Working and Learning

For the last three months of exposure to the different clinical areas, I have improved my skills and widened my knowledge in the field of nursing. These were all made possible with the help and patient guidance of the Nurses whom I have worked with and I want to extend my deepest and most sincere gratitude to them. Working without them would have been very catastrophic and unimaginable for a nurse trainee like me.

My first two weeks were spent for “1-day” rotation to the different clinical areas for orientation and familiarization to the various clinical areas. I am glad to say that the orientation helped me a lot in preparing me to have my actual duty.

 " Three months of working is three months of learning"

For the “15-day” rotation, I was first assigned to the Pediatric Ward. The Pediatric Ward has always been a challenge for me and I was very anxious on my first day of duty. I am very anxious because my clients in this ward are very young and are delicate which requires extreme dexterity and careful handling. Administration of medication in this ward calls for high accuracy for the dosages of medications should be given with extreme care. And I appreciate the nurses whom I have worked with for extending their help and even gave advised on how to prepare medications. My skills in the preparation of medications were greatly improved in the Pediatric ward. This prepared me well in my future assignment to the other clinical areas. The ward also introduced the basic rules and protocols in handling clients’ flowcharts.

I was next assigned to the Obstetric-Gynecology Ward. In this area, I was taught how to admit (in charting) patients from the OB ER. Although I had few mistakes in the beginning, the OB nurses and physicians were tolerant enough to correct me so I may perform better in the future. Before my rotation was over I was already able to handle basic paper works including discharging patients.

After being assigned in the Obstetric-Gynecology Ward, I was assigned to the Pay Ward. And I have improved a lot in skills in this area. Aside from administration of medications, I have mastered the skill of feeding via nasogastric tubes, glucose monitoring and vital signs monitoring. Since the Pay ward also caters services for some surgical patients, I also was able to hone my skills in the dressing/cleaning wounds. In this was good news for me for my next area was the Surgical ward. The Pay Ward also prepared me well in handling difficult patient. My knowledge in the field of medical-surgical nursing surely has greatly improved. The Nurses in the Pay Ward shared stories of their experiences in the ward and how they managed certain cases. These stories and tips help me go thru everyday’s challenges and I thank the Pay ward nurses for their kind and enlightening advises and teachings and I wish to work with them again.

The fourth clinical area to where I was assigned was the Surgical Ward. My previous exposure to surgical cases in the Pay Ward prepared me well in caring for surgical patients in this ward. It was in this ward that I was able to handle a patient with Chest Thoracostomy Tube. I learned a lot of new things in caring for patients with Chest Thoracostomy Tube including the principle of keeping a negative pressure. During my Student days I was not able to handle any Orthopedic Clients. The only Orthopedic Client I had was a fictional patient from a lecture on orthopedic nursing. And when I was assigned in the Surgical Ward, I was able to handle a real orthopedic client, most of who were from vehicular accidents. I was able to assist in the application of a cast to a patients arm. I know these are just minor things for the other nurses, but for me the “first” of a something is always as special as the best of something. Although the current Nurses’ Station in the Surgical Area was not spacious enough to accommodate all the nurses, they were still able to perform their given task efficiently.

Finally, I was assigned in the Out-Patient Department. The Out-Patient Department is one of the busiest areas to where I was assigned. The time here goes by very fast that you won’t even notice that it’s again time to go home. As an OPD nurse, one should be very skillful in taking the history of the clients’ complaints and in physical assessment. Also an OPD nurse should be very keen in taking non-verbal queues. In this area I mastered the use of ECG machines and even troubleshooting of which. I was also assigned a lot of times the HOMIS and I was able to master the use of it. I was also able to learn how to troubleshoot such which will be very helpful in my future assignments during my Specialty Training if opportunity permits.

I am very thankful to every nurse and midwife to whom I have worked with for their wisdom and patient guidance which contributed a lot to my development. Three months of working is three months of learning and I wish to learn more and I ask for your continuing patience in helping us to be a better and more competent nurse. Although we had a few mistakes and hardships, at the end of the day these helped us improved and learn more.

Next area, Post-Anesthesia Care Unit(PACU) - Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). :)

Veterans Regional Hospital and Trauma Center

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya