Dreams and details - Week 7

The weeks have just flown by. We've had more clinical experience and our second exam. Clinicals are going well. My client last week had just been admitted that morning, which I learned was a bit of a different experience than all the clients I'd had before.

I can't talk much about clinicals, as of course I want to remain HIPAA compliant (besides just being ethical), but one thing I have really appreciated is that most clients are open to really sharing with us. They are dealing with so much just by virtue of being in the hospital and the fact that they are willing to talk to us, let us go through our assessments, and be so kind is really quite heartening.

I do have one story I can share. I was learning how to use the accucheck system last week and the nurse was showing me at the bedside. I was very hesitant about pushing it down because I didn't know how much pressure was needed or anything. The client gave a big yell of "OUCH!" and I jumped nearly a mile, at which point he started laughing and elbowing the nurse. Once I got over my panic and realized what had happened, I laughed a lot too. I also need to remember to never tell my uncles that story, for fear they will do the same thing if anyone ever has to check their blood glucose levels.
I did finally get it, by the way. Heh.

In skill lab we've learned how to put on sterile gloves and set up a sterile field, change IV fluids and set up piggybacks, and how to insert and take out an NG tube. This mannequin looks surprised about his NG tube. I don't know why, because I thoroughly explained the procedure before I inserted it:



(That is someone else about to take it out.)

And this is our IV arm:




In class we are moving along quickly, after having had one day of lecture stolen from us by the blizzard. This last exam included pneumonia, peptic ulcer disease, cholecystitis, and inflammation. We covered UTIs today and started fluids and electrolytes, which promises to be a long but interesting chapter. I'm now glad about how much my anatomy & physiology professor stressed learning things like ADH, because it all started coming back during the lecture today.

Microbiology is still quite enjoyable; we did a Kirby-Bauer lab and some differential staining, which was fun. We also did an antiseptic-disinfectant lab where we were all supposed to bring cleaning products and we tested how well they worked. I brought in a free bottle of a pet-mess cleaning product I'd gotten with some kitty litter and much to my surprise, it actually did work. (Urinal cakes did not. I did not bring that.)


And on the topic of "nursing has taken over my braaaain," last night I dreamt I was at a hospital for clinicals and my patient started crashing. The nurse told me to "call a code" so I ran out of the room then realized I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO CALL A CODE. "We haven't covered that yet!" I thought, as I looked around, and in the dream realized that instead of a hospital hallway full of medical staff who could help, the hallway was like a clinic waiting room. I didn't feel like I should start yelling so I said "code?" and wandered around looking for a doctor. Finally I found one and we eventually made it back to the room and out came a surgeon covered in blood, wearing an animal-butcher apron, and I went in and the room was full of more people also covered in blood. I woke up trying to find the patient to see if he was alive or dead.

I am sure this dream says many things, about anxiety and stress and not feeling quite prepared, but I think mostly it says to stop watching House before bed, especially on the night after clinicals.