Week #2 & #3

Since I have been mostly lying around in bed today due to a crazy allergy flare that is sticking to me like Popsicle drippings, I thought I ought to blog and hope to post sometime in the nearish future. As a few are aware, I ran into some recent difficulties with a place I will heretofore refer to as 'the clinic' and I have to edit/remove some info that was evidently in question on my blog. In re-reading through it, I am honestly not finding said info, but I am not going to try to root it all out so I can make my blog fully public again. I am a scofflaw evidently.

Week 2 was nearly as busy as week 1 but with the added bonus of knowing some of what to expect. I also have a greater grasp on the new terminology, albeit it a rather tenuous one. I managed to not kill anyone for the second week in a row. Kudos to me! I am still learning a lot about well, everything and the constant switching from clinic to floor work makes it more, not less, confusing. I prefer to focus on one thing until I understand it and then move on to the next skill. Instead, I feel like it is hard to master anything at all.

Week 3 was more comprehensible because someone amongst the powers that be decided that I should spend the entirety of the week learning the clinic instead of bouncing back and forth. There is a lot to learn, but the people are great and seem more than willing to teach (to their benefit once I learn obviously, but it is amazing how some people dislike teaching others). I was able to focus a few days on just blood transfusions which let me practice IV starts, play with copious amounts of tubing, learn the blood pump, practice on Echarting, and learn all the intricacies of transfusions. I even, sadly, saw a reaction (thankfully not on my patient). The woman recovered, but it was alarming just the same. Good thing about working in a hospital though, she was taken straight to the ER (where she recovered nicely).

I am definitely liking the job thus far. A good blend of the things I thoroughly enjoy (clinic type settings, in and out of patient rooms, no total care) in conjunction with some intricate skills that will be very portable. It is also quite amazing how many of the skills I learned in 'the clinic' are coming in handy both in patient interactions and in a variety of needle sticks that I had copious practice with. I have PICC training next. I wish I had a better chance to cement some other skills first, but they will evidently have to wait. I admit, I am more than a little nervous after watching some other PICC procedures.