Today was a great day. For the first time, I actually felt like a nurse. I had a great patient who needed a lot of care that kept me busy all day. Best of all, I got to perform a bunch of new skills. I removed an indwelling catheter. I removed an IV catheter. I had a full day of strict monitoring of fluid intake and output of my post-surgical C-section mom and all the documentation involved. I tracked amounts of every baby feeding in the three different places it needs to be recorded and tracked the # of baby voids on the 6 different places it gets recorded. I know it must seem that tracking wet diapers is not very interesting, but it is the best assessment you can do to verify that the baby is receiving adequate fluid. Plus I got to do 2 full assessments on both the mom and baby. I worked in some patient education which is a big part of the post-partum care. I was on my feet for pretty much the whole 12 hours with a few sitting breaks to document.
I am finally feeling confident about my assessment skills on the mom. Slightly easier than assessing a newborn who insists on sqiggling, cooing, crying when trying to assess his respiration rate. And listening to the heartbeat is pretty tricky too. Frist of all it beats extremely fast (120-160 beats/minute compared to adults of 60-100). That's a lot of counting. You also need to listen for the full minute (as opposed to just 15 seconds) since baby's heartbeat is often slightly irregular and accelerates greatly if the baby makes a slight movement. The first time I lost count around 84 and had to do it all over again. And of course the parents are watching you do this the whole time and undoubtably thinking, "Oh god, what is this student doing to my baby!!! She is making him cry!!" But my patient was extremely cool and did not get the least bit concerned when I was assessing the baby, so that made me feel pretty good. I felt like when the patient asked me questions, I had intelligent and thorough answers to provide.
Plus we had some great theoretical discussions about episiotomies versus lacerations during childbirth, reasons why pregnant and post-partum moms are at higher risk for deep vein thrombosis, and the therapeutic effects of cabbage leaves on the engorged breast. Who knew?!
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5 comments:
Hooray, Julie!
Just so you know, New Moms have No Idea what they are doing, either. They probably assume you know more than they do. And you probably do. You're counting heartbeats, after all. A lot of new moms are just nervous that you're going to make them take the baby home with them. And then they will be responsible for the diapers and the feedings and making sure the baby gets fluids.
Also, good for you on the shots! Sorry about the diabetic dog. Poor dog. Lucky he has such wonderful shot-givers.
Jules - i'm so proud of you!
Also, don't forget that new moms have been through a lot and would like to REST a little. I didn't get more than an hour of sleep COMBINED during the time I was in the hospital. And the nurses kept telling me I should get some rest. Hello? I would have if they ever left me alone and let me.
Lou - that's SO true about the rest. I think about that every time I need to go into a patient's room - that all they want to do is sleep and there we are with our stethoscopes and thermometers and clipboards every 4 hours.
I'm catching up. You are amazing. WOW. I'm glad Buddy has prepared and excellent shot giving moms, and I'm glad YOUR mom is good and healthy and perhaps sporting a handsome neck scar like me? I'm also glad that Jane is taking wonderful care of you, as we all know she does. Please tell her I enjoy Chicken Enchilada and a guacamole taco as well. :) I miss you! mo
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