Monday, March 29, 2010
sixth observation
My sixth observation was unexpected. This past friday my team and I were in Fellsmere, Fl for our fourth race this season. The first half of the day went smoothly but it was brutally hot and humid outside. Our athletic trainer walked around constan to make sure we were hydrating and staying out of the sun. When we were done racing, one of the girl on my team had unexpectedly gotten a charlie horse in her leg. And afer it happened the first time, it continued to painfully reoccur. There is always an ambulance on site for races, especially in weather like this. When the emt's came over she was laying on the floor in pain with ice on her leg. he EMTs came to the conclusion that maybe she was hydrated. They calmly told her they were going to give her an IV to help with possible dehydration. She didn't take it so well but they said they had to do it. They prepared a stretcher for her and brought her into the ambulance. I asked to go inside so I could observed a possible job interest. As my coach tried to take her mind off needles, which she made clear she wasn't too fond of, they proceeded to insert the IV. I always thought that it took at least an our for the IV to be fully done but I learned from te EMTs that it just depends on the person. It also depends on the case and the patients condition in general. For her, it took, tops, 45 minutes. They said at the rate the bag was emptying, she must have been dhydrated. They considered doing another one so she tried to persuade them that she was fine and didn't need one. I also learned that up until a few years ago, an EMT could put an IV in a patient but by state law only an MD could remove it. Now that has changed and an EMT can put in and remove one, but cannot put in another one. That would have to be done at the hospital. After the first IV, they made her walk around for a few minutes, saw there was no sign that she needed a visit to the hospital, and let us leave. Although it was an unexpected observation, I was really interested to see another type of job in the medical field. It really opened my eyes to all the different possiblities and options I have.
Fifth Obso
For my fifth observation I went to the doctor with my dad. Although it was not in the emergency room scene that I am really interested in, I thought it would be a good idea to get another outlook on different types of nurses. Now I have experienced both E.R. nurses and ones in the doctors office.
Since his appointment was at 9am, we left the house a quarter to and arrived five minutes early. When we walked in, he immediately signed in and we waited for the front desk to call his name. Standard procedure was to fill out basic forms. I asked the women at the front desk why it was necessary to fill out the same for and she bluntly told me it was policy to fill one out every appointment. Once he filled out all of the information we waited another ten to fifteen minutes before a nurse came through the door with a clipboard. She called us in and we walked into the hallway. To the left was the other side of the front desk and to the right was a hallway. She led my dad to the scale to be weighed; this is also standard procedure. I learned that although they ask every patient to step on the scale for a record of their weight, it can be refused by the patient and he nurse has no choice to move on with the rest of the exam. She also had my dads eye sight checked by him resighting the letters on a poster on the opposite side of the hall.
We were finally led to a small room where she checked his vitals. She checked his blood pressure, pulse, heart beat, eyes and nose and then told us that the doctor would be with us shortly.
After witnessing a nurse in a doctors office, although every office may be different, I know that I may want to go into more of the Emergency Room type of job. I like a more upbeat work rather than the standard procedure, preparing the patient for the doctor.
Since his appointment was at 9am, we left the house a quarter to and arrived five minutes early. When we walked in, he immediately signed in and we waited for the front desk to call his name. Standard procedure was to fill out basic forms. I asked the women at the front desk why it was necessary to fill out the same for and she bluntly told me it was policy to fill one out every appointment. Once he filled out all of the information we waited another ten to fifteen minutes before a nurse came through the door with a clipboard. She called us in and we walked into the hallway. To the left was the other side of the front desk and to the right was a hallway. She led my dad to the scale to be weighed; this is also standard procedure. I learned that although they ask every patient to step on the scale for a record of their weight, it can be refused by the patient and he nurse has no choice to move on with the rest of the exam. She also had my dads eye sight checked by him resighting the letters on a poster on the opposite side of the hall.
We were finally led to a small room where she checked his vitals. She checked his blood pressure, pulse, heart beat, eyes and nose and then told us that the doctor would be with us shortly.
After witnessing a nurse in a doctors office, although every office may be different, I know that I may want to go into more of the Emergency Room type of job. I like a more upbeat work rather than the standard procedure, preparing the patient for the doctor.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
interview
For our latest assignment, we had to conduct an interview with an informant related to our subculture. Since my subculture is nursing, I was lucky enough to interview a nurse currently working at North Broward. The woman I interviewed goes by the name of Lil. She would rather me not put her full name. I learned that ever since she was little she wanted to become a nurse because it is what her mother did. I asked her if certain jobs she had to do while in the nursing field bothered her, and she told me she grew up with four older brothers, she could handle any ‘gross’ thing that came her way. She said it would help to have a strong stomach on a job like this because you never know what you will encounter. Before she became a nurse at the hospital she spent a few years, two actually, in a doctor’s office near her house. While still employed at the office, she decided to become a certified nurse’s assistant (C.N.A.) When she figured it was really what she wanted to do she took it a step further and became a RN. Since shes been a nurse, she said she wouldn't change it for anything. She did tell me that it isn't a job for everyone but she gave me great advice and told me I should look further into it. The best way to look into the job is to get a look first hand. I spoke with her about volunteering and I think I am going to take her up on it. Overall, I think the interview went rather well. I would like to ask a few more question, but I told her I would definately keep in touch. She is certainly a person I would refer back to if I need further help.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Fourth Observation
If you have ever been in an emergency room before, you know that before you can get treated, they take your name and then the wait begins. Sometimes patients wait for hours on end. Actually, every time I have ever been to the emergency room, whether it was for me or someone else, the wait was over an hour, minimum.
When my teammate started to get sick, we never thought it would be a trip to the E.R. I volunteered to take her because everyone else was either in class or doing their workout. I knew it would be another opportunity to observe. This time, I observed the waiting room.
When we arrived at the E.R. at around 6pm it was packed. It was the busiest waiting room I had ever seen. It was filled with pregnant women, broken bones, illness and their family members. Within the first hour, I saw people getting anxious. It was obvious they had been there a long time. Within two hours, only four of those people were called in to be treated and by that time, more had arrived. We both knew where weren’t getting out of there any time soon. By this time, one man in a wheel chair was ready to have a fit. He was mumbling and cursing under his breath and was hitting the side of the chair. He made it apparent that he wanted to be helped because he was tired of waiting. He had gotten up quite a few times to ask the nurse at the front desk how much longer it would be, and every time he asked, he got the same answer, “I don’t know sir, will you please sit down”. Finally he had had enough. He got up from his wheel chair and when he stumbled I saw why he was in a wheel chair in the first place. All his toes on his right foot had more stitches then I thought imaginable. This wasn’t your average sized man either, he was well over 6’5” and when he stood up and the nurse went to assist him he could have easily picked her up with one arm.
What we didn’t know at first is that he was a “regular”. Most of the nurses knew him on a first name basis and you could see how frustrated they were with him. He had a complete fit. When he was done flailing his arms around cursing at everyone and realized that wasn’t getting him any faster, he tripped himself and tumbled to the ground. One nurse came over so furious she called him a baby and an actor. I personally didn’t think it was very professional but I didn’t know his past history at the hospital, or his condition. She grabbed him with another nurse and placed him in the closest chair. They told him to wait there until it was his turn to be seen; it felt like he was being talked to like a second grader who misbehaved. He continued to mumble and curse them out under his breath but he calmed down.
Everyone was speechless. I’m not sure if it was his reaction, or the nurses but it was a little less loud after that. Hours began to pass quickly as we still waited and nothing was really as exciting. A homeless man tried to get a dollar off everyone in the waiting room, and he would come back after every dollar with a new food item from the vending machine in the hallway.
The nurses continued to call people in while others left because the wait was just too long. After waiting a little over six hours, we finally got shown to a room. By that time, there wasn’t many people left waiting, but some were there from before we arrived, so God only knows how long, or how much longer they were going to wait.
When my teammate started to get sick, we never thought it would be a trip to the E.R. I volunteered to take her because everyone else was either in class or doing their workout. I knew it would be another opportunity to observe. This time, I observed the waiting room.
When we arrived at the E.R. at around 6pm it was packed. It was the busiest waiting room I had ever seen. It was filled with pregnant women, broken bones, illness and their family members. Within the first hour, I saw people getting anxious. It was obvious they had been there a long time. Within two hours, only four of those people were called in to be treated and by that time, more had arrived. We both knew where weren’t getting out of there any time soon. By this time, one man in a wheel chair was ready to have a fit. He was mumbling and cursing under his breath and was hitting the side of the chair. He made it apparent that he wanted to be helped because he was tired of waiting. He had gotten up quite a few times to ask the nurse at the front desk how much longer it would be, and every time he asked, he got the same answer, “I don’t know sir, will you please sit down”. Finally he had had enough. He got up from his wheel chair and when he stumbled I saw why he was in a wheel chair in the first place. All his toes on his right foot had more stitches then I thought imaginable. This wasn’t your average sized man either, he was well over 6’5” and when he stood up and the nurse went to assist him he could have easily picked her up with one arm.
What we didn’t know at first is that he was a “regular”. Most of the nurses knew him on a first name basis and you could see how frustrated they were with him. He had a complete fit. When he was done flailing his arms around cursing at everyone and realized that wasn’t getting him any faster, he tripped himself and tumbled to the ground. One nurse came over so furious she called him a baby and an actor. I personally didn’t think it was very professional but I didn’t know his past history at the hospital, or his condition. She grabbed him with another nurse and placed him in the closest chair. They told him to wait there until it was his turn to be seen; it felt like he was being talked to like a second grader who misbehaved. He continued to mumble and curse them out under his breath but he calmed down.
Everyone was speechless. I’m not sure if it was his reaction, or the nurses but it was a little less loud after that. Hours began to pass quickly as we still waited and nothing was really as exciting. A homeless man tried to get a dollar off everyone in the waiting room, and he would come back after every dollar with a new food item from the vending machine in the hallway.
The nurses continued to call people in while others left because the wait was just too long. After waiting a little over six hours, we finally got shown to a room. By that time, there wasn’t many people left waiting, but some were there from before we arrived, so God only knows how long, or how much longer they were going to wait.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Third Observation
This past week I got to visit the Emergency room. Unfortunately it wasn’t exactly as planned because I had to take my roommate instead of going free willed to interview nurses. My roommate became very sick the other night, complaining of shooting pains in her lower back. The pain was so bad she was crying so I suggested that we go to the E.R. We were relieved when we got there at 9pm and there weren’t that many people, but I’ve learned that sometimes doesn’t mean anything. Once they took her name, it was a few minutes until they called her into triage. That’s where a nurse will ask you the basics: what happened? When? Where does it hurt? They also take all your vitals when you are in there like your blood pressure. After a few minutes she came out, and said it was only going to be a few minutes because it was pretty serious. From the few times I have been in the E.R. everything goes by severity, which in reality makes sense. You will obviously take the more serious case and treat the one who needs urgent care versus the one who can wait if they have to.
When we were called back, we were lead to your typical hospital room. Hospital bed, chair for a guest, and a T.V. Although we got passed waiting in the waiting room that didn’t mean we weren’t going to have to wait to see the actual doctor. The first nurse came in at around 10pm and she seemed nice. She told us briefly what was going to happen during her visit and that was the last time we saw her. About a half an hour later, a doctor came in to inform my roommate that she would need a cat scan, or a CT scan. They needed to take a closer look before diagnosing her. Within another half an hour another one of our friends showed up because we told her we were in the hospital. Shortly after our friend arrived, they came to take heather to get the CT scan. It was about another thirty minutes before she came back and she was still in a decent amount of pain. By now it is 11:30 and they just came in to give my roommate an IV. They said it was most likely a kidney infection so it would help with the pain. The IV usually takes about an hour until it is fully gone so we knew it was going to be a long time before we got to leave. We killed time by talking and watching T.V. My roommate was exhausted and fell asleep while my friend Heather and I stayed up in case they came back with the results from the CT scan. Around 12:10 the nurse that put the IV in came to check on it. I guess she noticed that we were pretty cold so she asked us if we wanted blankets. It was a nice gesture and we had to accept because it was freezing in there. Once the IV was done, a little after 12:30, it was awhile before someone came in. It felt like they forgot about us but we knew that wasn’t the case. There are obvious a lot of people in a hospital, and of course they are busy, so we just waited and waited. At one they finally came in and took the IV out. They said they were just waiting for the doctor to come with the results. When he finally came in, twenty minutes later, he told us that it was a kidney infection after all and all we needed was a prescription and we could be on our way. When he left the room we thought we were about to leave, but it felt like forever before someone came back. It was to the point where Heather got up and searched for a nurse to ask if we would ever leave. She apologized for the wait and told us there was only one doctor on call; now we knew why it was taking so long. Once we got the prescription we left and finally got home at 2:30am. It was a 5 hour trip to the hospital but what absolutely necessary.
Overall I got a feel for the night life at the Hospital, but I wish a nurse could have stayed a few minutes longer so I could ask her a few questions. I realized that the graveyard shift might not be for me, maybe I will look into trauma centers for my next observation.
When we were called back, we were lead to your typical hospital room. Hospital bed, chair for a guest, and a T.V. Although we got passed waiting in the waiting room that didn’t mean we weren’t going to have to wait to see the actual doctor. The first nurse came in at around 10pm and she seemed nice. She told us briefly what was going to happen during her visit and that was the last time we saw her. About a half an hour later, a doctor came in to inform my roommate that she would need a cat scan, or a CT scan. They needed to take a closer look before diagnosing her. Within another half an hour another one of our friends showed up because we told her we were in the hospital. Shortly after our friend arrived, they came to take heather to get the CT scan. It was about another thirty minutes before she came back and she was still in a decent amount of pain. By now it is 11:30 and they just came in to give my roommate an IV. They said it was most likely a kidney infection so it would help with the pain. The IV usually takes about an hour until it is fully gone so we knew it was going to be a long time before we got to leave. We killed time by talking and watching T.V. My roommate was exhausted and fell asleep while my friend Heather and I stayed up in case they came back with the results from the CT scan. Around 12:10 the nurse that put the IV in came to check on it. I guess she noticed that we were pretty cold so she asked us if we wanted blankets. It was a nice gesture and we had to accept because it was freezing in there. Once the IV was done, a little after 12:30, it was awhile before someone came in. It felt like they forgot about us but we knew that wasn’t the case. There are obvious a lot of people in a hospital, and of course they are busy, so we just waited and waited. At one they finally came in and took the IV out. They said they were just waiting for the doctor to come with the results. When he finally came in, twenty minutes later, he told us that it was a kidney infection after all and all we needed was a prescription and we could be on our way. When he left the room we thought we were about to leave, but it felt like forever before someone came back. It was to the point where Heather got up and searched for a nurse to ask if we would ever leave. She apologized for the wait and told us there was only one doctor on call; now we knew why it was taking so long. Once we got the prescription we left and finally got home at 2:30am. It was a 5 hour trip to the hospital but what absolutely necessary.
Overall I got a feel for the night life at the Hospital, but I wish a nurse could have stayed a few minutes longer so I could ask her a few questions. I realized that the graveyard shift might not be for me, maybe I will look into trauma centers for my next observation.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Second Observation
For my second observation, I decided to interview a teammate and watch a few episodes of Trauma Life in the E.R.
A recently found out that a girl on my rowing team is already in the nursing program. I sat down and talked to her for a little bit about it because she was already a step ahead. I found out that she is in the dual admissions program so she was basically automatically accepted to the program when she got accepted to Nova. She is a sophomore here and is currently getting all her pre-requisites out of the way. I just wanted to get a feel for why she decided to go with nursing because I am still making up my mind. She went on telling me about how a lot of the women in her family were nurses and they all loved it. She said she admired the way her mom would do her job. She told me when she couldn’t stay home alone her mom would take her to work and she got to see her mom working first hand in the hospital. She said the chemistry between workers and patients was just something she always loved. She said she had respect for all the time and work they put in for the patients and she knew at a young age that she wanted to also be a nurse. I really enjoyed talking to her because I could tell while she was talking to me that she was really sincere and excited to be in the nursing program. It got me motivated to start as soon as possible. She did tell me the down sides but I told her if it gets me to be a nurse, I’ll do it. She reminded me that it was a lot of hard work, like everyone else has told me, and can be very stressful. She said even though her mom was passionate about her job, it still took a toll. Overall I’m glad I got to sit down and talk about her past experiences.
For the second part of my observation, I watched Trauma Life in the E.R. This has always been one of my favorite shows because even though you’re not right there, they show you everything and everything is real life. From serious gunshot wounds to stitches and casts, this show never gets old. There is really never the same story twice and that portrays what it’s really like in the Emergency Room. The action in there sometimes is so unbelievable and so uncalled for; some of the things that I watched, you wouldn’t imagine could ever happen. The first guy that came in was 33% decapitated. This was a freak accident that happened while he was working on his car in his garage. While he was under the hood, something went terribly wrong and the fan somehow broke off and slit his throat while it flew out from the car. I heard what happened and saw the damage I did and my jaw dropped. They nurses and doctors were racing to save this man’s life because with 33% decapitation, not only has he lost an extensive amount of blood, they said it was very possible that he hit major arteries. That much blood loss automatically made them assume that if he survived his injury, he would be brain damaged. They also had to check to make sure that major arteries had not been hit because if they were, there is a change for more blood loss and possibly death. As miracle workers, both doctors and nurses were able to save the man’s life; it was truly incredible to watch.
Another man that came in had a serious gunshot wound to the hip. He came in screaming and you could just see and hear that he was in agonizing pain. Although he came to the hospital for help, whenever the nurses tried to touch him he freaked and didn’t want anything to do with him. When he finally realized that if he didn’t calm down he wouldn’t get help, he let the nurses do their job. They gave him medication to lessen the pain and to see what the exact damage was. When x-rays came back, they determined that the bullet shattered the whole right side of his hip; it was literally in pieces which you could easily see on the T.V. screen. Even though it was a serious case, it was kind of ridiculous when they asked him if he had been shot before he said yes. When they asked him how many times, he replied “twelve”. Even the nurses’ faces were priceless. It’s true in an emergency room; you really never know what you’re going to see until it comes in.
A recently found out that a girl on my rowing team is already in the nursing program. I sat down and talked to her for a little bit about it because she was already a step ahead. I found out that she is in the dual admissions program so she was basically automatically accepted to the program when she got accepted to Nova. She is a sophomore here and is currently getting all her pre-requisites out of the way. I just wanted to get a feel for why she decided to go with nursing because I am still making up my mind. She went on telling me about how a lot of the women in her family were nurses and they all loved it. She said she admired the way her mom would do her job. She told me when she couldn’t stay home alone her mom would take her to work and she got to see her mom working first hand in the hospital. She said the chemistry between workers and patients was just something she always loved. She said she had respect for all the time and work they put in for the patients and she knew at a young age that she wanted to also be a nurse. I really enjoyed talking to her because I could tell while she was talking to me that she was really sincere and excited to be in the nursing program. It got me motivated to start as soon as possible. She did tell me the down sides but I told her if it gets me to be a nurse, I’ll do it. She reminded me that it was a lot of hard work, like everyone else has told me, and can be very stressful. She said even though her mom was passionate about her job, it still took a toll. Overall I’m glad I got to sit down and talk about her past experiences.
For the second part of my observation, I watched Trauma Life in the E.R. This has always been one of my favorite shows because even though you’re not right there, they show you everything and everything is real life. From serious gunshot wounds to stitches and casts, this show never gets old. There is really never the same story twice and that portrays what it’s really like in the Emergency Room. The action in there sometimes is so unbelievable and so uncalled for; some of the things that I watched, you wouldn’t imagine could ever happen. The first guy that came in was 33% decapitated. This was a freak accident that happened while he was working on his car in his garage. While he was under the hood, something went terribly wrong and the fan somehow broke off and slit his throat while it flew out from the car. I heard what happened and saw the damage I did and my jaw dropped. They nurses and doctors were racing to save this man’s life because with 33% decapitation, not only has he lost an extensive amount of blood, they said it was very possible that he hit major arteries. That much blood loss automatically made them assume that if he survived his injury, he would be brain damaged. They also had to check to make sure that major arteries had not been hit because if they were, there is a change for more blood loss and possibly death. As miracle workers, both doctors and nurses were able to save the man’s life; it was truly incredible to watch.
Another man that came in had a serious gunshot wound to the hip. He came in screaming and you could just see and hear that he was in agonizing pain. Although he came to the hospital for help, whenever the nurses tried to touch him he freaked and didn’t want anything to do with him. When he finally realized that if he didn’t calm down he wouldn’t get help, he let the nurses do their job. They gave him medication to lessen the pain and to see what the exact damage was. When x-rays came back, they determined that the bullet shattered the whole right side of his hip; it was literally in pieces which you could easily see on the T.V. screen. Even though it was a serious case, it was kind of ridiculous when they asked him if he had been shot before he said yes. When they asked him how many times, he replied “twelve”. Even the nurses’ faces were priceless. It’s true in an emergency room; you really never know what you’re going to see until it comes in.
Further reflection of observation two
For my second observation, not only did I interview students who are going into the nursing program but I also watched multiple episodes of Life in the E.R.
A few girls on the rowing team are currently working towards the nursing program or are already in it. I sat down at lunch with one of the girls who is in the program and just asked him a few questions. We had a pretty good conversation and at the end I saw she was as passionate about it as I was so it was nice to hear her thoughts.
The second part of my observation was what I personally enjoyed the most. The episodes I watched of Life in the E.R. made me wish I had already been working in a hospital. The show is just so interesting to me; not because people come in injured but that people that he ability to heal others and to help individuals in need. What surprised me the most about the show is just how crazy some people really are and you would think that certain things like what I saw on that show were nearly impossible. The blunt truth is that people get hurt each and every day, and it’s the people that realize that, that are doing something about it. The show did not disturb me at all but it definitely opened up my eyes as to what I might see in the future. The intensity that they are surrounded by daily kind of intrigued me.
Although I was not there first hand and they aren’t going to base the whole show on paper work done in the E.R I know that there is more to it than the hands on aspect. It does not necessarily bore me but I do like working with people so I feel it won’t be the most enjoyable part of the job. Guess I won’t know until I actually get the chance.
From time to time during the show, the action would die down and the camera would go to a nurse or a doctor. Few nurses said they never saw themselves where they were currently at. I guess some people just know and others learn it down the road.
Overall the show was sometimes more exciting than others but that’s just the way it is in the E.R.
Hopefully for my next observation, I get to visit the nearby hospital and apply to volunteer.
A few girls on the rowing team are currently working towards the nursing program or are already in it. I sat down at lunch with one of the girls who is in the program and just asked him a few questions. We had a pretty good conversation and at the end I saw she was as passionate about it as I was so it was nice to hear her thoughts.
The second part of my observation was what I personally enjoyed the most. The episodes I watched of Life in the E.R. made me wish I had already been working in a hospital. The show is just so interesting to me; not because people come in injured but that people that he ability to heal others and to help individuals in need. What surprised me the most about the show is just how crazy some people really are and you would think that certain things like what I saw on that show were nearly impossible. The blunt truth is that people get hurt each and every day, and it’s the people that realize that, that are doing something about it. The show did not disturb me at all but it definitely opened up my eyes as to what I might see in the future. The intensity that they are surrounded by daily kind of intrigued me.
Although I was not there first hand and they aren’t going to base the whole show on paper work done in the E.R I know that there is more to it than the hands on aspect. It does not necessarily bore me but I do like working with people so I feel it won’t be the most enjoyable part of the job. Guess I won’t know until I actually get the chance.
From time to time during the show, the action would die down and the camera would go to a nurse or a doctor. Few nurses said they never saw themselves where they were currently at. I guess some people just know and others learn it down the road.
Overall the show was sometimes more exciting than others but that’s just the way it is in the E.R.
Hopefully for my next observation, I get to visit the nearby hospital and apply to volunteer.
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