How my first semester of clinical prepared me as a future nurse

This semester i had the opportunity to have two rotations at a children's hospital and long-term care facility; both clinicals brought new experiences and reinforced my interest in helping adults compared to pediatrics. To begin, when I started my pediatric rotation I was extremely nervous of caring for kids and dealing with the parents but my experience was the complete opposite. Throughout the weeks, I've gained more confidence with vitals, administering and identifying the needs of the patients; despite my anxiety with the parents at the bedside they assisted with care and were comfortable with me providing care to their child. Despite my jitters in the beginning, I had the opportunity to face those uneasy feelings and improve. The best part of the rotation was administering medications through IV, flushing and removing IVs and giving respiratory treatments with the aid of respiratory team and witnessing suctioning which was pretty cool.

In my medical surgical rotation, I had the opportunity of hanging with the senior population and listening to their stories and providing assistance when needed. One cool thing I liked about that rotation was administering insulin. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous about giving the needle since I have my own personal anxiety towards needles but administering it to others was a great feeling because I was not on the receiving end LOL. Also, I was excited because my resident did not feel a thing despite my nervousness; one thing i found interesting is how weird it felt breaking through the skin. Overall, both of my clinical experience reinforced the passion I have of helping others and that I am in the right place. Also, one huge take away I learned was you won't know the answer to ever question and learning new things is part of the job so do not be nervous to ask for help.

• 
  

CT imaging

During the week in clinical, I had the opportunity to view the CT imaging of my pt with respiratory distress including croup and intermittent stridor during at rest. It was pretty cool to see the airway narrowing on the imaging, it went from an open airway to a thin pencil shape causing breathing issues for the patient. The nurse showed me both images of the lungs from the front and side, the side image provided a more clear view of the airway constriction which was cool.

My first infant patient experience

My first infant patient was a 5 month old foster infant being treated status epilepticus.  My patient is in the infancy stage of development of trust vs mistrust. During this stage, infants are learning to trust the world which is fostered through consistency of care by parents and making sure the infant's needs are met without frustration which leads to mistrust. The infant did cry a bit due to the environment and loved to be held and rocked constantly to soothe him. 

I was fortunate to have the infant all to myself without any parents which was interesting with soothing him but also helped me build that confidence of being alone with a patient and using clinical judgment. For example, while soothing the infant with rocking and talking to him, I noticed he had his hand in his mouth a lot signaling teething so i talked to the nurse about prescribing medication to alleviate the soreness.  Also, the patient was receiving medications through IV which was pretty cool watching the nurse set up the drip, flushing and replacing the tube. I was a bit nervous of taking care of an infant alone but it wasn't bad and i had the fun opportunity to change diapers and walk him down the hall. I was a bit worn out after the first two hours with steady rocking and transitioning from standing to sitting but I wouldn't trade that experience the infant provided and I was sad to leave him at the end of the shift.