Cardiopulmanary

Learning Report
1. My responsibilities included asking questions and listening to stories.
2. I learned the difference between entubation and tracking.
    I learned how you put the entubation tube in.
3. The best thing that happened was that the nurse I followed was extremely willing to teach and was great at telling her stories so I understood.
4. The worst thing that happened this week was that I did not get to interact with any patients or see any procedures done.
5. This week was fair, because it was one of the most interesting units for me, but it was not good becasue I did not see anything.

Experience Report

Technology- I observed their technology of their computers and their charting program. Other than that I was told of the technology of an EKG and an ECMO.

Diagnostic procedures- I was told about an aterial blood gas test that measures the oxygen level in the blood. I was also told about an EKG that would measure and document the heart rhythm.

Therapeutic procedures- I was told about three different resperatory thereputic procedures; entubation, tracking and non-invasive ventilation. I was also told about the importance of oral health while a patient is entubated. CPR would also be one of the therapeutic procedures in this unit.

Diseases- The only disease I observed and was told about was pnemonia.  I was also told about this one condition where there was a mass on the vocal cords which caused complications while entubating, this was not common but one of the nurses had observed it but did not remember the name for it.

Medical Terminology-

• EKG- Electrocadiogram
• ABG- Arteial blood gas
• ECMO- Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

 Experiance Journal
I. When I walked into the cardiopulmanary unit it was extremely calm and quiet, that was because nothing was going on in this area. One of the nurces walked me up to the meeting area for the resperatiory nurses and in there, there was more noise beacaue of all the nurses on breakfast break that sat in there and talked. This room had bright lightning and smelled like food and coffee. When you walked out of that room you came to the ICU and in there it was quiet and dimmer lightning. It also smelled sterile in there because of all the cleaning they have to do for of all the high infection risks on those patients. 

II. I did not observe any of the staffs skills but from their stories and their ablitlity to explain things for me, I believe they have great medical skills. I talked to them about soft skills and they gave real like examples with the patients they had now, so to them it was important to have those skills. I did observe the dynamic of the staff and it seemed great, it seemed like all of them got along and was able to help each other with all their daily tasks.

III.  I learned that an entubation is when a tube goes down the patients throat into their lungs and forces oxygen into them to help the patient breath. I  also learned that tracking is to help the patient breath, but is a tube that is surgically put into the throat, this means that the patient does not have anything in their mouth. A non-invasive ventilator is yet anithing thing that helps a patient breath but it is in a form of a mask that forces oxygen at a high pressure. I was also told how important oral care is while the patient is entubated, so the nurses do oral care once every shift. I also learned that an ECMO is a bypass machine that takes the blood out of the body and filters in and then give it back to the body, this is to help when the heart and lungs do not function as they should. 

IV. Even though I did not observe anything in this rotation I think I learned the most in it. I think this is the most interesting unit I have been to so far, because this is the unit I believe I want to work at in the future. I also followed the best nurse that I have so far, she actually wanted to teach and that was much appreciated. I had a lot of fun this week in cardiopulmanary. 

GC- 1-22-15

This time at GC, Andrea and I were together in the dining unit. We started out helping putting tablecloths on all the tables. We also folded and put out the napkins and all the glasses. While we were in this unit we talked to two different women; one of them was ready to go back to school to become a nurse and the other was getting ready to retire.

GC - Physical Therapy

This week at GC, Christina and I were in physical therapy. They were not busy in physical therapy this week, so we could not help with many things. The things that we did help with included cleaning a domino game and rolling the wheelchairs behind the residents while they were walking. We also talked to some of the physical therapist about their job, as well as our futures in the medical field.

There was one resident that stood out, one lady had broken her kneecap. I got to be the one pushing the wheelchair behind her and talk to her. She said she was in a lot of pain but that she did not take pain medication for it. She had broken her kneecap by falling, her hand was also totally bruised. I hope to see her again and see her fully recovered!

Experience Journal - Postpartum

       The environment in the postpartum unit is very calm and quiet. The only sound you can here is hushed talking between the nurses, other than that it is quiet. The lighting in the hallways and the patients rooms are different, the hallways are brighter than patients rooms. Another thing that you observe when you walk in this unit is that there are pictures on the walls, but the pictures are always of babies. The smell on this unit is the same as the rest of the hospital; it has that hospital smell, the sterile smell. When you walk into this unit a safe feeling come over you, it is also a calm feeling. This unit does not give you any stress, it helps you calm down instead.

       The staff in this unit is absolutely amazing, they are all nice and caring. All of them are also very helpful, they all help each other out to get things done and get the best care for their patients. All of them have great soft skills, and that is very important in this unit were most of their patients are women whom are recovering after labor. They also have good communication skills, between the nurses as well as to their patients. They obviously have great medical skills too.

       On this rotation I did not learn that much because most of the rotation consisted of watching the nurse plugging in information into the computer. I did learn a new way to find veins in the hand; by making a fist and bending the hand down. I also learned how to drain blood; the needle in the hand, as well as filling different tubes with different amounts of blood.

      This was the second time for me at this unit and this experience was better than last time. Even though I sat around for most of the time I still got to see one main procedure. The nurse that I followed around this time was also better at explaining things than the last. This rotation was more educational than last time at this unit, but I did not learn that many new things. If I was going to grade it between 1-10, I give this rotation a 6 because I have had better experiences at other units.

Experiance Record - Postpartum

Technology observed:

The technology I observed while I was in postpartum was mostly the computers they do the charting on. I also observed the technology in the drug cabin, as well as the transporting system of materials. 

Diagnostic procedures observed:

The only diagnostic medical procedure I observed was the procedure of draining blood, that would later go to the lab to get tested. Then I observed the diagnostic procedure of charting.

Therapeutic procedures observed:

I observed a few theraputic procedures and they include the nurse giving different patients blankets, ice chips, and some warm drink. I also observed nurses helping a patient to the bathroom and to the shower. The most medical procedure I saw was when the nurse gave a patient morphine to reduce the pain she was in. 

Disease observed:

The most of the diseases I observed was women that had just had their babies because I was in postpartum. But there was one patient that was 8 weeks pregnant but had stomach pains, the doctors did not know what the cause of them were so that is why she was taken care of in postpartum. 

Medical Terminology encountered:

During this rotation I did not observe any new medical terms. 

Learning report- Postpartum

My responsibilities this week at postpartum included helping a nurse clean and hold tubes while we drew blood.

       

I learned a new way to find arteries in the hand; by making a fist and bend the hand down, to stretch the skin so the arteries show better. I also learned how to draw blood and some new things for the charts.

       

The best thing that happened at this rotation was to see the nurse draw blood and also that she included me while she was doing it.

       

The worst thing that happened was that most of the rotation time included watching nurse Cameron do her charting of her patients.

       

This weeks rotation was fair, it was not the best rotation I've been to. It was only fair because most of the time I only got to sit and watch the computer while she was charting, not a lot of medical things happened. Meanwhile it was not the worst rotation I've been to so that is why it was fair. 

GC 01-08-15

It was the first time back at GC after winter break, and I was in LTAC with Chloe. We started off filling cups with water and ice for the residents. When we had finished the nurses told us that there was nothing to do in LTAC, so we went to Garden Bridge and helped out with activities there. This weeks activity included a game and a parachute; the residents seemed to enjoy the game more than the parachute. This week at GC was fun, I like when we get to just hang out with them, not so much work for the nurses.