Pills, spills and thrills
"Wake up!" That's what one of the nurses on staff yelled when she dropped a cup of water on the floor. I'm a day late, but oh well. Yesterday I started my second rotation as a nursing student. The hot-spot: the local hospital on the Med/Surg floor. I wasn't really sure what to expect, since I had to ask halfway through what Med/Surg was anyway. But honestly, it was not at all what I expected...but in a good way. I've seriously considered it for my future career when I graduate (eventually). There was so much to love; the atmosphere, the pace, and the variety of patients with all sorts of conditions or ailments.
The day started off with a tour, which was pretty much review for me since I used to work in HR and Administration, but I was surprised at how much I had forgotten what was what and where. After the tour we got right to business; I was partnered with my clinical instructor and two of my classmates in my group. The first task we were given; passing meds, which none of us had done yet. Boy, that's such a meticulous task, but it is so incredibly essential; taking out all the meds, checking the MAR with the patient, making sure you even have the right patient, checking all the dosages to see if they're correct. Of course, I was assigned the patient with like 3 zillion medications that I had to check and double check, but again, so very essential. So I walk into her room, and just my luck....the poor lady is sound asleep. I just thought "well....really?" But being an advocate for my patient I had to wake her up and give her her meds.
Now being just a novice nurse, I thought I could just give her the medicine cup and her apple juice and be on my way. But my instructor said that I had to wait in the room until she took them all. Well I had turned my back for a second, but when I went to tell her she had fallen asleep again. To be honest I got a bit frustrated, so I woke her up again, handed her the medicine cup and her apple juice. But something didn't seem right; she just looked at me. Very quietly, she then said: "I have a hard time...swallowing." It then hit me; I was going to have to do what I really was not prepared to do. So for 20 minutes, one by one, I placed each pill, in her mouth, waited for her to swallow it, gave her her apple juice, then repeated. It was exhausting for the both of us, but it had to be done. I walked out of the room not really knowing what to think; but I all I remember was how humbled I felt, but also how humbled she must have felt.
Med/Surg is promising to be a bit of a challenge, especially since I will see something different come next week. But I like it...a lot. It's much different than a nursing home, but I'm starting to look into different areas of where I might like to go in the future. It's still a long road ahead for me, but Lord willing if the road is straight and narrow then I'll get there.
The day started off with a tour, which was pretty much review for me since I used to work in HR and Administration, but I was surprised at how much I had forgotten what was what and where. After the tour we got right to business; I was partnered with my clinical instructor and two of my classmates in my group. The first task we were given; passing meds, which none of us had done yet. Boy, that's such a meticulous task, but it is so incredibly essential; taking out all the meds, checking the MAR with the patient, making sure you even have the right patient, checking all the dosages to see if they're correct. Of course, I was assigned the patient with like 3 zillion medications that I had to check and double check, but again, so very essential. So I walk into her room, and just my luck....the poor lady is sound asleep. I just thought "well....really?" But being an advocate for my patient I had to wake her up and give her her meds.
Now being just a novice nurse, I thought I could just give her the medicine cup and her apple juice and be on my way. But my instructor said that I had to wait in the room until she took them all. Well I had turned my back for a second, but when I went to tell her she had fallen asleep again. To be honest I got a bit frustrated, so I woke her up again, handed her the medicine cup and her apple juice. But something didn't seem right; she just looked at me. Very quietly, she then said: "I have a hard time...swallowing." It then hit me; I was going to have to do what I really was not prepared to do. So for 20 minutes, one by one, I placed each pill, in her mouth, waited for her to swallow it, gave her her apple juice, then repeated. It was exhausting for the both of us, but it had to be done. I walked out of the room not really knowing what to think; but I all I remember was how humbled I felt, but also how humbled she must have felt.
Med/Surg is promising to be a bit of a challenge, especially since I will see something different come next week. But I like it...a lot. It's much different than a nursing home, but I'm starting to look into different areas of where I might like to go in the future. It's still a long road ahead for me, but Lord willing if the road is straight and narrow then I'll get there.
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