(I have to be careful because of HIPPA but here is a quick run down of my day)
My two assigned patients today were special cases in Post Partum... both were very young girls, who luckily for me spoke english. One was in the hospital because she had a missed abortion, meaning there was still fetal material in her uterus which obviously needed to come out - she did not do this while I was there, and was scheduled for surgery for this afternoon after I left. I'll spare people the details of what that procedure would have been like - but what I DID get to do for her was give lots of IV meds, as well as take out her IV (because it was not working properly). I also took lots of vital signs, which is easy, but still hands on experience.
My next patient was what kept me quite busy all day. She had a crash c/s early the night before, due to severe abruption... basically the placenta which holds the baby was tearing away from the uterus. Not good, at all, especially since she was only at 26 weeks gestation. Her baby survived and was in the NICU, weighing about 1 pound and of course needing a lot of care. The patient complained of pain all day and at one point when I walked into the room my nurse just looked at me with wide eyes and said calmly "Meaghan I need you to go get a nurse for me. ANY NURSE. Please go get another nurse for me". Of course I went running to the nearest nurse I could find and brought her back ... long story short it was thought they were worried she would have a stroke or stop breathing or her heart would beat incorrectly. The patient panicked from teh extreme pain in her neck and chest area and then began hyperventilating.. Emergency oxygen was given as well as an immediate ECG done and then a chest xray and blood work were done. At the time I left, it was not known what had caused this episode of extreme pain. I forgot to mention one factor in all of this... cocaine. Both mom and baby were found to be positive for it...
On a happier note, I got to see my first vaginal delivery today! It was very quick but very interesting to watch. Teaching hospitals are crazy - there must have been about 15 people in the room with all the nursing students, nurses, med students, residents, and doctors!
But everything was done quickly and efficiently, and wow did that baby pop out fast! I was told that is not common :) After the baby did come out, I got to assist with its first newborn assessment which means taking vital signs and blood sugar levels and an initial weight. Very healthy pink baby girl! If that wasn't enough for ya, just want to mention that I did take care of 2 OTHER patients that my nurse had, just gave meds and took vitals and helped keep them comfortable....
Overall, an INCREDIBLE day. I am still smiling as I type this because I can't believe I got to do and see all that - It really makes me think this is an area I could definitely see myself working in! We'll see in a few months after I have other cool experiences at other clinical rotations though :)
