Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Preceptorship so far.

So I am halfway done preceptorship. Too busy to write much. Here's what I learned so far:
1) Catheterizing male patients is easy. I'm sure it is much harder to do with a female.
2) Always bring in a blue pad when you are emptying an ostomy bag. Spilling the contents of an ostomy bag is not so much fun, for the patient or for yourself.
3) It's probably not best to attempt inserting an IV for the first time on an old men who has very tricky veins. Especially if his assigned nurse couldn't get it the first two times.
4) Post-mortem care is definitely hard to get used to. I didn't know toe-tags existed in real life.
5) Vac dressings aren't complicated, just time-consuming. Prepare to give up an hour of your shift when changing one.
6) When patient's get upset, don't take it personally. Chances are, they're just having a hard time at a hospital and taking out on the safest person around (their nurse).
7) Never say no to a coffee run during a shift. Coffee is always necessary.
8) Doctors aren't always reliable, and don't necessarily know everything. If a patient rips his chest tube out and is at risk for respiratory distress or a pulmonary embolism or stroke or worse, the doctor on call should get out of his bed and come to the hospital to assess him. Always advocate for patients to get the care they deserve.

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