Favorite clinical so far.....

jambala · Jul 4, 2012

ER experience is superb..

HM-8404, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2012

While a Corpsman I did a rotation in UCLA Med. Center's Trauma/Burn unit as part of my training. It was the coolest thing I have ever done. I got to see how fragile as well as how resilient the human body is. I got to see a wound in a woman's lower back so large when they changed the "sponge" on the wound vac. you could have put a NERF football in it. Instead f cutting the new oone to fit they just folded it in half and placed it in the hole. You could see her small intestines moving and such. Looked like Strawberry Fruit Roll-ups whereat was healing. Never ate those again. lol

Also saw a man that had been gut shot with a shotgun and the surgeons turned an empty saline IV bag inside out and stapled it over the wound. It looked like he a window into his abdomen. Saw where they had to remove part of a man's skull and stored it in his abdomen to keep it alive.

Pretty cool stuff.

veggie530 · Jul 5, 2012

OB, actually.

Ped's was where I was the most competent at everything and made my best impression on the floor... but OB is where I had had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

Nolander · Jul 7, 2012

I am only entering my second semester and have only done rotations on the floor so far, so I'm going to deviate from the topic and tell you my LEAST favorite clinical so far. Joint Camp/Replacement/Orthopedics, I absolutely despised it. It was boring, too routine, and very "personal assistant" like. The only "excitement" I got to see was the PT ambulating the patients, which was boring in and of itself (I could never be a PT, haha). I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the OR, ER, ICU, and possibly OB the best, but I dunno yet.

jjrodriguez, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Critical care was my favorite of the main clinical rotations.ER and Cath Lab were my favorite off unit observations.

seanynjboy, BSN · Jul 13, 2012

I am only entering my second semester and have only done rotations on the floor so far, so I'm going to deviate from the topic and tell you my LEAST favorite clinical so far. Joint Camp/Replacement/Orthopedics, I absolutely despised it. It was boring, too routine, and very "personal assistant" like. The only "excitement" I got to see was the PT ambulating the patients, which was boring in and of itself (I could never be a PT, haha). I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the OR, ER, ICU, and possibly OB the best, but I dunno yet.

I agree with you. The only fun part I liked about anything ortho is when I got to see a few ortho surgeries, those were pretty cool.

I went to the trauma ER last weekend and I have to say it was an awesome adrenaline rush!!!! I can't wait until next semester when we do ICU that is what I have been waiting for!! Graduating in April!!! Can't wait!!!

garnetgirl29, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2012

I sort-of feel jipped on our clinical rotations. I though I'd love peds, but there were more students than patients and everyone had RSV, so not a lot of experience there. The floor was well staffed & the nurses weren't very receptive to us helping out. It was uncomfortable. We were all assigned one patient to care for (sometimes 2 of us to the same pt) and there was rarely enough to keep busy, or we did mostly non-skilled care. The only time I felt useful was when I pretty much babysat for an infant when his mom couldn't be there & the nurse did thank me for that. (I love babies, so I didn't mind) I made a lot of beds just to keep busy. The highlight was when my instructor let us play with the otoscope on eachother & observing an in & out cath on a 1 yr old.

Now, we're in a nursing home & so far, this is my favorite because we are pretty much free to do as much as there is to do. My favorite has been the med cart, where I was responsible for medicating 10 residents for the entire shift and assessing the effectiveness of their pain meds/antibiotics & documenting. I really liked shadowing the treatment nurse, too. I get to do that again next week. She's been letting us do a lot, too.

I loved the experience I had in OB (observing a precipitous lady partsl birth & a circumcision & giving vaccines) but most of the time was spent waiting for somethign to do. At least if I have down time in the nursing home, I can visit wtih redidents which really seems to boost their spirits. The staff & residents here are much more welcoming of us & that makes me feel more confident about asking if I can perform particular skills. In fact, the nurses sometimes disapear and just leave it to us. Our instructor is always available for questions, so we are not completely alone. Although, I really need more IV expereince but it's rare to have a resident with an IV at this facility. I've been here 6 weeks & haven't seen any.