First Weekend of Clinicals

Shellie and I on the first day of clinical

I survived my first weekend of clinical. I am in the critical care unit. Not exactly where I wanted to start out, but it was a great weekend and I think I will really enjoy the learning experiences I will obtain from the CCU. My preceptor, Amy, and I had two patients this weekend. One was a 45 y.o. female who was on her third suicide attempt. She took 200+ pills. She was vented, had a catheter, and IV nutrition. She bit her tongue and ended up having to have a bite block put into her mouth. She was responsive to commands such as open your eyes, wiggle your toes, and squeeze my hand. I got to suction her, empty her Foley bag, do oral care, change her sheets with her in the bed, change out her yucky gross containers, check residuals on her feeds, and check her glucose levels. Our other patient was a very annoying 57 y.o. male who was in for pneumonia. He was a cranky old man and all he did was complain. I checked his glucose and did wound care on him. He had possible tuberculosis and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, which are both very contagious and not something I would want to bring back to addie or the twins. He was on isolation, so we had to wear a mask, gloves, and gown upon entering his room. On the second day, he didn't want to do one of his breathing treatments and wanted to be a DNR (do not resuscitate). He was a real piece of work. Very OCD about some things too. He was fixated on getting a Milky Way the first day. He's diabetic. Amy did get him a Milky Way after he got his central line put in, and then his blood sugars ended up high so we had to give him insulin later. Shellie, Amber (another nursing student in our program) and I all watched his central line get put in to his subclavian. Shellie had to leave the room when the Dr. took out his scalpel to make the incision longer. I guess I didn't have a great view of it or something because it didn't bother me at all. They thought I would be the first to go, but it wasn't a big deal. On the second day, a code blue was called and we ran to it, but by the time we got there, they lady was fine. Amy said we will run to codes. How fun! So, it was a great first weekend and I can't wait to go back!