I was looking at my calendar the other day and was shocked to realize that four weeks of clinicals have already gone by! I feel like this second semester is flying past. The amount of information we have packed into the first several weeks makes my head spin!
As I have mentioned before, my schedule changes a bit every week depending on my clinical schedule. Mondays and Tuesdays are lecture days for pharm, fundamentals, and gero. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are gero clinical days, and Thursdays and Fridays are fundamentals clinical days. These past couple weeks have been full of learning all about medication administration and injections! We also got to go to the hospital for the first time, which was very exciting.
Week 3 started in the LTRC lab where we learned how to perform injections. It was definitely intimidating holding a large syringe for the first time, even though we were practicing on injectapads. We learned how t perform intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intradermal injections and all of the safety precautions to take while handling needles.
During our third week we also learned how to reconstitute medications, use filter needles, vials and ampules, as well as proper administration techniques for oral, optic, otic, topical, nasal, and suppository medications. I had no idea how complicated each of the applications can be. It was neat to be able to apply a bit of our pharmacology to our hands on learning!
This week we also got to be a part of a simulation, which was a lot of fun. The high-fidelity mannequins are incredible, and our professors control them so we can practice different scenarios that allow us to use the skills we learn in lab. This week's "patient" was an older lady who we had to educate about falls and assess for pressure ulcers.
One of our clinicals for gero was at the Madison County Senior Center! It was such an awesome experience. We were able to tour the facility, participate in some classes and talk to some of the members about their lives and their experiences. We made Valentines with them and played lots of pool :)
Week four began with our injection validations. We had twenty minutes to give 3 shots: a subcutaneous med (like heparin or insulin), an intramuscular med (like lorazepam or atropine), and an intradermal TB test. It was much harder than I thought it would be, but thankfully I passed!
We finally had our first "real" clinical day at the hospital. I have heard so many stories from nurses about being absolutely terrified the first time they interacted with patients, but I honestly loved it! The morning went by so quickly, and I became more and more certain as the day went on that I want to make it through nursing school so that can be my job some day! The intimidation wore off as I realized that the people we were working with were so kind and patient and always ready to step in and help us with anything we needed. The healthcare team spirit was very evident, and it made the clinical experience so rewarding.
This semester is definitely picking up speed, but we are somehow making it through. I couldn't do it without the encouragement and support of my fellow nursing students, professors, family, and friends. Thank you all!
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