First clinical assignment! ...Oncology?!

[LilyBentley]

So I am super excited to be all done with prereqs and officially in a course where they ask me to wear scrubs and have a stethoscope! Obviously.

My name was on a list with some hundred others at the same hospital my mother works at, so I asked her what room that was.

She tells me it is oncology. I wasn't expecting school to go straight for the jugular THAT much. Any suggestions for a new junior starting in the cancer ward? Otherwise the second I see some kid with cancer I will try not to cry, and then cry a lot as soon as I get home (or find a janitorial closet).

PS, if it matters, goal is nurse-midwife.

[mindofmidwifery, ADN]

Congratulations! That's so exciting :)

[AliNajaCat]

Your first clinical rotation, eh? What do you think you will be learning there? Perhaps your faculty reasons that there is a lot of basic material to be covered, like how to talk and listen to a patient, getting used to the idea of intimate touch and language with a stranger, interacting with other professionals, time management, basic patient handling skills, hospital management and systems and other departments, patient assessment so you can make diagnoses and then plan to give/delegate care, personal responsibility and professionalism ... yep, that's probably what they had in mind.

Notice that not one of these makes reference to oncology, or, indeed, to any medical diagnosis. That's because it's teaching you the beginnings of learning to think like a nurse. You'll learn some about oncology and you might see some sad things, but trust me, you'll see sad things anywhere. That's another thing you'll start learning: how to set personal boundaries and work on your ego strength so you can be strong for your patients. One of the Fat Man's Laws: The patient is the one with the disease.