Hey so it has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote... sorry about that.
Skills day:
So I participated in skills day on the 8 of October. I was hoping to get NG tube insertion, foley catheter insertion, something like that but not IV fluid stuff. Well guess which one I got. IV fluids. Now this skill isn't difficult at all, but I however, recived a not so great score because I forgot one thing... a right. In nursing we do this thing called the 5 rights: right patient, route, time, amout, and med. This 5 rights is supposed to be 3 times. I did the first two outside the room but I forgot to do the 3rd check, so I was docked big time (even though the patient wouldn't have gotten the wrong fluids). Ticks me off just a little bit!
So the whole skill goes like this: I walk into the room, introduce myself, check their name band, and wash my hands. Second I tell the patient that IV fluids are ordered, so I check the EMAR or MAR (medication administration record) against their wristband to make sure it matches, then I check the meds against it. If all are correct I can continue. Next thing I would do is to check the IV saline lock (which is just a fancy name for an IV line in the arm/hand that doesn't have fluids attached). I would flush the line to check for patency. I would then get my fluids and prime my tubing. (priming is filing the lines with the solution). If everything we well I would then attach the fluids to the IV in the hand/arm.
Now that skill doesn't seem difficult now does it, but let me tell you it gets a whole lot harder when a person in a white coat is watches, when you know you are being graded and when it is timed. I just got so flustered that I forgot one thing and it was killer on my grade. Grrr....
OR:
The OR is awesome!!!!I quite enjoy it.
I have had the opportunity to watch hernia repairs, cholecystectomys, appendix removal, hysterectomies with bilateral salipingoopherectomy(ovaries and tubes removed). Awesome! I also had the opportunity to scrub in and help with one the hysterectomies. The one down side to OR is that my back tends to hurt a lot.
Another thing that interests me is being a Nurse Anesthetist. I find that being anesthetist would be a good job. I wouldn't mind being that, however, it is a lot more schooling.
School:
School is going well, most of the classes aren't too hard. I am pulling decent grades. I may not receive all A's this semester. The one class has some of the most ridiculous tests I could go insane. I learn a lot in her class but her tests really don't have much to do with what we learned.
Still no man in my life... no like I time for one anyway.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Resource Nurse...
The hospital that I do my clinicals at has a Resource Nurse, and this nurse has more training than the average nurse, they are basically just go from floor to floor checking to see if anyone needs any help and I got to spend the day with him.
We started off the day checking every floor to make sure things we going as expected for 0730 in the morning. We were in the ICU when the Code Blue rang out and guess what.... the resource nurse goes to code blues. So off we rushed down to the ER. Now a resource nurse does whatever is needed when a code is called (ie. start lines, chest compressions, give meds...) and because he had me with him, I was able to participate in the code. I performed chest compression on the man. Holy cow! that makes a person really tired really fast. I felt such a rush of adrenline. It was intense. However, once it was over I was shaking so bad. I couldn't believe that I just experienced a code. I just helped save a life. Then another man came into the ER and a code was called (I didn't do anything there). After that man was stable enough we moved him up to the ICU where the MD was going to put a central line in. When all of the sudden he coded again. Everyone rushed in and he was back.
So in summary I was able to participate in 1 code and witness 2 others. WOW! all these codes happened before 1000. So my day was packed full of excitment. However, I am not sure if I could do that day after day. Guess it's a good thing that I want to be a NICU nurse and not an ER nurse.
P.S. I am really sore from doing those compression. Yes I may be a little out of shape, but that man was huge and I had to push down far and really hard.
We started off the day checking every floor to make sure things we going as expected for 0730 in the morning. We were in the ICU when the Code Blue rang out and guess what.... the resource nurse goes to code blues. So off we rushed down to the ER. Now a resource nurse does whatever is needed when a code is called (ie. start lines, chest compressions, give meds...) and because he had me with him, I was able to participate in the code. I performed chest compression on the man. Holy cow! that makes a person really tired really fast. I felt such a rush of adrenline. It was intense. However, once it was over I was shaking so bad. I couldn't believe that I just experienced a code. I just helped save a life. Then another man came into the ER and a code was called (I didn't do anything there). After that man was stable enough we moved him up to the ICU where the MD was going to put a central line in. When all of the sudden he coded again. Everyone rushed in and he was back.
So in summary I was able to participate in 1 code and witness 2 others. WOW! all these codes happened before 1000. So my day was packed full of excitment. However, I am not sure if I could do that day after day. Guess it's a good thing that I want to be a NICU nurse and not an ER nurse.
P.S. I am really sore from doing those compression. Yes I may be a little out of shape, but that man was huge and I had to push down far and really hard.
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