.
As for the unit we go to, it's a chronic respiratory unit. Everyone is hooked up to a mechanical ventilator. Almost everyone is fed through a feeding tube, pees through a catheter, and has colostomy bags attached. Oh, and almost everyone is well... To put it bluntly, unconscious and/or brain dead.
Well today, we didn't get our specific patient assignments. We were tasked to follow what they call a Med Surg Technician in the unit. Very similar to Patient Care Associates, Certified Nurses' Aides, etc. They have way too many names for this! I worked with one kind lady and cleaned up 5 patients.
Now I've done patient care on patients, but after seeing the first patient.. I just knew all those I washed in the past were EASY patients! I open the sheets and I see the patient fully contracted in a fetal position. It was a struggle just getting his gown out without pulling out any of his tubes. And dear God, the smell was nerve-wracking even with the mask on. I usually have high tolerance for this, but.. Ah! It was just different. I told myself I shouldn't have eaten breakfast that morning. And then we washed and washed away. All those bed bath procedures in the book and in the videos just flew right out of the window! Washing this patient was totally different. Totally different from the books!!
And then the ventilator starts beeping and everything in the patient's face turns red and round and/or open. We oxygenated. We suctioned. Over and over. And there he's okay. But my God, I cannot for the life of me forget the face of the patient as if wanting to strangle me by my hair to please suction his trach and give him air. It was very.. scary.
We washed some more. We turned him and what I saw were pressure ulcers so bad. I will not even attempt to describe what I saw (and smelled) to make my point, because wow. It was just that bad. At the end of that morning, I would think to myself.. Shet, I've seen more pressure ulcers today than in my 3 previous semesters in nursing school!
And we changed and cleaned everything. His trach tube, inner cannula, colostomy bag, Texas condom catheter, and feeding bag. And then we changed the sheets, strapped him on to a new diaper, turned him (with much difficulty, I must say). We positioned him properly, put up the side rails, cleaned up our trash, turned off his light, took out our gloves, and went out.
And we did this on 4 more patients.
In the middle of everything, I just wanted to cry. I could only remember thinking, "What if this was Dad or Mom or someone close to me?" These people were staying here forever, really. They're not getting any better. They're all just well, waiting for death. Of the 5 patients I cleaned up today, only 1 actually had family pictures stuck on his bedside. All the others had nothing. There's nothing worse than being sick and having no one with you. Really. And all I could really remember thinking was, "My God, I have to clean him well. I have to put on the diaper properly. And straighten the sheets beautifully. This was all I could give him.. At least give him his dignity, even though he's dying."
I tell you, you'll definitely look at life differently when you come face to face with these patients. It's something I can't even describe.
This semester's clinical will be so blessed. I cannot wait.
Today's shift: 09/28/06 0900-1300
# of babies in the nursery: Around 20.
# of nurses in the nursery: 2. Then became 1 later on. Can you even imagine?
# of babies crying by 9am: 5. SIMULTANEOUSLY! Wahaha! All of whom had wet diapers. Again.
# of diapers changed: 10-15. Could be more, I don't know.
# of babies personally brought to the moms' rooms: 3
# of babies left in the nursery after rolling them out: 8
# of births that morning: 2 baby giiiirls. :D
# of babies manhandled for an assessment: 3. This one baby girl was sleeping the ENTIRE time. Adorable.
# of babies fed and burped: 3. One baby boy burped SO LOUD, my fellow student nurse thought it was me. WAHAHA!
# of babies changed from soiled clothes and blankies: 5.
# of times I secretly smelled those babies: COUNTLESS. Wahaha, omigoodness. They smelled sooo good!
#
of babies I picked up and carried: COUNTLESS. Again. HAHAHA! The nurse
was Filipina, and was totally okay with us picking them up.
Today in one word: PRICELESS.
I loooooooooooove it. I wanna go back to the nurseryyyy!
But then here's a more depressing countdown list:
# of papers due next Thursday: 2. One careplan. One newborn assessment tool.
# of days to do one paper (minimum): 2-3.
# of days until the 1st exam: 12.
# of chapters I still have to read: Possibly 10. But could be more. Demmet.
I hate how they alwaysALWAYS have something due after a holiday (this coming Monday and next Monday is Yom Kippur and Columbus Day respectively).
I swear, I've been meaning to update since last Thursday. Butbutbut I am SO swamped with readings I am not even kidding. Plus, those assessment tools/care plan papers really just take up so much time to make. By the time I'll have time to write about last Thursday, it will all be irrelevant. So, I'll try my best to immortalize that first OB clinical day real quick (because, what's new? I've readings to doooo.)
I got 2 patients last Thursday. One Spanish-speaking patient. And one first-time mom. The day went by so quick. It was actually the first time my clinical instructor asked me to go have lunch. As opposed to previous rotations when I'd be waiting for lunch. Wahahaha! There was a whole lot of teaching especially for the first-timer. I was surprised I actually knew a lot about infant care -- like how to change a diaper, how to burp the baby, etc. Haha, many thanks to that babysitting stint with Kyle from a year back. Teaching was so much harder with the Spanish patient. :( I had to make do with my broken Spanish phrases. The very little I knew. It was good that it was her 4th baby so she pretty much knew her way around. What else? I got to carry around babiiiies (whom I had to resist kissing and sniffing, because demmet they were so cute!), change diapers (srsly not as gross as the oldies' diapers. HAHA!), and feed babies among others. I got to do a CBC blood draw, even if we haven't really done the procedure in lab. The instructor practically guided me through right there. Bwahaha! During post-conference that day, I think I may have gotten on my instructor's good side when she commended me for an "excellent performance for the first day" THANK GOD! She wasn't so intimidating anymore.
I'm loooooooving every minutesecondnanosecond of this clinical rotation. I swear. It doesn't even seem to be like 'work' to me as Med-Surg or Psych was. I love iit. I think I may have found where I wanna be working. This Thursday, it's gonna be the nuuuuursery. EEEE! More babies to play with! Hahaha!
But then there's just too much reading. It'll probably lessen by two weeks or so. But that's too long. I need a new desk as well.
Oh and then Thursday couldn't have been any better, when I received a call from a cargo service saying I had a package from the Philippines. Little did I know that sneakysneaky Ian actually sent me....
Sneaky boyfriend conniving with my sister to send birthday gifts. They all fit perfectly and halaveet. I really do. Thanks, sweetiiiie! (Alam ko, pang Christmas at anniversary na to. WAHAHAHA!)
I could really make use of some fried chicken sushi rolls and taro milk teas right now. :( Too much stuff to do, so little tiiiime. Better stop LJ-ing.
