During placement, I am sharing a house with three other students. It is a huge and beautiful house, though the living arrangements have proven a little stressful for me. Then add demanding assessments on top, a rotating roster and a sprinkle of sleep deprivation and you got one reeeeally tested nursing student.
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| Daffodils grow everywhere here! |
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| The massive house |
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| Ice on the first morning |
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| Gorgeous sunrise |
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| The neighbour's cat loves us |
However, I can't complain about the rotating roster; this placement has been absolutely incredible. We do not have a university facilitator with us so the onus falls on the hospital's onsite facilitator who has been amazing! She has organised for each student to be on a different ward and shift each week which I've never experienced on any other placement. It makes sense though, especially when I want to experience as much as I can during this four weeks!
Last week I was working on an extended day surgery unit and learnt a lot about pre-operative and post-operative patients. The staff were fantastic and for the first time ever I felt a part of the team and was even called by my name, rather than "the student"! It was fairly busy and has a high turnover of patients, but all of my questions were answered and I was able to do so much; there were many opportunities to practice IV fluids and medications, wound dressings, and I even took out belovac drains for the first time.
During my time on the extended day surgery unit I fulfilled many objectives:
- admitting patients from recovery and remembering to do half-hourly observations
- getting patients ready for theatre: pre-operative checklists, anaesthetic checklists, ensuring they have two ID bands and a correctly coloured cap, etc.
- practicing drug administration, particularly IV medications
- getting in to theatre!
- learning as much as I can and being able to educate patients, for example teaching post-operative deep breathing and coughing exercises, and explaining the rationale and technique for self-administered clexane injections
- getting to know patients and establishing a relationship through effective communication strategies
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| SCRUBS! |
Getting in to theatre was most definitely the highlight of last week. I got to see a cesarean and watch a baby be born which is something I will never forget. I also got to see urology procedures; transurethral lithotripsies, one via flexible and the other a rigid ureteroscopy. These procedures involved passing a camera up the urethra and shooting laser beams at kidney stones which really just looked like I was watching someone play Call of Duty. Being in theatre also allowed me to learn about the roles of people in the OT, anaesthetic agents used, and rationales for patient positioning. I even had a surgeon take a few minutes to educate me on anatomy via a CT scan and locate the kidney stones.
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| Heading back out west after spending the week in Sydney |
This week I have been working afternoon shift on a surgical ward. It's been a great opportunity to consolidate more clinical skills and I got to administer an IM injection for the first time. Totally not as hard as I thought it would be. I've also learnt a little about how traction works as I had never seen it in practice before. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get in to theatre again for the whole day, and saw a few orthopaedic operations and three colonscopies. It is all fascinating!
I am extremely proud of myself so far so diving in and giving everything a go. I've tried really hard to not let myself get overwhelmed and have been open to new clinical situations. I cannot wait for the next two weeks; ICU and CCU!
*I shall keep details as anonymous as possible - my intention is to merely reflect on my experiences.
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