- The first few weeks of Lecture were nice cuz we didn't have any exams. Now I have one once a week. My second exam was on Friday and it was on the Cardiovascular System and Musculoskeletal Systems. I did surprisingly well with an 88%. So far so good, I have an 89% exam average!
- Clinicals! I had my first day of 2 patients. That did not go so well. Tuesday I just had my one patient and I was able to time manage quite well. On Wednesday I received a 2nd patient, a post-op patient. I was excited for the challenge because one patient just didn't seem to fill up my day and I feel like I'm intruding when I'm in the patients room all day. Well I was getting grilled by my instructor so I missed the bedside report of my new patient coming in. So I basically knew that a) she was female. b) she had a total shoulder arthroplasty and c) her name. So when I went to do my head to toe assessment on her I missed a lot of stuff that I had no idea was supposed to be charted. So I got a big fat 0 on my documentation evaluation. I WAS PISSED! Needless to say, I'm hoping that next week will go better cuz that just sucked!!
- I got to go into the OR with my patient to see him have an ERCP. An ERCP is done post surgically for patients who have had a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removed) to make sure that the bile ducts aren't clogged with bile sludge or gall stones. An endoscope is sent down the patients throat until it gets to the stomach, then to the duodenum. From there you can reach the bile ducts. Since you are in surgery you have to be as sterile as possible. So I was asked if I wanted to put on scrubs or a marshmallow suit. I was like I guess the suit since it was right there. Uh bad idea! The nurse was like uh take that thing off were gonna get you some scrubs! I like the idea of the OR scrubs. They are provided for you because they are laundered at the hospital. You DO NOT have to purchase uniforms if you work in the OR. However, they are BORING!
- Unfortunately my patients procedure was delayed due to the doc being tied up in some other surgery so I was allowed to step in and watch a THA (Total Hip Arthroplasty) or in layman's terms a Hip Replacement Surgery. I was a little apprehensive going in cuz the thought of bones being sawed gives me the heeviest of jeevies. Fortunately for me, that part was done already but I was kinda take aback by the fact that after the prosthesis was in place the doc was taking that leg and moving it in all sorts of positions legs aren't supposed to go in. It looked like a contortionist. This is done to make sure that the joint moves properly before they close (stitch them back up). I was happy that I didn't get nauseous or light headed cuz even though it takes a lot to gross me out, there is always that chance you can get sick seeing a surgery for the first time.
- When that surgery was done I met back up with the nurse that had kinda taken me under his wing and I got a little tour of the Surgical Floor. When it was time for my patient to FINALLY have his ERCP, I got to put on some "lead". Lead is a huge apron thing that is filled with lead to protect you from the X-Rays that are taken during the procedure. My lead was Tye-dyed. Before the surgery began, I got to see my first intubation (where the anesthesiologist places a tube down the patients throat into the trachea and it is used to breathe for the patient while they are on anesthesia)! After he was intubated, his Oxygen Saturation (amount of oxygen that your red blood cells has in them) dropped to 60%. The anesthetist started freaking out but was able to quickly stable the patient and got his stats back up above 90%. Then the procedure began and the doc basically looked like he was playing a video game. I only got to watch about 15 minutes of my guys procedure cuz I had to return to post conference but it is cool seeing all that anatomy on the TV.
4 weeks and 1 semester completed. 13 weeks and 2 semesters to go!
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