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Very cool! My favorite clinical was on a SCI unit. A year or so back Nursing Made Incredibly Easy did a really nice overview on spinal cord injuries. If you have time you could always do some NCLEX neuro questions etc. Like with anything there are a few tweeks that are important to know like autonomic dysreflexia and one thing that I found facinating is that their internal temperature regulation can be out of whack causing fevers. The other thing that I thought was interesting is throw the "turn every 2 hours" rule right out the window, in these patients ideally there should be some position shift q 20 minutes. Hopefully others will write in with pointers for you. I think Daytonite did some work on this floor also and can probably offer a ton of advice. Enjoy!
Congratulations!
I have never worked on the floor with such patients, but I have worked in the OR with wound care patients who have mobility restrictions. From this experience, I would have the following two pieces of advice for you.
Make sure you know body mechanics and how to prevent yourself from a back injury. Depending on their level of mobility, you may be doing a lot of work for them, so know how to protect your back!
Secondly, make sure that you carry some type of mint or something (I like sugar-free menthyl tabs, but anything "strong" smelling will do). Sometimes the wounds you are dealing with can have very strong odors, and after a while it can get to you. If you have a strong cough drop or something it can really help you get over the smell.
Good luck to you, with your enthusiasm you are going to be great!
student456
275 Posts
happy! i just found out my winter clinical placement is on a spinal cord injury / wound care floor. woot woot! im soo excited - its for 195 hours in total from Jan. to April.
I can't wait!
Has anyone ever done a clincial placement on this type of floor...what should I expect to be doing while im in placement and what should I spend time on reviewing over the holidays (nursing books, etc). Any tips would be great!
if anyone knows any good websites that would be helpful to me I would greatly appreciate it too...
Thanks!