So last day of clinical was great. I took care of 3 patients, discharge them and took over for another nurse's 3 patients. My preceptor just kind of sat back and watched me that day. I felt in charge. It was a good feeling. I needed her help every now and then, but nothing too major, mostly I needed her badge and her to log in to the medcart for medications.
My experience at this hospital for these past few weeks has been amazing. I have learned so much about nursing, skills, building relationships, assessing, and all that. I learned the most about building relationships I believe. I've been kind of shy during the last few semesters in clinicals. I have always usually let the nurse or whomever i am following take the reins and have that relationship. But being here and doing things on my own has really opened me up and allowed me to express myself in ways I honestly don't usually do. It has made me love this career choice even more. I love caring for people and helping them with whatever needs they may have. I am looking forward to taking this experience, building and learning from it and applying it when I have a real nursing job (and get paid for it!).
Again, this was a great experience.
(Sorry this was so late..)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Clinicals 5 & 6
So I was feeling better about taking care of my own patients. On tuesday I took care of 2 patients and did everything possible to make them feel comfortable. I've found it's a little frustrating when patients are crying because of pain and I can't get into the Accudose by myself without my preceptor present, because she was with another patient. It was difficult to tell my patient she had to wait... I did my best to soothe her pain though and get her mind off of it.
Thursday, however was a different story. Again, I took 2 patients (the only 2 assigned to us), did what I could without my preceptor's help, and thought I did a pretty good job. We actually discharged the 2 patients and took over another nurse's 5 patients. I decided to try and take 3 patients all by myself...bad idea. I definitely need some practice in time management. I was running behind with vitals, charting, and medications. It came to a point to ask my preceptor for some help while I caught up on charting. It also turned out that I forgot to chart some pretty important vitals on my last patients as well as my current. I mischarted some things on different patients, like DCing an IV on one pt when it was actually on another. I did that a few times. I felt pretty incompetent by the end of the day. I mean, it was my 6th clinical... I should be doing this stuff with ease by now, right?
Oh well... learning experience I guess...
Thursday, however was a different story. Again, I took 2 patients (the only 2 assigned to us), did what I could without my preceptor's help, and thought I did a pretty good job. We actually discharged the 2 patients and took over another nurse's 5 patients. I decided to try and take 3 patients all by myself...bad idea. I definitely need some practice in time management. I was running behind with vitals, charting, and medications. It came to a point to ask my preceptor for some help while I caught up on charting. It also turned out that I forgot to chart some pretty important vitals on my last patients as well as my current. I mischarted some things on different patients, like DCing an IV on one pt when it was actually on another. I did that a few times. I felt pretty incompetent by the end of the day. I mean, it was my 6th clinical... I should be doing this stuff with ease by now, right?
Oh well... learning experience I guess...
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Clinical #3&4
It was a good week in clinicals this week. I took total care of two patients this last clinical and it was pretty fun. I took advantage and applied what was taught during class on Monday, which was caring for the patient as a whole. I conversed and looked for commonalities in my patients. One patient, I was unable to have a very good relationship with, not that it was a bad relationship... He just wanted to get out of the hospital ASAP. Actually, when I was helping discharge the patient was when we both opened up the most, probably because he was happy to be going home.
My other patient, however, was an awesome experience. We hit it off right as I entered the room. We joked around, talked about common stuff, and just had a good time. (He even invited me to his house on Superbowl Sunday to spend with him and his family.) I think I really made that one day a good experience for him. We had a good relationship and I believe I did my best at caring for him.
Other than that, I was able to chart more independently, give meds more independently, and I did some discharge teaching, though my preceptor helped out a little. My preceptorship is becoming a great experience for me... even if it means getting up at 5:00 am to work a 12-hour day with no pay :)
My other patient, however, was an awesome experience. We hit it off right as I entered the room. We joked around, talked about common stuff, and just had a good time. (He even invited me to his house on Superbowl Sunday to spend with him and his family.) I think I really made that one day a good experience for him. We had a good relationship and I believe I did my best at caring for him.
Other than that, I was able to chart more independently, give meds more independently, and I did some discharge teaching, though my preceptor helped out a little. My preceptorship is becoming a great experience for me... even if it means getting up at 5:00 am to work a 12-hour day with no pay :)
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Clinical Day #2
Today was a little uneventful but I did complete one of my personal goals to take initiative and actually do something. I was warned that Fridays aren't very busy and they are mostly full of discharges. That being said, I was able to do a lot today.
I assessed a patient that had patellar reconstructive surgery. I was able to help her with whatever she needed, including giving meds. I was able to chart my assessment. Honestly, it was an easy day, but I was able to feel some independence as I took over the care for this patient.
I assessed a patient that had patellar reconstructive surgery. I was able to help her with whatever she needed, including giving meds. I was able to chart my assessment. Honestly, it was an easy day, but I was able to feel some independence as I took over the care for this patient.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Clinical Day #1
Well, wasn't sure what to expect today... I was assigned to TOSH for my clinical, which primarily deals with orthopedic surgeries and such. My preceptor is Wendy and she told me that Tuesdays would be really busy. She was right. We started off with 4 patients and was given another later in the morning. Most were there because of TKAs. One was there with a BKA and another with bilateral hammertoes. I informed my nurse that I would follow her for a few hours to see what I was getting myself into and then I would kind of take over with a patient or two. Well, we spent most of the morning rushing around everyone's medications. Even if I did take over in the morning I would have needed a lot of help due to the amount of medications that we had to give our patients. A couple of the patients were difficult, but nothing too bad. I think the worst part was one patient covered herself, the floor, and the bathroom and toilet in feces. The PCA and I had to clean it up. Surprisingly I wasn't that grossed out. She kept apologizing and I just kept telling her it wasn't her fault and trying to make her feel less embarrassed.
I think the thing i learned a little today was about building a supporting and therapeutic relationship with the patients. I tried talking and opening up to them (which is a little hard for me) and just trying to build that trust that should be present between a patient and caregiver. by the end of the shift, I was running around taking care of who I could and doing what I could without the nurse's direct help. It was fun, but I will definitely take initiative next shift and do more instead of watching my nurse do everything.
I havn't made my goals yet, but I will have them done by next shift. I'm not too sure what they will be yet. One, of course, will be to be able to take on a full load of patients by myself, but i'm having trouble coming up with others. I know I want to learn more about the medications and which does what and so forth. I especially want to be reliable like my nurse was today when the patient asks what pain meds they can have or what they can take at that moment if they are feeling nauseous. I also want to get some charting done. I wasn't able to do any today because we fell so behind that my nurse just flew through the computer and did it herself. So those are a couple of ideas for some goals. We'll see how it goes next shift.
I think the thing i learned a little today was about building a supporting and therapeutic relationship with the patients. I tried talking and opening up to them (which is a little hard for me) and just trying to build that trust that should be present between a patient and caregiver. by the end of the shift, I was running around taking care of who I could and doing what I could without the nurse's direct help. It was fun, but I will definitely take initiative next shift and do more instead of watching my nurse do everything.
I havn't made my goals yet, but I will have them done by next shift. I'm not too sure what they will be yet. One, of course, will be to be able to take on a full load of patients by myself, but i'm having trouble coming up with others. I know I want to learn more about the medications and which does what and so forth. I especially want to be reliable like my nurse was today when the patient asks what pain meds they can have or what they can take at that moment if they are feeling nauseous. I also want to get some charting done. I wasn't able to do any today because we fell so behind that my nurse just flew through the computer and did it herself. So those are a couple of ideas for some goals. We'll see how it goes next shift.
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