First Clinical Day
(To protect patient privacy, I will always change names of the innocent...)
Today pretty much went the way I thought it would:
0645: pt report. Wait, I don't know who my RN giving report is!
0703: Find nurse. Missed report.
0708: Find LPN. She's already been in my pt's room to DC his nightly tube feeding.
0712: Meet my patient.
0722: Meet my SN buddy for the day's pt in the next bed.
0728-0745: Attempt to find:linens, MARs, our preceptor. Not much luck.
0746-0835: Attempt cleaning my buddy's pt. He's bedridden, and we have trouble moving him around. Get a diaper under him, but needs to be slid down lower. No luck with this. We attempt to find the LPN. Again, wandering the halls. Preceptor arrives to inform us he needs to be repositioned. I brush his teeth. He cannot speak, and with the letter board signs to me "blue suction." I had not been told by my buddy he had trouble swallowing until now. Good times. Give pt "blue suction." Fortunately he waves off shaving: I might end up doing some bloodletting. I think he's scared of us two blondes. We do various ROM exercises with him, and then I ask him if he know any blonde jokes. I get a smile out of him.
0900: Standing vigilant next to med cart. Positioned here until my preceptor arrives to review my pt's meds. Fortunately my guy only has a Lidoderm patch and two other meds through a PEG tube, which he is able to do himself. My buddy SN's guy isn't so lucky. We wait for our preceptor until 0945. My pt shows me the PEG tube technique. The preceptor, and the pt's mother are watching my poor buddy attempt the feeding tube "juggle" with the meds. Her hands are shaking and she spills a bit onto the pt. As we leave, the pt's mother says "Thanks for the entertainment girls."
1000-1115: Various running around, not knowing where things are. Check with other students, whose pts are in PT or in for a shower. They are relaxing in the break room eating snacks. "It looks like you guys are having to work the hardest" one says with a mouthfull of chips, as we look for our LPN to show us the electronic hoister. She's having a break, too. Now we wait for her to come back. We get the hoist, and the batteries are almost dead. We (finally) get my buddy SN's pt into his chair and out into the reception room.
1135:lunch until 1215.
1215:post conference, where we go over care plans, etc.
1230: done for the day.
only 3 more weeks of this. Maybe by week 4 it will be flowing a bit better. Bit like a train wreck today.
My husband says, "this is what it is supposed to be like: you are a student. ..."
Today pretty much went the way I thought it would:
0645: pt report. Wait, I don't know who my RN giving report is!
0703: Find nurse. Missed report.
0708: Find LPN. She's already been in my pt's room to DC his nightly tube feeding.
0712: Meet my patient.
0722: Meet my SN buddy for the day's pt in the next bed.
0728-0745: Attempt to find:linens, MARs, our preceptor. Not much luck.
0746-0835: Attempt cleaning my buddy's pt. He's bedridden, and we have trouble moving him around. Get a diaper under him, but needs to be slid down lower. No luck with this. We attempt to find the LPN. Again, wandering the halls. Preceptor arrives to inform us he needs to be repositioned. I brush his teeth. He cannot speak, and with the letter board signs to me "blue suction." I had not been told by my buddy he had trouble swallowing until now. Good times. Give pt "blue suction." Fortunately he waves off shaving: I might end up doing some bloodletting. I think he's scared of us two blondes. We do various ROM exercises with him, and then I ask him if he know any blonde jokes. I get a smile out of him.
0900: Standing vigilant next to med cart. Positioned here until my preceptor arrives to review my pt's meds. Fortunately my guy only has a Lidoderm patch and two other meds through a PEG tube, which he is able to do himself. My buddy SN's guy isn't so lucky. We wait for our preceptor until 0945. My pt shows me the PEG tube technique. The preceptor, and the pt's mother are watching my poor buddy attempt the feeding tube "juggle" with the meds. Her hands are shaking and she spills a bit onto the pt. As we leave, the pt's mother says "Thanks for the entertainment girls."
1000-1115: Various running around, not knowing where things are. Check with other students, whose pts are in PT or in for a shower. They are relaxing in the break room eating snacks. "It looks like you guys are having to work the hardest" one says with a mouthfull of chips, as we look for our LPN to show us the electronic hoister. She's having a break, too. Now we wait for her to come back. We get the hoist, and the batteries are almost dead. We (finally) get my buddy SN's pt into his chair and out into the reception room.
1135:lunch until 1215.
1215:post conference, where we go over care plans, etc.
1230: done for the day.
only 3 more weeks of this. Maybe by week 4 it will be flowing a bit better. Bit like a train wreck today.
My husband says, "this is what it is supposed to be like: you are a student. ..."
posted by kimberly at 1:04 PM
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