Med Surg 5 3/27/15

Journal

     The MSU was very quiet and calm, except for some beeping of machines here and there. Most of the patients there were older adults who all had some sort of illness or injury. I mainly just observed my nurse. She made sure the patients were doing well, and she checked their vital signs and administered medicine. The equipment I observed was the vital sign machine. The nurse utilized the vital signs machine, and she also utilized her computer to input data.

     While in the MSU, I observed the nurse give medication and a bed bath. The health care professionals were very nice, and there were many of them on this floor. On the 7th floor, there were not that many. Two nurses worked together to give a patient a bed bath. They would talk to each other and ask each other if they needed help. I observed some safety procedures which included the fire extinguisher and the crash cart. The nurse would administer pain medicine to some patient who had a lot of pain. I had knowledge about what happened in the MSU because I had been to the 7th floor already. There was not really any new information that I learned because the nurses did the same thing as the nurses on the 7th floor. However, I learned from a patient that one of the doctors was on level 600 something on Candy Crush. I did not come into contact with any medical terminology; however, I came into contact with an abbreviation. The abbreviation was DOB which stands for Date of Birth. 

     The MSU visit went pretty well. It was not different than the 7th floor, but I still enjoyed observing. The patient they had to give a bed bath was not very cooperative. I learned that some patients will not cooperate with you, and sometimes you need patience. It is very important to make your patients as comfortable as possible in order for you to do what you need to do. 

Day Surgery 3/6/15

Report

1. This week in Day Surgery I read out of a binder for a good 30 minutes because they were not doing anything. After 30 minutes I was able to go into a room and observe the nurse. The nurse took vitals, and she asked the patient questions and informed him of the procedure.
2. This week I learned about what the nurses duties in Day Surgery are. They have to make sure the patient consents to the surgery, and they have to make them sign a paper.
3. The best thing that happened was that I got to sit down and read interesting stuff about edoscopies. I saw cool pictures, and also I was able to observe a nurse.
4. The worst thing that happened was that I was not able to do much observing. That's alright though. I was tired that day anyways.

This week was: FAIR

There wasn't much to do, but towards the end I was able to observe a nuse which made the day fair.

Record

Technology Observed:

I did not observe any technology; however, I read about an endoscope. An endoscope is a long, narrow, flexible tube with a light and video camera attached to the end. It shows images of the GI tract on a screen during surgery.

Diagnostic Procedures:

The only diagnostic procedure that I read about was an endoscopy. They use this procedure to diagnose what is wrong within the patient.

Therapeutic Procedures:

There were not any therapeutic procedures. They prepped the patient for surgery. They took vitals and made sure he was comfortable.

Diseases/Disorders:

I did not observe any disorders, however I read about some. I read about a hiatel hernia which is an opening in the diaphram that the esophagus or swallowing tube passes through to reach the stomach. If the hiatus weakens and stretches, part of the stomach and/or esophagus can squeeze into the chest cavity producing hiatal hernia.

Medical Abbreviations:

OR - Operating Room

PACU - Post Anesthesia Care Unit

Journal

     The Day Surgery unit was very calm and quiet. There were hardly any patients there at the time I went. When a patient was being prepared for surgery, the nurse asked him personal questions, and they told him about the procedure that is being done. The only equipment that was used was the vital signs machine and IV. The only technology utilized was the vital signs machine.
     I was able to watch the nurse prepare the patient. There was one nurse in the room with the patient, checking his vital signs, and then another doctor came in and gave the patient a form to sign. They teamed together to get the patient ready for surgery. The nurses would communicate with each other to provide the patient with the right medication. The major safety procedure performed was getting the patient to sign a form of consent.
     Going into day surgery, I had no idea of any procedures done. I learned that they prepare the patient for surgery for a while and then actually perform the surgery. The only abbreviations I came into contact with was PACU and OR.
     Day Surgery was not too bad. I had a decent time, and was able to learn a lot about endoscopy because I had to read a book for 30 minutes. I learned how the nurses prepare the patient and how important it is to have patient consent. If I ever want to become a day surgery nurse, I could use the people skills I observed. The nurse was very kind and informational.

    

Radiology/Imaging 02/27/15

Report

1. This week the nurses duties included calling in the patient, making sure they changed into linen, laying them down on the table, making sure they were comfortable, and taking images.
2. Today I learned what an IVP is. IVP stands for intravenous pyelogram, and it takes images of the kidneys, liver and bladder.
3. I thought it was really cool to see the images after they took them.
4. I guess the worst thing that happened today was when the student there messed up while taking an image. He didn't let the equipment run long enough. It was corrected by redoing the image.

This week was: GOOD

I really enjoyed watching how the equipment worked and seeing the images produced. The staff was really nice, and they all worked well together.

Record

Technology Observed:

Today I observed a couple different machines. I saw the x-ray machine, and also a tomography machine. Both machines were controlled with a button, and they took an image very quickly. 

Diagnostic Procedures:

The nurses in imaging would lay the patients down and prep them. The patient first had to change into a hospital gown, and then the nurses explained what they were going to do. They also gave the patient contrast through an IV. 

Therapeutic Procedures:

There were not any therapeutic procedures. The most the nurses did was cover the patient with blankets to make sure she was not cold.

Diseases/Disorders:

The patient did not have any diseases or disorders. However, she was in the imaging area to get images taken of her kidney, liver and bladder because she had a urinary tract infection, and they wanted to see if she had any stones.

Medical Terminology/Abbreviations:

I only came into contact with one medical abbreviation. I saw on a report the medical abbreviation "DOB" which stands for "Date of Birth."

Journal

     When I walked into the imaging room it was a small office about half the size of a classroom. The personnel were all dressed in black scrubs, and there were about 5 staff members in there. The staff would go outside to get their patient and bring them into the room. They gave them time to change in a hospital gown and instructed the patient to lay on the table. The nurses used the tomography machine to take images of the patient's kidney, liver and bladder. After the image was taken, it would show up on the computer screen, and then they would move on to the next image they needed to take.

     I watched the nurses place the machine and patient in the correct spot. There was one imaging nurse instructing a student from medical school on how to work it, and she was also showing a new lady how everything worked. The nurse had to check with the doctor to make sure it was okay for the them to give the patient contrast, so they worked with the doctor and radiation therapist. Before taking each image, the nurses would move behind a wall, so they would not be exposed to any radiation. 

    Going into the imaging area, I knew that they took x-rays and other imaging stuff. I thought it would be really complicated to run the machines, but truth is, all they do is hold down a button, and the machine does the rest. I only came across one medical abbreviation that was on a patient's information sheet, and that was "DOB" or "Date of Birth." I also learned that IPV stands for intravenous pyelogram, and it is used to take images of the kidneys, liver and bladder.

     The imaging unit was very interesting. It was really cool to see how everything worked, and to see it behind the scenes. I am not used to being behind the scenes. I definitely learned what some of the imaging stuff is, and what different equipment they use. If I ever wanted to be in imaging, I could use some of the information I learned.