N20030: Clinical Journal Entry #3

Well there's this little thing called HIPAA.... and I would feel absolutely awful if I did anything even remotely close to violating it, so in effort to prevent patient privacy, my patient-related posted journal entries will now be very vague , but I am in this for my patients and out of respect for them, this is how it will be.

This week was our first patient care day of our entire nursing careers.  Monday I came down with an awful virus, and on Tuesday, my doctor put me on steroids to try to get me some kind of relief.  I spent the majority of the week in bed, missing lab and a few classes, but I was determined not to miss Clinical.  I was first worried about the safety of my patients, but Marcia told me if I didn't have a fever, I'd be fine to take care of them.  Wednesday morning came, and sure enough, I didn't have a fever, so I wasn't about to give in and stay home.  Although I felt so sick by the end of the day I could have curled up and died, I'm really proud of myself for making such an effort and doing what needed to be done, and I'm not always the best at things like that.

Anyhow, the day went great.  It was such a crazy experience to actually be a nurse in a hospital with real patients!!  It was fun though, and it flew by in a whirlwind, but here is what I recall.  I had a nice woman in her 60s with dyspnea, a cough, and underlying anxiety problems. Our responsibilities for the day were just bedbaths and making beds, but my patient was very adamant abotu wanting to bathe herself. I wanted to give her as much independence as possible, but with her condition, ambulating to the shower was a concern. I worked with the RN to see how we could modify the plan and let her safely bathe herself. RN and I worked together to accomplish our goal, and I was very happy about that. (As was my patient!) I was also able to relieve a lot of her stress using therapeutic communication.

Also, I helped my friend Stephanie with her patient, and that was a pretty funny story. Let's just say we were such kind, accommodating newbie nursing students that we gave this woman a bed bath before realizing she was fully ambulatory. And since she was so excited to be getting "pampered" (her words, not mine!) we didn't think a thing of it. Until, of course, the RN came in and asked Patient why she wasn't giving herself her own bath. Patient's reply? "Why I was just feeling lazy!" When RN left, Patient told us RN was just kidding. Riiiiight....

But all in all, we had a whirlwind of a day, but looking back, it was fun, and I met my goal of making my patients smile, making their days a little better. We grabbed lunch after meeting the floor nurse manager in post conference, met for an OR orientation in preparation for our Alternative Experience days, and then we were off to complete care maps, drug sheets, etc. And take naps. :)

Looking back, I think I had a great first day of clinical. My patient and Stephanie's were great patients for us and were very receptive and cooperative to everything we needed to do or ask (well, with the exception of Steph's patient taking advantage of her free bed bath!) I was so glad that I got my patient to calm down just by chatting about her family, etc. Both patients told us that we had made them very happy, which is one of my daily clinical goals, so I was very happy as well. Next time, I will be more careful to make sure that I do everything I can to promote patient independence instead of just doing what I think I am supposed to do just because it's what we did in lab the week before. I'm glad I was able to be flexible and work with RN to find a way for my patient to be self-sufficient in her activities of daily living instead of just opting to give her a bed bath, which would have been much easier (albeit less therapeutic) taking her condition into consideration.

Next week we'll be working on taking regular vitals and charting them while of course, still focusing on making sure the patients on our floor arrive at and maintain a state of being medically stable and functionally able. :)