2:1

Today was my first day with two patients. It was also my first day to take care of patients on the fly without any preparation the day before. Suffice it to say that I was extremely busy this morning after I got report and picked out my two patients. It was nice having the evening before off, but the work it created the next day was a bit daunting. I had all of my med sheets with me and only had to look up three new meds for the patients I had chosen. I felt very lucky. After checking in on my patients I proceeded to look at what I was going to have to take care of for the morning. I had a couple of 0730 meds followed by 0900 meds so I needed to prepare for the first two. I still forget some of the little things like which labs to look up for certain meds. I hope that will come with more practice. The RN that was on my wing was very helpful today though at times I felt a little pressured by her. She would ask if I was ready to give meds 30 min before they were due. I know that is an allowable time, but I felt a little rushed. I am pretty sure that she just wanted to get on with her job too. She would ask me questions about what was going on with the patient as well and what I thought was causing it, what labs to look at, etc. In general she grilled me pretty good at times, but I like that sort of thing. At the time, it is a little unnerving, but it really makes me think about what I am doing. Ultimately, I actually learn something from nurses and instructors like that so I do not mind when that happens.

Overall, the day went by very fast. I was pretty much as prepared as I could be and will try to stay prepared for Thursday when I have to do it again. Little mistakes happened all morning so hopefully Thursday will go smoother. I have to admit, I do not know how RN’s do it with 7-8 patients at a time. Time management is something that apparently has to be learned.

-DV