Thursday, May 17, 2007
I'm exhausted but I've had the time of my life and discovered my calling... I think. The last 9 days my uni assigned me to work in the Emergency Department of St Vincent Hospital. For those of you who don't know, St Vincent is located in Darlinghurst, the gay capital of Sydney. Originally I was to work in the ICU. Boy am I glad to have sternly requested a move. It's been the most hands-on and eye-opening experience of my brief nursing career.
Every day as I walk to St Vincents, I hope for a major trauma or the chance to witness CPR in action. How morbid, eh? The worse day of someone's life becomes my highlight. Where's my humanity? I wonder if I lose it as I continue working in this area. I remember when I used to think IDC insertions were gross.
So what have I seen/done?
- cannula removals
- ECG setups
- tons of chest pain patient assessments
- IDC (in-dwelling catheter) insertion. My batting average so far: men 2/3, women 0/2 (when can I ever get a young woman who has not had a child?)
- frontal lobe dementia patient who asked if he could feel my boobs
- bipolar patient who viciously cursed me when I pricked her for a BSL test then just as quickly reverted back to her nice, pleasant self.
- 1 hour hold-down of an agitated post-ectal epileptic patient who finally calmed down after 80mg of Valium by peeing onto my shoes.
- 1 hour of torturing (via sternal rub and other techniques) to wake up an overdosed patient to admit what he OD'ed on (32 Serepax).
- sterile dressing'ed patient who jackhammered into a gas pipe and synged his arm and facial hair
- witnessed the pleural tap of an old lady who came in with shortness of breath
- witnessed the blueing of the arm of a narcotic OD patient
- learned how to bandage the head of someone which a head laceration
- 2 tetanus IM injections
- learned how to apply the Donway splint for femur fractures
- witnessed the cardiac deterioration of a patient whom doctors thought had stabilized from a stroke. She became unresponsive and her left pupil dilated while her right pupil remained. The doctor left me alone with her for 10 seconds to organize a bed in the resus area. I was primed to jump on the patient to start compressions!
- mental health patient rushing out of his room screaming "I'm going to kill all of you!", then get confronted quickly by big burly security men.
... how exciting to say the least! I wonder what I would get tomorrow? Let's keep those fingers crossed for something that will top my two weeks.