i have lots to write about.
il start with clinical stories, im sure those are always loved. I finally got baack to the hospital after being gone for mono and then having to go to surgery observation. I went to my instructor's tuesday group which is for the clinical nurse leaders...which is basically people that graduated from college with a bachelors in ANYTHING but now has decided to go back to school for nursing...kinda weird ....but to each there own,
anyways on that day one of my patients was getting discharged and was kind of morose, and he had MRSA contact precautions. He got MRSA from a tattoo. My other patient was a doll. She was 91, looked about 75 and had CHF with pulmonary embolism and was scheduled for greenfield filter placement . I spent most of my time talking with her and her daughter. she loved to talk to me, seemed really lonely and hungry for company. she made me miss the nursing home. I had a good time and it went by really fast. I felt like a good nurse.
On thursday I went back and had 2 new patients who this time both had MRSA contact precautions. one in her nose the other i wasnt sure frm what. so weird. its jsut running rampid . Im sure i have it in my nose, remaining dormant. it seems a majority of people on the floor have it n ow. My little old lady from 2 days before was still there, i visited her, she was doing well and looking to go home in a day or so. which made her happy. when i left her bedside i overheard her tell her daughter "she is so lovely, i really like her, shes a good nurse" that made me feel good.
my instructor came to find me later and asked if I wanted to drop my first NasoGastric tube. I was nervous, I had never done one before. The woman needing one was in her 80's and was having persistant vommitting. I had another girl in my group watching me as i did it. It was pretty smooth. Although after it was done, i felt terrible because the patient started tearing up, and I could tell it was a traumatic experience for her, being so sick and having to go through that. It made me sad, it was a moment of "do i really want to do this???" I felt like, though i am essentially helping her, i am also hurting her, and i loved her too much to hurt her because she seemed so sweet caring and sick i would have rather hugged her than shove a tube through her nose to her stomach. But she did say this was easier than the first time she had had it done, which made me feel a little better. After iw as done i had to hurry back to my patients who were ready for afternoon meds. It made me feel bad for not having time to spend with the NG tube lady, i was just a stranger who came into her room, inflicted pain adn left. I wish i could go back and actually get to know her better, she had her own nurse though at her bedsie and family there....im sure they comforted her.
then last week at clinical, i had one good patient, who i got to start my first IV on, which i did successfully with blood return! But she had easy veins....so it was the perfect patient. My other patient was not so lovely. She was 92 and completely out of it she couldnt talk just grumbled and didnt seem to know what was going on, refused to eat, pretended like she couldnt hear me and she tried to hit me a few times. NOT fun! I tried my best to be empathetic to her , but it was difficult.
Clinical is going good, i feel like my instructor really tries to give us all opportunities to do skills we havent done, which is the first time ive had an instructor like that...its cool.
I have my first interview scheduled for spirng break at christ hospital for a new grad position in the geriatric acute care unit. Although i kind of got it out of my system wanting to do geriatrics, and isntead have been aiming towards pediatrics or nicu.....its a job opportunity in this terrible economy where those are few and far in between it seems.
God has his plan for me, and maybe geriatrics is where I am supposed to be...
we shall see!!!