Clinicals, Day 1

So...it was back to clinicals today. I'm not gonna lie, it was nice having a break from them during winter vacation, and it was hard having to get up at 5:30 this morning to start going back. BUT, I managed to force myself into bed around 12:30, and after a restless night of sleep (because I am paranoid that my alarm is not going to go off, so I wake up all throughout the night), I made it up and out the door by 6:15. Yuck. Clinicals this semester are at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and what a hospital it is. If you live in the Chicagoland area and need any sort of surgery/medical procedure done...that is your place to be. All private patient rooms, state of the art everything...its wonderful.

I had a stresfull day today though. Our computer login's wouldn't work, so we basically spent the first hour of the morning standing in the hallway like lost children trying to figure out where to go and what to do. I've never felt like more of a student who knows nothing before. Finally, we were able to get started, and the day went by fairly quickly from that point on. Bed bath, hanging IVs, vital signs, assessments, medications...the usual for a nursing student. The biggest suprise of the day was that I was told my patient was a man...and when I walked into the room, there was a woman patient sitting in the chair! Oops, looks like a little mix-up by the instructor.

I forgot how uterly exhausted being in clinicals makes you. My friend said that other day that each time we go to clinicals is like starting a new job, and the more I think about it, the more I see how right she is. It's very stressful to feel like you don't really know what you're doing, I just feel so out of place sometimes. But we are learning a lot, and it is something that will definately become more comfortable in the future. Also, how many nurses are with just one patient for the entire day? ZERO!! So having only one patient can make for a long day sometimes, I think my patient was as worn out as I was by the end of my shift.

Highlight of my day... my patient saying that she "didn't order any nurses." She didn't understand why we were there, she simply didn't order us. I forgot hospitals are becoming the new restaurants...

:)

All in all...it was a good day. Now its time to start on the dreaded clinical paperwork, when all I really want to do is curl up in bed and sleep. Grey's and Private Practice is on tonight, might have to be my excuse for not getting everything done. We're back tomorrow morning bright and early again...and then its the weekend. Let's just say, I can't wait!