First let me say that my instructor is so cool. This particular rotation, he gave me shifts in all the units I wanted. One of the shifts that I asked for was OB because I love it there. I had my first clinical of the year there yesterday and my second today. Yesterday, I took care of a postpartum mom and infant. The nurse said I "did a good job". Today, I requested to be in labor and delivery.
The first good thing was that I got to do my first IV start. The nurse asked me to tell her the procedure before I started and I did. As I got into the vein, I totally froze and said that I didn't know if I was in. She then said to look for blood in the chamber (silly me, I actually said that to her as I explained the procedure). I actually got the cath in without going through the vein (my worst fear with an IV start) with minimal nervousness. I was quite pleased with myself.
The second good thing was that I got to see a baby be born, the placenta delivered, and mom stitched up. Now, that was neat.
The third good thing was that I was with another laboring mom and I learned about therapeutic touch. There was a language barrier and I stayed with her for most of her labor and tried to keep her comfortable. I got pretty creative when trying to communicate.
The fourth good thing was that I met the head of OB and she asked me questions about liking OB. She asked me if I was passing classes and planned on taking my boards after graduation. She probably won't remember me when I go back next quarter, but hey, at least it is a start in getting my foot in the door.
The fifth good thing is that I was talking to my instructor after conference and he told me that the nurses had such good things to say about me today. They said that I was independent, and just went and got things done without being told, my charting was good, and I was pretty cool to work with. That totally means alot to me since six months ago, I considered myself completely hopeless in the clinical setting.
Ok, I know that I have written a whole lot, but I thought that I should share. Today was a great learning experience and actually am looking forward to writing it up for my follow up paperwork....Crazy, huh?
