Five intensive and exhausting but awesome weeks have come to an end. I was pretty nervous about starting my rotation in internal medicine, mainly because my default reaction to any new situation seems to be perpetually stuck PANIC mode. But also because I had heard a lot about the clinical nurse and I wasn't sure that I would live up to her expectations.
The first couple of days were a bit of an uphill battle, I was still getting my bearings in the ward and I wasn't entirely sure how to approach or deal with my patients. I'm the kind of person that likes to rehearse uncomfortable situations in their head. Unfortunately, the person on the other side of the conversation doesn't always get my memos and the conversations never go quite the way I had planned.
On my third day in the ward I went into the room that I was assigned to and introduced myself to the patient in the first bed. Armed with two days of experience, I had things down to some semblance of a science and was feeling pretty confident. The patient glanced up for his phone for a minute and then noticing the blood pressure machine that I had with me, held out his arm.
As I wrapped the cuff around his arm I tried to introduce myself again. The patient gave a pitiful half-smile in return, I chose to take it as a good sign. When we were done with the blood pressure the patient thanked me and got up. I still had to take his temperature and ask him a few questions so I asked him to sit back down.
He looked at me quizzically and said "But you already took my blood pressure." . I smiled and said that I had just a few more questions and it wouldn't take long if he would be kind enough to sit back down and cooperate. Deciding that he had had enough pestering for one day he kindly informed that he was going to change his clothes now so I should probably leave.
I waited a few more moments trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. None of my rehearsed conversations or previous patient encounters had gone on this particular direction...
And that's the story of how I watched a 70 year old patient strip in an effort to avoid talking to me.
I was pretty determined not to let my clinical nurse down so I asked the semi undressed man the rest of my questions and realizing that I wasn't leaving without answers, he reluctantly gave them to me.
Things got easier as the days flew by. I learned more efficient and effective ways to gather the relevant information from my patients and by the end of the second week the clinical nurse trusted me to take care of a full room of patients (between 8-9 patients depending on the day).
During the first couple of week my clinical nurse stayed in the room with me while the doctors were doing their rounds. Deciding that she trusted me enough with the patients, the nurse left me alone with the doctors on days that we were understaffed. Seeing that my clinical nurse trusted me, the doctors relied on my information about the patients to help make decisions about the course of the treatments.
It felt great to be a part of the team and to feel like I was actually contributing rather than just standing on the side and watching other people work. The staff in the ward were warm and welcoming. They always made time to answer any questions that I had and help me when they could, and I tried my best to help them in return.
Overall it was a great experience and I can't believe that it's already over. I have lots more to learn but I think I'm off to a great start.
No comments:
Post a Comment