5th Week - Otherwise Known As "I'm Not Sure Why I Thought I'd Have Time To Blog During Nursing School"
Seriously! Between studying for mid-term exams and beginning clinical rotations in a skilled nursing facility (nursing home) I haven't had time to do much. Like breathe. Or sleep. My poor husband gave me a hug the other day, and I murmured something about auscultation. Because lung sounds keep that spark in your marriage.
We took our mid-term exam and it was unreal. Multiple choice questions where all of the optional answers were right. You have to pick the one that's the most right. Any answer that involved "get a Diet Coke and check on your patient later" was wrong. I know, can you believe it?
We also met Professor AngryFace who observes/grades our clinical site performance. Describing this woman as a believer in tough love would win me first prize at an understatement tournament. Her learning process involves shouting questions at us, waiting while we answer, telling us we're wrong, and yelling some more. It doesn't matter how we answer. We are wrong. Even if we're right, we're still wrong. Especially if we're right, we're still wrong.
But I did well on my test and my mid-term clinical evaluations came out great. Yay!
THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK
Social: A group of 10 people with 4 hours of sleep can get kinda goofy. Professor AngryFace does not appreciate goofy.
Clinical: Accuchecks, G and J tube feeding, basic physical assessment, management and staging of pressure ulcers, fall risk assessment, pain assessment.
Personal: I'm a morning person, but some people don't like being awake before the sun rises (up at 5AM for clinical). Don't bother those people until they've had lots of coffee. Then approach with caution. They're really cranky.
I'm also nervous about hurting the patients - it's so important to me that they feel safe, especially if they're confused or sick. My hands shook so hard when I performed my first accucheck (blood sugar test) that I couldn't hold the glucometer straight. Of course having Professor AngryFace yelling over my shoulder and grading my mistakes didn't help*.
But the best part of these past few weeks has been the patients. My first patient is a lady with end stage dementia. She can't speak, walk, or see. She sleeps about 23 hours a day. She can't even sit in a wheelchair without being secured so she won't fall. But on my first day she grabbed my hand and held it tight. I needed that touch and reassurance as much as she did, and told her so. She put her other hand on mine. This is the job for me.
_________________________________________________________________
*As an aside, the patient was fine. After picking a finger for the test, he dosed off and slept through the whole process. Shaking, yelling and all. I was jealous.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment