Here is about my day in the ICU and wound care clinic during my nursing school clinical rotation. Can you believe October is almost over and November is just around the corner?! I swear it feels like that I was just writing a post the other day on how my first day was of school. I added up how many more weeks I have left in this semester and it is only 4 weeks 🙂

 I really can’t wait! I am also excited to see what clinicals I will get for next semester. It is my senior practicum so I will keep you updated on that. If I get in a good place (like the cardiac step-down unit) I am probably going to try to get a job there after graduation or ask for a nurse intern position after I get in all my 240 clinical hours. I should find out by November 4th where they will be sticking me.

This week of school was busy of course. You know that test I was stressing about that I had to study for….well I got a 93 on it so that is good. It was tougher than the first one which I made a 102 on (that was with a lot of prayer and study time LOL). Monday I went to class from 815am-415pm.

 That day consisted of taking a test and listening to a guest speaker. I ate Subway that day lol….I know where did that come from. I was really excited about it because I haven’t ate Subway for like almost 2 years. I try to save my money and not eat out. As a nursing student soon to be Registered Nurse RN you got to pinch pennies literally and plus how our economy is doesn’t help.

Clinicals in the ICU

Tuesday I went to clinicals from 630am-400pm. I was in the ICU. I have to admit I was really not looking forward to it because like I said before I don’t think the ICU is for me. However, I got with a great nurse but I didn’t get to do much. I did learn some stuff about IV pumps.

 In school they have shown us how to spike IV bags but not how to work the IV pump which I think is very odd. I guess they are leaving that for us to figure out on our own. So the nurse I was with showed me how to switch out lines and how to enter it into the pump.

It looks really daunting at first but once you figure out what goes where it isn’t that bad. It seems like anyone could do it if they were taught. I also got to draw some blood from an A-line (which is short for arterial line). That was cool but the stop-cock thing will take some time getting use to. It can be turned to three different directions and you have to remember who it is off to (is it off to the patient or the line?) I am still working on that one.

Wound Care Clinic Rotation

Thursday was my rotation at a wound care clinic. I LOVED it. I can definitely in the future see myself as a wound care nurse. The hours are awesome you work Monday-Friday 8-4 and it is fairly easy work. That job is perfect for a nurse who are tired and needs a break from floor nursing. I got to see sound nasty wounds like burns and ulcers.

Now the smells were terrible especially the diabetic ulcers. Most of our patients were diabetics and you know how diabetics don’t heal like normal people. The nurse I was with let me do a lot. I wonder much the nursing salary is for a wound care nurse?

Friday was lecture day and I had a quiz. I think I did fairly well on. I was feeling really crappy this day because I caught another wretched cold. I swear I wash my hands all the time. Ben says I am too anal about it but I still get these darn colds. Saturday I felt really bad but today I feel a lot better.

I think I know where I caught it though and it was in my Monday’s class. After the test our teacher had us get into groups and this girl kept sneezing in my face and she wasn’t covering up her mouth very well and the whole time I was thinking “okay I know I am going to get sick from this” and I did.

I hope everyone has a great week and I will update you on how mine went. Oh yeah….I hope everyone has a great Halloween!

 

Until next time,

Sarah 😉