I’m drinking coffee and trying to wake up before my 2 weekend shifts. I tried to finagle the situation to where I’m assigned to a NICE RN because I just don’t want to dread my weekend. Normally when I try to control situations they blow up in my face, so we’ll see. Be that as it may be, I’m feeling pretty positive about nursing right now. I took three patients this week in clinicals for the first time, and I figured I wouldn’t be able to handle it at all. Instead, I did just fine, all things considered. I am still slow with all the pieces-parts that nurses have to deal with (I don’t have finger-memory yet and fumble with alligator clips and IV tubing…), but I got much better even within the space of 2 days. With THREE patients, there is more opportunity for practicing with pieces-parts. Thank god for RNs who are patient and understanding with students. Mine this week was helpful and also forgiving. When I made mistakes, she said things like, “I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve done that myself” or something similar so that I didn’t feel like a complete moron.
I also learned a handy tip for anyone who, like me, feels like being really helpful and compassionate and saying to a patient undergoing a painful procedure, “Go ahead and squeeze my hand as hard as you need to.” (The tip is don’t do that.) My hand turned purple and my fingers are now black and blue! I was a champ and didn’t leap around going, “Ow! Ow! Ow!” But I spent the rest of the day clutching the hand and thinking unprintable epithets.
It’s too bad that so little of what I am learning in school this semester is in fact applicable to NURSING. I think I would thrive in an environment that focused on pathophysiology, pharmacology, diagnosis, lab values, and treatment rationales…crap, that sounds like med school. I’m so not going there. But seriously, I feel most on my game when my CI descends on me and drums up a series of trick-the-student questions (she’s famous for this: “why do you think the patient had this test? why do you think the patient is taking this drug? what really obscure side effects should you be alert for? what patient education will you provide regarding this diagnostic test? what lab values does this drug alert you to look for?”). I’m like a game show contestant. “Oooo! Ask me another one!”
But this weekend I am but a lowly nurse tech, wipin’ butt (but competently so, heh heh).
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