First Impressions

Over the past month I have been to Riverside Community Hospital 3 times for my clinical rotation. This has been a totally new thing for me because I have only previously been in a hospital a handful of times to briefly visit someone. It is safe to say that this has been a major learning process just adjusting to what it is like to be in the hospital, let alone work with patients. The first day we were allowed to follow a nurse and be assigned to a patient was a very interesting day that I won't soon forget. I met my nurse who seemed nice to me and was willing to have me follow her around the whole day. She then introduced my to my patient who was a heroin addict and didn't want anything to do with me. So instead, I pretty much just followed my nurse around. But, I found out that my nurse was a travel nurse so she didn't really know what to do in this hospital. She ended up just hiding around a corner and filling out her paperwork while I would interact with all of her patients and try my best to help them out. I learned a lot from this because I saw how my nurse was acting and it made me not want to be like her. One positive thing was that I was able to interact with a couple of very nice patients.

The second time we got to help patients was a really good day. I met my nurse who asked me to help her with some tasks and wanted me to teach me too. My patient was a great person who I ended up talking with for a few hours. He didn't mind me asking many questions and I felt like I was able to help his recovery a little bit by interacting with him. I was able to watch my nurse insert a foley catheter into my patient which was great because we learned how to do that after we returned from our clinical shifts.

Overall, so far I have been super nervous each morning before we actually arrive at the hospital because I just don't feel very comfortable at all with my skills. I feel like I don't quite know where to go, what to do, or what to say, but I do know that this will get better with time. One funny incident happened when I was sent to retrieve a vital sign machine. The machine was next to the bed of a very frail old lady who had been crying and screaming all morning. When I walked over to grab the machine, I felt a squeeze on my butt and I turned and saw the old lady with a huge smile on her face looking up at me. This totally took me by surprise and I quickly walked out of the room not even realizing what happened until later. But it did help keep her quiet for the next few minutes!