Welcome to the life of a nursing student! Yes it is my life, it has taken over my life. My semester has been even crazier than usual. I didn't think it was possible, but life always proves you wrong. Today I was forced to end my sessions with my personal trainer, to conserve energy for studying. This is because I failed my first test in med-surg and must, must, must do better next wednesday on the second test!
Yesterday was the first time I had two patients in medsurg, and I enjoyed being busier. The time went by faster, at least. It was my first time with a patient with a PEG tube. My instructor came in with me the first time, but she tends to impatiently do everything too fast without explaining. So the second time I went in with a crushed Prevacid and Plavix for the tube, I drew up the residual. No residual... hmmm, strange, I thought. But maybe not strange, I'm not so sure if there's supposed to be residual or not. So I went back to the diluted meds, tried to suck it up into the syringe... Nothing is going in! Why, you ask? Well, because I had left the syringe cap on. So I took it off, checked the residual again (10 cc this time), drew up the diluted meds, put it in, took the syringe out and... gush, fluid all over the place! No, I wasn't supposed to clamp it, he was on a continual feed. The answer was simple: Gravity. I should have held the tube up high, instead of down low where everything in the stomach would flow out through the tube.
Live and learn.
I wish that instructor wasn't so crabby. I overheard her telling a nurse that she knows she's being harsh to us, but she's "having a helluva day, and everyone else should too". Geesh. She even made me feel nervous giving insulin, which I do all the time at work.
Here I am in my research class, 'watching a video'. What would I do without my laptop???
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