Well, there is a lot going on with me right now. It has been
so crazy. Poor Alan has had to deal with my stress too. I don’t imagine that is
easy.
I am currently sitting in the waiting room of radiology to
get my one year CT scan!!! So exciting that it is so close! I had to get my
scan a little early due to the fact we are going on vacation, but it is still
nice to know that milestone is right around the corner. I got my class schedule
for next quarter and know I have my anniversary day off, so my plan is to go
get my survivor tattoo then go get a few drinks!
Clinicals have been strange. I was sick for 10 days!
Unfortunately it kept me from going to my first 2 of 4 days at Children’s
Hospital. I was really bummed about it. There is some very valuable experience
I missed out on, but that is ok…more on why in a bit. I then missed day 3 of 4
because there was an incident on one of the days I missed and my clinical
instructor was unable to work with us for week 2. Day 3 was cancelled, but
thankfully my theory teacher was able to work with us on day 4. It was a great
time, and I learned so much. It was the first time I went to clinical and
thought that I wanted to work where I was doing clinical or work in the same
type of work as the clinical. It was a steep learning curve since I only had
one day and I wanted to take in as much as possible.
I still had to make up work for 3 missed clinical days. My
teacher is so awesome! She scheduled me a shadow day with a care coordination
nurse at Children’s and a school nurse another day. That way I only have to do
one case study. It makes my schedule very full though because there is only one
week of school left. I have had to cancel all of my fun plans. Oh well, worse
things have happened to me than that!
The other part of my clinical assignment is working in
maternity for 3 days. I had my first night last night. I started with
mother/baby, which is caring for the mothers and their new babies after
delivery, but spent the second half in labor and delivery. I have to say that
if I was offered a job in maternity, I would do it. It is definitely an
interesting type of nursing. I did not react to it the way I thought I would. I
gained a lot of experience though! I saw an epidural given, finally was able to
place a foley catheter, helped a new mom with breast feeding, viewed a poor
baby that was a fetal demise and had a teach about the nursing aspects of it, and
saw firsthand why cesarean sections should be done only when absolutely
necessary (why anyone would elect to do that just because is beyond me, but to
each their own I guess), needless to say, there were some complications
post-surgery that were difficult for the mother to deal with and interfered
with mother-baby bonding and feeding. The complications weren’t life threatening
and actually the procedure was done well, but the mother did not tolerate the
drugs and procedure very well. Also, she was in so much more pain than the
other mothers were and her recovery from birth was not nearly as easy a
transition from vaginal births. At any rate,
I learned a whole lot. I really loved the nurses we were working with too.
Hopefully I will be there for a delivery on our next clinical day!
I found out that I got a preceptorship next quarter on the surgical
unit at Children’s Hospital! Ok…so a preceptorship is a senior practicum. When
we do clinicals we work with a clinical instructor everyday and are supervised
quite a bit. There is not a lot of autonomy. With preceptorship I will have a
clinical instructor, but I will only see them a couple of times throughout the
process. I will be assigned to a nurse. We will decide which shifts I will work
with her, but I do work her scheduled work shifts. I am to take some of her
patients and am responsible for total patient care. There are some things no
student can do depending on the facility’s policies, but other than that I am
the nurse for the patients she/he assigns me. The position is very autonomous,
however, it does not have the safety net that we have always had on regular clinical.
This will really test my mettle. Hopefully I will make a great impression and I
will walk away with a letter of recommendation…or even a job!
One last thing I would like to mention before I sign off is
my niece, Sydney, and a play she was the lead role for. She got the role of
Annie in Annie Warbucks! We are so proud of her. We were lucky enough to
be able to see her a couple of weekends ago. She really held her own. It must
be hard to be 9 and the star of the show! That is a lot of pressure. She is a
natural though and did such a great job! She stood out on her own and she sang
so well. We really enjoyed seeing her. That play was actually one of the better
plays she has been in yet, so that made it even more special. I couldn't help
but cry at times watching her. It was an exquisite moment!
Well, until next time…
