Fourth Day...

So today (February 17) I was assigned to take care of just one patient so I could get used to giving meds and charting. Luckily, my patient was extremely sweet and did not have too many things wrong with him, but he taught me so much about communication and time management. Hopefully, by next week I will get two patients and see how that goes ;)

With my one patient I did assessments, gave PO meds, gave Insulin shots, and did little things for him like get him water, take his empty meal trays, and interacted with his family when they visited.

Another younger nurse let me help her take out an NG tube and a catheter and we just talked awhile about graduation and studying for NCLEX.

It was a good day!

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

So according to Myers-Briggs, I have an E.S.F.J. type personality which states:

Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work with determination to establish it. Like to work with others to complete tasks accurately and on time. Loyal, follow through even in small patterns. Notice what others need in their day-to-day lives and try to provide it. Want to be appreciative for who they are and for what they contribute....

Key Descriptors:

Conscientious, cooperative, harmonious, loyal, personable, responsible, responsive, social, sympathetic, tactful, thorough, traditional

Sound like me?!?!

Hayden, on the other hand, is a I.N.T.P. personality type which states:

Seek to develop logical explanations for everything that interests them (which drives me nuts!). Theoretical and abstract, interested more in ideas than social interaction (he's an extreme home-body). Quiet, contained, flexible, and adaptable. Have unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in their area of interests. Skeptical, sometimes critical, always analytical.

However, we are wonderful together and I could not have asked for a more perfect best-friend/husband than him!!

Third Day...

no, not the band!

For the third day of clinicals, I wrote down specific goals I wanted to acheive during my shift and they included:

1. Give one patient his or her meds the entire day
2. Hang one IV bag
3. Assess all my patients after my nurse did so I could compare my findings

Soooooooo, my nurse let me give ALL the meds to ALL our patients, let me do 4 medications through INTs (one while she wasn't even in the room), help her hang a bag of blood for someone who needed some red blood cells, and let me draw up all the liquid medications we had to give that day. This nurse is a God-send and I have learned so much in just 3 days. I still, just from my experiences, am leaning towards being a med-surg nurse now over an ICU nurse (for now) and I feel at great peace about that decision. I always thought I wanted to be strictly ICU, but this experience so far made me realize that a generalized medical floor is extremely fun! I know I will be a cardiac expert one day, but I am trying really hard to keep my options open.

A little side note: 3 of our patients said I was going to be a great nurse one day and that I was doing a great job. My favorite patient from yesterday was this adorable 98 year old man who wanted so badly to get up and walk up and down the halls on his walker but PT never got around to bringing him a walker. While I was giving his medications via his IV, he made a wincing noise and scrunched his face up real tight. I immediately stopped and was apologizing all over the place for hurting him..... then he looked over at me and had a huge smile on his face!! He simply said, "I'm just kidding. You did a wonderful job taking care of me and it was my absolute pleasure to be your guinea pig"....... What a sweetheart! He really made my day even better :)

Second Day...

The next day I had a different nurse to guide me and she was amazing as well. We had a TON of stuff going on that day and although I didn't mess with any medications, I still learned a lot. I actually worked more in conjunction with the techs on the floor, but they were so great. I shall spare everyone the gross details (even though me and my nursing friends can talk about it over lunch with no problem!), but I was more hands on today than I was yesterday. Still didn't give any medications, but that's okay. I am understanding the system more and still trying to catch up on learning what all of them are. Just in these two days, I have discovered more of what areas I am especially interested in: cardiac, psych, wound care/med-surg, case management, and gerontology. Those areas just make me so excited to be a nurse!!

Overall, neat things I did were to take out a foley catheter (which is super easy but still fun to learn) and take out an IV (again, super easy but fun to learn)

We did have a family get frustrated with us that evening because they were 'told' that they would be discharged by 4 but due to someone's blood glucose dropping to 45 and another patients heparin drip acting up, we couldn't get to them until 6. The family was not pleased, but it was a great lesson for me regarding prioritizing care. Honestly, if someone's blood sugar is dropping out, the last thing I care about is discharge papers.....I'm sorry, but it's the truth!!

Great day though :)

Piedmont Orientation

Wellllllll..... the first day of clinicals were really fun. My preceptor is very nice and she just had me shadow her around everywhere so I could get used to the unit. Basically, my floor is for congestive heart failure patients who might have had an exacerbation or just weren't feeling well. I didn't do a whole lot but I did learn how to give medications through a TPN tube.... which was neat! By the time 4 0'clock rolled around, I was like "holy god, I am here for 3 more hours!"

Needless to say, when I got home, I inhaled my dinner and just went straight to bed :)

first one....

Hello all!

I just wanted to try this out and see how it goes. My goal was to be able to update everyone on how clinicals are going in the Cardiac Stepdown Unit and my progress towards graduating!

So much love!