Today was my last day of orientation. I tried to suck as much information out of my preceptor as possible due to the fact that my next shift I will not have a preceptor, however they say there is always going to be someone available to answer questions. Many of these people would likely not live if they didn't get medical treatment so I keep trying to keep that in mind in order to stay positive. There is a lot to learn and I wish I could just fast forward to a month from now where I was comfortable knowing where everything is and how to exactly take care of a pediatric patient. They try to give the adult nurses only adult patients, but that will not always be the case. We have to do quite a few calculations w/ our medications. It makes it an extra challenge working with people from many different countries who have many different accents and have different ways of doing things. However, we're all here for the same reason so everyone I've worked w/ so far is very patient and respectful towards each other.
My patient I took care of today was an adult and likely would not have lived another month or two if the surgeon didn't take out the benign massive tumor in the back of his throat. He would have likely slowly suffocated if he wasn't chosen for surgery on screening day. When I received him from PACU he was pretty sedated, but as he woke up we were able to tell him that the tumor was gone and out and the surgery went really well. We could tell he was scared with all the tubes, but I could see a sense of relief on his face. It will be really interesting when they take out his trach and he can talk. That won't be for another couple days. The cleft lip babies I had taken care of the previous day also had their surgeries. They looked amazing even though their faces were still swollen and the steri strips were still intact. The moms looked happy and were extremely attentive feeding their babies and keeping them calm. Getting to know the patients has been fun. The adults seem to have a great sense of humor even though many of them have massive tumors on their face. They all thought it was really funny that we gave them all coloring books. They kept looking at them and laughed. There were coloring books in each admission bag because we didn't know if kids would get the bags. They are are very thankful and do not always admit when they're in pain so we have to really pry to know when to give them pain medicine.
My patient I took care of today was an adult and likely would not have lived another month or two if the surgeon didn't take out the benign massive tumor in the back of his throat. He would have likely slowly suffocated if he wasn't chosen for surgery on screening day. When I received him from PACU he was pretty sedated, but as he woke up we were able to tell him that the tumor was gone and out and the surgery went really well. We could tell he was scared with all the tubes, but I could see a sense of relief on his face. It will be really interesting when they take out his trach and he can talk. That won't be for another couple days. The cleft lip babies I had taken care of the previous day also had their surgeries. They looked amazing even though their faces were still swollen and the steri strips were still intact. The moms looked happy and were extremely attentive feeding their babies and keeping them calm. Getting to know the patients has been fun. The adults seem to have a great sense of humor even though many of them have massive tumors on their face. They all thought it was really funny that we gave them all coloring books. They kept looking at them and laughed. There were coloring books in each admission bag because we didn't know if kids would get the bags. They are are very thankful and do not always admit when they're in pain so we have to really pry to know when to give them pain medicine.
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