20 hours closer

Well I survived my first 2 days in the ICU at Creighton University Med Center.... what an interesting place !  Although I did not have one, many of the patients being taken care of there are people you hear about on the news... gunshot wounds, car accidents, motorcycle accidents, farm accidents, etc. etc.  Because CUMC is one of the two trauma centers for the region, it gets a lot of people in very critical condition.  In the first couple of hours there on Thursday, I was asked to do an ABG draw on my patient -- arterial blood gas draw -- which I had 'learned' how to do in class (by reading how to do it! ha); I was quite nervous.  My patient instructor said "oh you'll be fine, lets go do it" and off we went!  It did turn out to be very easy, and I got it perfect on my first try, so that was fun :)  The rest of the day was filled with LOTS of vital sign taking (every hour) and suctioning (because my patient had a tracheotomy, a lot of secretions build up in the trachea and in the mouth - so you use a little machine like dentists use and get rid of it all).   Friday was a very long 12 hour shift, but also full of new experiences.  I got to accompany my patient to the Operating Room to get her wounds sutured closed, and get a new trach tube placed (the one she had in was too big now that most of the swelling from her injury had decreased and was in danger of falling out).  

I had been in the OR once before and enjoyed it, so I was interested to see if I would again like it - turns out I do. I think I wouldn't mind being a nurse there - I thought it was cool that the nurses had the responsibility to get the patient fully prepped for the surgeons and also to monitor the patient throughout the surgery.... Anyone know of any job openings in OR's in Oregon??  :) 

Also on Friday morning I got to attempt to start an IV. Sadly, I was unsuccessful - I think I just put the needle a little too deep into the skin.  My instructor and I felt bad for the nice old man who was letting me poke around in him, so I only did one attempt and she did the second (and got it started of course, ugh).  But now I know what it feels like and I think the next time I do it, I'll get it.... maybe if Jeremy let me practice on him I would have gotten it!  Haha, still trying to convince him to let me try...! 

Earlier in the week, on Weds, a couple classmates and I had to do a couple of presentations to youth in Omaha. Our first one was on first aid (my portion was sprains/strains and how to care for them....) and the second one was dental health.  It was fun, I love kids - but I definitely liked teaching the middle schoolers more then the 2nd graders. If I had to be a teacher, I think I'd choose middle or high school!   Check out this slide show of hilarous pictures of the kids -- for the first aid group we let them tape themselves up with ACE bandages and various gauze, band aids, etc. We also had "fake" epipens for them to practice using in case of an emergency allergic reaction.  For dental health we had them put frosting all over a glove on their hand, to represent all the sugar we eat, and then brush it off with giant toothbrushes, and floss with yarn to get the plaque (brown frosting) off!  Messy, but fun!