Not a Virgin Anymore

I finally did it.....Yep. I gave my first injection today to a real live person. It seems so technical during the lab practice that we do. I've got a list of about 50 steps to follow during my lab check offs for injections. When you get into the real world, it doesn't really seem that difficult. You still have to take the same precautions, but I suppose it is a little more fluid when you are in the field.

This week in clinical has been pretty exciting. I am always a little nervous the night before clinical, but when I actually get in there and start working, I get so caught up in all of the things I'm doing that the nerves don't really seem to get to me. All is want is for the patients I'm working with to feel better. I'd like to think that that is a good sign that I am going into the right field. In my previous career, the only thing I thought about was about how well I could perform and how what I was doing was going to effect me. I feel really good about thinking about other people and how I can help them. I still get a little nervous about doing some procedures, but it's really a heightened sense of wanting to learn my craft well. I can see how that little bit of nervousness will go away with time and experience.

I've seen so many things that I thought would gross me out, but it really just makes me feel for the patients. I am very glad that my family and I are in pretty good health, and that we are not going through some of the things my patients are going through.

I'm still not too sure about how my clinical instructor is going to turn out, but for the most part I feel like when I'm out with the techs, cna's and rn's that I'm learning what I need to be learning.

I'm looking forward to more time in clinical. :)

-DV

I Have a Lot to Learn

Today was a very busy day in clinical. I have to admit that it was kind of fun too. I was able to keep fairly busy which made the shift go pretty quickly. I learned a lot about trachs today. I fed a woman her breakfast this morning. Unbeknown to me, you are supposed to have a cap on the trach during feeding. The RN in charge didn't set it up like that for me. You see, we haven't covered trach. care in class yet. So I'm trying to feed this poor lady her breakfast and she's choking on half the stuff I give her. Ultimately, she doesn't eat very much anyway. When the RN did try the cap on her, she didn't want it anyway because it was difficult for her to breath. I'm sure that's part of the weening process that my patient hadn't been through anyway. Later this morning, I was able to perform some physical therapy with the PT at my side. That was pretty fun.
Before I left the unit I was given the opportunity to check glucose levels on a couple of patients. I know that if you're a diabetic, that's no big deal, but for me it was one of the highlights of my day.

Finally, just after my shift was over, my clinical instructor gave me permission to stay a while and watch a tracheostomy. It was totally cool! At the same time, it was very humbling. Every day that I learn one new thing, I learn that there are about 100 things that I know absolutely nothing about.

Even after five weeks of constant reading and studying, I feel like I'll never learn all of this. I have a VERY long way to go.

-DV

Keeping Ahead of the Race

As I start the fifth week of nursing school I look back at all that I've learned already. I am feeling fairly confident right now because I seem to be on top of things. It does seem though, that the potential to lose control is always right there. It's kind of like walking along the edge of a cliff. Just the slightest breeze will plunge me to my death.

To recap, I had my first exam last week and made a 90%. That's not too bad, but I wish I had done better. The questions didn't seem as difficult as the examples I had been studying from the book and the website. I could have done better, but I went back and changed answers that I had correct because I started thinking too much. Always go with your gut instinct! The questions in nursing school are quite different than in other subjects. They are mostly application questions. (If you're in nursing school, you know what I'm talking about.) The knowledge has to be there, yes, but what can you do with that knowledge. You are given a situation and you must choose the multiple choice answer that BEST answers the question. Yes there may be 4correct answers, but which one really fits the situation. There may even be more than one answer. I can assure you that this type of questioning provides for some very interesting conversations in my head.

This weekend I was able to finish a teaching project for my clinical. Yes, I am a week ahead on this. Yea for me!!!!! It helped that one of my clinicals was canceled last week for embarrassingly petty reasons. Speaking of clinicals, last week I was able to pick out a patient to start practicing on. Muahahahahhhhhhhhh!!!! So far clinical has been just okay. Mostly because of fact that there is a lack of...(how do I put this in a PC form?) leadership continuity? class management? focused direction? well, something like that. For the most part I am realizing that what I get out of clinicals (at least this semester) will be largely up to my own effort to learn from the people around me in the hospital. Time to take the bull by the horns, so to speak.

In skills lab last week we learned how to measure medications and give injections. VERY FUN! Quite frankly, I'm surprise that they don't hand out protective goggles to all of the newbies handling needles. Some of my classmates are a little scary when handling sharp objects.

Overall things are going well and the semester seems to be speeding by at an alarming rate. It'll be over before I know it.

-DV