What to observe

[bewareofthephog, BSN]

I'm not sure if this is necessarily the right forum to post in but I think answers from nurses may be more helpful than from nursing students.

I'm a first semester nursing student and starting tomorrow I'll be observing for the first time in a hospital setting. However instead of actually being assigned a patient to care for, I'll be observing wound care, a PICC line nurse and then an OR observation.

I'm not really able to do anything in these three settings other than shadow the nurse and provide minimal assistance. This being the case I was just wondering what kinds of things I should be on the lookout for that will allow me to benefit the most from these clinical situations. For example maybe patient interaction or maybe sterile technique etc. Anything else anybody can think of really. All suggestions are appreaciated!

[cracklingkraken, ASN, RN]

Definitely, watch them do their sterile field. The IV team at our facility did a beautiful sterile field and allowed me to see some of their "tricks". The nurse also explained things we were seeing on the monitor and she put in the central line.

[sailornurse]

In the OR, if you can, observe how the prepare the room, the patient. What is the difference between scrubbing vs circulating (techs or nurses). Watch a surgical scrub. Wound care, ask about different types of dressings, wound vacs. PICC lines-why ordered? Which types of patients are candidates for these? What types of medications are typically given per PICC line?

[RN403, BSN, RN]

Make sure you eat well prior to your observation...especially in the OR. If you are able to pick which OR case you stand in for, pick the one that most relates to what you are learning/your current clinical rotation. It was interesting to relate what was done in the OR back to the patients we cared for post-op.