First injection, first exam - Week 4

Well, I made it through another week. It was a big one!

Tuesday we had clinicals and, since I had my OR trip last week, it was my first week this semester with a patient. I'm at the same hospital as last semester but on a new floor, and it was my first taste of how different each hospital floor can really be. I'd become accustomed to the floor we were on last semester and this one was a lot quieter, I'd say - but we'll see if I feel the same way after a few more weeks.

Of course I can't talk about my client, but I can say that I gave my first injection! It was a subcutaneous heparin injection. My instructor was there supervising, of course, and started quizzing me. "Do you aspirate a subq injection?" "No." "Do you massage after giving a subq injection?" "No." At this point the client joined in: "why not?" He didn't say this in a challenging way; rather, I'm pretty sure he knew the answer and just wanted to be part of the quizzing process. I was a bit flustered and answered something like "because it's a subq injection" (which, let's be fair, is of course how I memorized it for the test), but my prof came back with "come on, why wouldn't you massage a heparin injection?" at which point I had gathered my wits a bit and was able to reply "because it's a blood thinner and you could damage the tissue." Prof and client both satisfied, I gave the injection. It was a success! He even said it didn't hurt. And I don't think he would have said that just to make me feel good (although you never know).

Once everything was taken care of and we left the room to document, I actually did a bit of a bounce. I gave my first injection! It was really exciting for me. I was so apprehensive to begin with, just because it seemed so serious - sticking a needle in someone is not a small matter - but I did it and it was ok and he was fine and everything worked out. I feel like it's areal milestone of some sort. Hurrah!


We also had our first exam this week. I was quite apprehensive (new professor, new exam style!) but it turns out I got a 49/50, so I'm pretty happy. Hoo-rah! And that is after my cell phone/alarm clock turned off overnight before the exam and I woke up 5 minutes before I had planned to leave the house. (That is NOT a good way to start an exam morning. Let me tell you what. The level of adrenaline I had rushing through my body was intense. It was, however, a good review of the stages of stress that were on the exam.)