Week #1 Clinicals
Seriously, I'm doing this- I'm updating every week, at least. That's not so much to ask, is it?! I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it...
So this week (or last week, really... well, Wednesday and Thursday) was my first week of clinicals for Block 1 Nursing. I'm happy to say it went very well. However, I was on Endoscopy on Wed. and the OR on Thurs. So basically, I just observed... I didn't have to pick a patient and do a care plan or really provide any sort of patient care whatsoever, so technically this week is my first week.
So here's how it goes. Every Tuesday night, we are supposed to go to the floor of the hospital we are assigned to and "pick a patient". This means find a patient with an interesting diagnosis who is going to be there for the next two days. We are basically this patient's private nurse for Wednesday and Thursday. We have to look through their chart, write down all their information (history, lab results, diagnosis, etc). We put that all into a care plan (which really is just a bunch of paperwork where we have to fill in the blanks and do a little research here and there). If there is information we need that we cannot find, we need to get it directly from the patient. Therefore, we have to dress nice and wear white lab coats when picking our patient (very snazzy). I am actually excited to do mine this week! Wednesday and Thursday we meet at the hospital at 6:30 a.m., go to our respected floors, and meet back at 2pm for post-conference. Last week was kind of disappointing because I got to hear everyone talk about the foleys they started, the shots they gave, the meds they gave, etc. But now it's my turn!
Wednesday I was in Endoscopy and it was actually really interesting. I saw about 3 colonoscopies, a bronchoscopy, an EUS and an ERCP. In one of the colonoscopies the man had about 3 polyps, so I got to watch them remove those. He also had what is known as diverticulosis(which, I learned, is different from diverticulitis). That looked like a bunch of holes in his colon... pretty interesting stuff. :) The bronchoscopy was extremely painful to watch. This girl had been diagnosed with a disease known as Wagners Disease(I have yet to find out what that is). She was prescribed prednisone, which gave her symptoms of pneumonia. She was in bad, bad shape, coughing the whole time (and keep in mind, she was pretty sedated). It sounded like she was drowning- basically, it was terrible. All in all, though, the day was very interesting. It seems to me, however, that nurses on Endoscopy don't do too much besides some paperwork here and there, and maybe an IV or two. Please, correct me if I'm wrong!
Thursday I was in the OR(surgery) and it was amazing. I loved every second of it. I was lucky to get paired up with an excellent nurse, and I stayed with the same 2 nurses, doctor, and anesthesiologist most of the day. The first procedure I saw was a laprascopic cholecystectomy (basically? Removal of the gall bladder through a scope). It was amazing. The liver looks like every picture of a liver I've ever seen. The gall bladder is this little egg hiding behind it. This lady had some huge gallstones. The next procedure I saw was a mass being removed from a lady's buttocks (not so interesting), and the last was a bilateral inguinal hernia reconstruction. This guy also had what is called a non-communicating hydrocele, which basically means he had a bunch of fluid around his testicle. It was crazy to see the testicle pulled up through the stomach. It also looked like a little egg! Around 1:45 or so they were going to start a gastrectomy(removal of the stomach) and I just missed that... very upsetting, because that would have been awesome to see!
So that's it for this weeks Adventures in Nursing School. Hopefully I'll have an interesting patient to tell you about next time! :)
So this week (or last week, really... well, Wednesday and Thursday) was my first week of clinicals for Block 1 Nursing. I'm happy to say it went very well. However, I was on Endoscopy on Wed. and the OR on Thurs. So basically, I just observed... I didn't have to pick a patient and do a care plan or really provide any sort of patient care whatsoever, so technically this week is my first week.
So here's how it goes. Every Tuesday night, we are supposed to go to the floor of the hospital we are assigned to and "pick a patient". This means find a patient with an interesting diagnosis who is going to be there for the next two days. We are basically this patient's private nurse for Wednesday and Thursday. We have to look through their chart, write down all their information (history, lab results, diagnosis, etc). We put that all into a care plan (which really is just a bunch of paperwork where we have to fill in the blanks and do a little research here and there). If there is information we need that we cannot find, we need to get it directly from the patient. Therefore, we have to dress nice and wear white lab coats when picking our patient (very snazzy). I am actually excited to do mine this week! Wednesday and Thursday we meet at the hospital at 6:30 a.m., go to our respected floors, and meet back at 2pm for post-conference. Last week was kind of disappointing because I got to hear everyone talk about the foleys they started, the shots they gave, the meds they gave, etc. But now it's my turn!
Wednesday I was in Endoscopy and it was actually really interesting. I saw about 3 colonoscopies, a bronchoscopy, an EUS and an ERCP. In one of the colonoscopies the man had about 3 polyps, so I got to watch them remove those. He also had what is known as diverticulosis(which, I learned, is different from diverticulitis). That looked like a bunch of holes in his colon... pretty interesting stuff. :) The bronchoscopy was extremely painful to watch. This girl had been diagnosed with a disease known as Wagners Disease(I have yet to find out what that is). She was prescribed prednisone, which gave her symptoms of pneumonia. She was in bad, bad shape, coughing the whole time (and keep in mind, she was pretty sedated). It sounded like she was drowning- basically, it was terrible. All in all, though, the day was very interesting. It seems to me, however, that nurses on Endoscopy don't do too much besides some paperwork here and there, and maybe an IV or two. Please, correct me if I'm wrong!
Thursday I was in the OR(surgery) and it was amazing. I loved every second of it. I was lucky to get paired up with an excellent nurse, and I stayed with the same 2 nurses, doctor, and anesthesiologist most of the day. The first procedure I saw was a laprascopic cholecystectomy (basically? Removal of the gall bladder through a scope). It was amazing. The liver looks like every picture of a liver I've ever seen. The gall bladder is this little egg hiding behind it. This lady had some huge gallstones. The next procedure I saw was a mass being removed from a lady's buttocks (not so interesting), and the last was a bilateral inguinal hernia reconstruction. This guy also had what is called a non-communicating hydrocele, which basically means he had a bunch of fluid around his testicle. It was crazy to see the testicle pulled up through the stomach. It also looked like a little egg! Around 1:45 or so they were going to start a gastrectomy(removal of the stomach) and I just missed that... very upsetting, because that would have been awesome to see!
So that's it for this weeks Adventures in Nursing School. Hopefully I'll have an interesting patient to tell you about next time! :)
written by Stephanie at 7:37 PM
1 Comments:
I hope you're doing good on your clinicals now. The way you're dexcribing the operations seems like an art, instead of the typical gory procedure many people expect them to be.
Hmmm, looking forward to more adventure, this seems to be one of the only times one wouldn't want to throw up reading this. :p
Good luck, and hope you're doing good in other areas of life!
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