What I Did

Here are some of the things I did yesterday and today:

• I changed the dressing on a PICC line. A PICC line is a peripherally inserted central catheter. It is a central line, which is like an IV but it goes straight into the heart instead of just being in the vein. A PICC is inserted in the arm, instead of in the chest, but it also goes all the way straight into the heart. Its quite a little procedure to change the dressing on a PICC line because it has to be very sterile since the line goes directly to the heart. I have to wear sterile gloves, a mask, I have to make sure the patient turns their head away from where the dressing is being changed so that they don't breathe over the site during the change. I have to clean the site with alcohol and betadine several times. It was very exciting to get to do such a simple yet serious little task.
• Today I hung 2 IV piggy backs. Piggybacks are secondary IV bags with certain meds that don't need to be run all day long like saline does, for instance. In my case I had one bag that needed to run over 15 minutes time, and the other bag needed to run for just an hour. So I have to set the bag up, prime the tubing and then connect it to the primary bag's line, lower the primary bag so that gravity will automatically make the secondary bag run and shut the primary bag off, and then will resume again once the secondary fluid runs out. This way, if you're not around when the secondary fluid runs out, the primary picks up and ensures that the vein stays open and fluid is always going in.
• I checked a patient's blood sugar with the glucometer today. I have done this on myself a few times with my mom's machine, but it was my second time ever doing it on a patient.
  
• I was supposed to give an injection to my patient today, but she refused the med.

I think that is all, but if I happened to have forgotten anything, I will post it at a later time. I am excited that I am nearing the end of my first semester. I have only 1 week left until my 3 week break, so I guess that means that 4 weeks from today semester #2 begins. Scary. I remember 4 short months ago I wasn't sure I'd make it to the see the end of the semester, but here I am. My final is on Monday, but grades won't be posted until sometime Wednesday. I have my last two clinicals on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I probably won't post much until then since I really need to hit the books hard and study for my final from now until then. Wish me luck. I need an 85 on the final for a B.