The Next Time......

I step foot into a hospital, it will be one of the following reasons:

1) For a job interview.

2) To visit a sick friend/relative (hopefully NOT this option).

3) Because I am the patient (hopefully not this option either).

4) To start working.

One reason I definitely will NOT be stepping foot into a hospital:

For clinicals!!

I completed my final nursing school clinical today, and I must say, the Lord really looked over me today.

For one, my cell phone is my alarm. It has 3 alarm settings: weekday, on, or off. I have it set on weekday since it is rare I have to wake up on the weekends. Last night, Ray asked me if I wanted him to set his alarm as a backup for me. Boy am I glad he asked me that. My alarm was set on weekday, and I would not have woke up in time for my shift! That would have been bad, to say the least.

Another thing- I has a dream this morning that it was a terrible day on the floor. In the dream, we had like 7 or 8 patients and they were all very difficult patients and we had no help on the floor. Real life did not play out like that at all. We had 4 patients, and no admissions (which takes up a lot of time), and no discharges, which isn't a bad thing, but what happens when you have a discharge is that you get the next admission, and that takes up time, like I mentioned. The day went very smoothly. I really could not have asked for a better "last" day. I also ended on a great note. I had to "give report" on all of our patients today- give report is where I give the oncoming nurse a report of the patient; whats been going on, important things to know about, history, etc- and I had to give report on one of the patients to the charge nurse. After I was finished, she told me a did a good job because I gave her a very good report. That was nice to hear.

I had a patient that my nurse and I admitted yesterday again today. He and his wife were very nice people and I loved taking care of them. I had to put a foley catheter in him yesterday, and then today had to give him a suppository, so my poor patient jokingly referred to me as the bad guy. When he left for a test, his wife and I were talking, and she was really worried about him because in 65 years together, he'd always been healthy until just during the last 6 months. She started to get teared up, which in turn teared me up too because they're such nice people and we just connected. Before the wife left, she gave me a hug, just in case she couldn't say goodbye, and then blew me a kiss later when she walked out for the night. Before I left, I said goodbye to my patient, and he gave me a hug. And I felt good because I know I did a good job.

Now I'm a little sad because more than likely I will never see him again. I'll wonder how he's doing, if he's better, or if he's not. I'll wonder how his wife is doing. I'll wonder if the care he's getting will be good enough. And just as I had started on my first day of clinicals in nursing school with a patient I will never forget, I have ended on my last day of clinicals with a patient I will also never forget.

So there you have it. My clinical experience- as a student- has come to an end. I wish I had time to post more about my experiences, but it was hard with everything I had to do.

Don't worry though, there is still more to come. I'm not finished yet. I'm just getting started.