clinical questions

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Hello all, please excuse the intrusion. I'm a second-degree BSN student in my first week of nursing classes. My clinical placement begins next week on a med/surg floor focused mainly on renal patients. I'm so new to this that I don't know what I need to know, or what to be especially careful about. Obviously I will be oriented to the unit, but I was curious to see if anyone had any ideas for things to look out for, common mistakes in this kind of unit, or interesting patients/diagnoses to pay attention to. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[ageless]

Hi!

Great question! for starters..........

• Fine tune your respiratory assessment skills
  
• Be familiar with electrolyte levels...especially potassium
  
• review dietary and fluid restrictions for a renal patient
  
• pay special attention to the dialysis access assessment
  
• Know what medications, like phosphate binders, need to be taken with food
  

Best wishes for a great rotation!

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Hi!

Great question! for starters..........

• Fine tune your respiratory assessment skills
  
• Be familiar with electrolyte levels...especially potassium
  
• review dietary and fluid restrictions for a renal patient
  
• pay special attention to the dialysis access assessment
  
• Know what medications, like phosphate binders, need to be taken with food
  

Best wishes for a great rotation!

Thank you! Am I a nerd because I'm excited now to spend my weekend learning this instead of doing "normal" 20something stuff? Oh well, that's my idea of a