Clinicals - First day fun and FRIGHT!

[bowkerj]

Oh boy, where to begin?

Our clinical assignment was fun and very educational today. The assisted living facility is pretty big - 90 beds. We were getting a tour with our instructor and stopped to help a woman who was calling for help and seemed to have gotten herself half way out of bed. She had been admitted less than 24 hr prior and was having trouble breathing - on oxygen, and needed her depends changed due to loose stools. We jumped in with our instructor guiding us, washed her off, changed linens, gave her a new depends, etc. She felt really hot to me and was probably running a fever, her breathing was labored, she had really bad loose stools, her hair was matted and needed combing, she had a hard time articulating her needs, and she just seemed a little too sick to have been discharged from the hospital... After we finished I could see by the look on her face that her distress had lessened and she seemed more restful.

Later on we were looking up our assigned patient charts at the nurses station when a nurse decided the woman who we'd helped actually needed to be readmitted because she was having worsening respiratory problems. A crew of Portland Firefighters (who were all very cute!) and EMTs came in shortly thereafter. At one point I looked up from the nurses station and down the hall and noticed the guys were coming in and out of her room with face masks on! I knew that wasn't a good sign so I asked my instructor about it and we found out they thought it looked like she had Norovirus! (There have been recent outbreaks at nursing facilities throughout the Portland area recently). So now we all might have been exposed - can you believe that?! I just couldn't believe that out of all the people in the facility the one patient we did peri-care (cleaning groin and rear area) on was one that might have Norovirus! I mean what are the chances of that? But we all wore gloves and used normal standard precautions afterwards - but normal precautions don't include face masks! Anyhow, they immediately transported her back to the hospital and we find out tomorrow if she indeed has Norovirus. What a way to start our first clinical! My instructor reassured us we are probably fine, she said she has been exposed to all kinds of things in her career and never caught anything more than a cold. We did everything we were supposed to do, wore gloves, washed up, etc so there is no point in worrying about it now.

Going into this I was really afraid of how I would react to having to deal with the yucky stuff like poopy depends - but when I got into the situation I just felt so bad for her I wanted to hold her hand and help her. I felt the need to take action and make her feel better as soon as possible. I kept thinking "this could be me someday, how would I want to be treated"? I wouldn't want to be pitied, I would want to be cared for and respected, so that is how we acted. All the little elderly folks were so happy to see us for the most part, and they were rolling up and down the halls in their wheelchairs - so cute! Well, some were actually napping in their wheelchairs but you get the point! I really felt a sense of wanting to help and care for them, it wasn't freaky at all.

So if I start puking in 72 hrs, it will be my initiation into nursing!

Jenna

[smr78]

All I can say is good job and good luck. Hopefully when I start my clinicals in August I can tell you a story or two. But for now I'll read everyone elses. Can't wait to start clinicals. Pre-nursing student.

[GingerSue]

keep us informed, it'll be interesting to hear what happens