ED Patients

You know, the ED is a funny place. You get everything there and some of it is funny and some of it is sad. I haven't had too much funny stuff yet - although the drama coming from one of our patients yesterday was hilarious. He was trying so hard to cry and produce a tear that I was afraid he was going to have a hernia. Then there was the guy who had been in the day before because he fell down the stairs and busted up his face and had to get stitches and then the next day tripped over something and busted his stitches back open. He looked worse than he was because no one had washed off the dried up blood and iodine from his face.

This week, I also had my first crack heart attack patient. She was quite the character when she came in but once we got the pain under control, she was actually quite pleasant. She was about my age and I can't say that I didn't look at her and wonder what went wrong in her life that she ended up there in her 30's having a heart attack from too much cocaine.

I promise I will write about the staff dynamics in a post - they are fascinating. This is a very, very conservative community and the differences from the world I am used to are vast!

Catching up

Well, I have had two shifts at my clinical site. The nice thing about this hospital is that it is relatively small, but it is also the only one around. So, I get to see a little of everything and the staff is really good about letting me do things. In fact, I started my first IV on a patient yesterday!! First try - it went right in. I've started them on dummies and fellow nursing students, but never on a patient. So that is good. And I get to use my Spanish on a regular basis since many of our patients are non-English speaking. I will blog about the staff in a separate entry - just let me say that I neither want to work nor be a patient in this hospital.

Yesterday I did a 12 hour shift - which I like, but the hour drive to and from the hospital makes for a very long day. Tomorrow is another 12 hour shift and then I am back to 8 hour shifts by decree of my clinical coordinator. I was a little disappointed yesterday when I was getting ready to walk out and a guy walked in the ER with a framing nail sticking out of his finger - I didn't get to stay and see how that worked out.

This weekend I have a job interview - supposedly they offer jobs on the spot - wish me luck!

Back in Session

Well, we are back in session for our final semester of nursing school! My school used to only admit once a year to the nursing school and this semester they started admitting twice a year. So we have an additional 80 students running around taking up our valuable space. This also means that, as seniors, we have most of our classes (okay, 2 of the 3) in the nice new auditorium in the nice new building. I'm sure this is giving the administration heart attacks because you know students are dirty and messy (actually we are). The seats in the auditorium are not made for Americans. If you are overweight (and we have some of them) there is a distinct possibility that if you wedge yourself into the seat, you may not get back out. And, the space between the seats from front to back is not very big, so if you try to slide out your butt is right in someone's head. Very uncomfortable - and to top it off, they don't want us to eat or drink in there - HAHAHAHAHA!!! It is also very loud - if anyone is whispering you can hear it all over the room.

Oh, and the biggest injustice this semester - my clinical instructor is making us wear ALL WHITE again. It is a right of passage here for the seniors to get to wear whatever scrubs they want - at least the tops. We did talk her out of white shoes. I don't like my white shoes and much prefer my Danskos.

I'm working in an ED in a rural community hospital this semester - should provide some good stories!!