Practicum ~ Week 8 ~ CP

For my last week of my practicum it was a "make up" week. So the weeks that you may have really sucked at you can redeem yourself. 

Day 1 - I was on sites this day. I was with Alex, who is another casual. All you do with sites is you package up things that come from milk river, coalhurst, taber, pincher creek etc. Basically all the areas around lethbridge and you sterilize them, and send them off to them in sealed boxes. Check the lists and make sure everything is on their lists. 

Day 2 ~ 3 - This day I was with Rozina and we were in decontamination. I don't mind decontamination at all now, it was nice because now I knew what came apart, what didn't and if I had any questions I simply asked what came apart if I did not know. It was so much fun though because Rozina likes to blast music and sing along to the songs. So I began to loosen up in decontamination and was singing along with her and kind of dancing. But in the future when I go into decontamination I would love to blast music that I like and sing along with it because it makes it go by faster and it is much more fun too. 

Day 4 ~ 5 - I was with Lesley that day and what is cool is that she was in the Edmonton area before she came to Lethbridge so she was able to give me some insight in what it was like in that area. It is nice because she told me they never write anything down but they scan it into the computer since they get so many different items and they are a 24/7 operation so there is tons of work to do all the time. During these last two days I was doing autoclave and I cannot lie the first night I was horrible. I got too overwhelmed and did not know first what to focus on, so I started to cry a little bit I was horrified! But when you look at a table that is covered in items it is hard to focus on what is priority and what isn't. But luckily Lesley came in to save me and she helped me know what was priority and what wasn't. Another girl told me to watch around the room as well and be aware of what is going on. To think about what everyone else is doing before making a load is important as well because especially sites needs to be done and cooled by the end of the night. But Lesley was awesome, I wish I would have gotten her number so that I could have had some tequila or whiskey with her one night. 

But that is the conclusion of my practicum. It was the hardest thing I had to go through in my life, it changed my work ethic, it changed my perspective of life and it makes me want to work for something in my life. I am so grateful for all of my wonderful teachers and for the hospital for allowing me to do my practicum there. I truly feel like I am ready to embark upon my career and I hope to succeed in my new future. I am glad to be a central processor and am grateful for everything I learned on my practicum

Alumni night out and Birthday!

Tomorrow I turn 21! Yay! It may not be an exciting birthday for me this year, but it is exciting because I at least have goals! I want to be in Edmonton by the end of the summer, get my drivers license, maybe get my passport and lose weight! Who says you cant make "new year" resolutions on your birthday right? I have more motivation than I ever have. 

For my birthday my mom took me out for my birthday with Jesse to Mocha Cabanas, we had nachos, mushroom swiss burger with sweet potato fries and a white chocolate cheesecake for dessert. I also got a shirley temple for my birthday since I would always love them so much as a child. There was also music that night a country singer named Alyssa Mcquid or something but I know for sure her first name was Alyssa. It was so packed that night too, I guess there was a table of 15 and a table of 10 so our food came slowly but it was worth the wait! 

Today I went to grandmas and she gave me my present which was a tupperware container that I really liked and a box that as a kid I would beg her if I could have it when she died. I was a kid so it was all in good time but I was surprised to get that box from her and how much meaning it did have to me.  Mom gave me my birthday present later in the evening and it was a teapot/cup set that had macarons all over them, although I never tried them before I loved the set. 

Earlier in the week we went to a lethbridge college alumni event at the movie mill. You got a free movie and for 5 dollars you got a medium popcorn and drink. We went to the movie About Last Night and it was such a raunchy movie but it was so funny. I thought mom would walk out during the movie but she stayed all throughout it. It got better as it went on and there were some really funny parts in it. I would watch it again, Jesse really loved it too he seemed a bit hesitant to go to the movie since mom told him it was a romance. I was too since I don't really like those sappy movies but it was worth the free - ness of it!

Practicum ~ Week 7 ~ Day Procedures

Day one -This day I worked with a lady named Carrie. She was very nice and welcoming she showed me how to clean cystoscopes - used to view the bladder - and how to pre-clean a cataract set to send downstairs to decontamination. I also met Assunta, she was in the program last year and was lucky enough to get a full time position last June. It was nice because she understood what it was like to be a student and how it is your life at the time, you try so hard to do good because you want to do good. She showed me how to set up a cystoscope and explained to me the sterile fields and what not.

Day two -This day I worked with a lady named Jackie, she showed me how to clean gastroscopes and colonoscopes. I was amazed at how many steps there were to cleaning scopes. The whole day she just showed me how to clean the scopes, I never got to actually clean one but she showed me how to do them. Doing the scopes requires so many steps to keep them clean, and she showed me how to load them into the machines and take them out. But man when you take them out the smell is so strong, it consists of using paracetic acid and isopropyl alcohol. In general they both are very strong scents but mixed together they really burn your nose hairs. I also got to meet Kelly, also a student from last year who has a temporary part time position. Lastly I met Kerri who is the 9 to 5 girl. They all were very nice.

Day three - This day I worked with Kelly, she showed me a different method in cleaning the scopes and I got to clean about 2 scopes that day. But later in the day it got very frustrating because a man came in to fix the machines because of the water crisis last week they were acting all funny this week and kept on failing. Anyways this man kept on demanding me to get things, and I was freaking out because I don't know where anything is. Then they told us to work on only one side instead of using both rooms to clean scopes so it was very busy. And man did he smell! He smelt like he hadn't showered in like a month it was gross by the end of the night I was so nauseous because of how he smelt. It was bad too because having him there just frustrated my perceptors because they still needed to get work done while having this man around ordering us to do things and not very nicely at that. He kept on screaming for more scopes, when there were none coming, but when they did come he would tell them to do them faster. It was just a headache! Another headache was that the steris machines for the cystoscopes were not working as well. They had put two cystoscopes in one machine and in the distal tip the coating would bubble over like it was a blister! And worst of all it happened two times in a row! So they were down two cystoscopes as well. Just another headache.

Day Four - This day I was with Kerri, she is the cutest shortest and nicest girl that I have met. She just let me do a scope right when I started because I hadn't cleaned a lot of them thus far. She let me find my routine in which to clean my scope and I cleaned about 4 or 5 of them. It was a pretty constant day though and she showed me how to do the end of the night clean up and what to do with the machines at the end of the night. It was just a very relaxing day. 

Day five - This day I was with Assunta and we cleaned a few cystoscopes, no cataracts though since they do not do them on fridays. But we took down some minor surgery trays and prepared them to go down to decontamination, and she continued to show me how to set up a sterile field for the cystoscopes. She also showed me how you close down for the day and it was nice because she let me go early at about 4.

Girl day

Today I got to spend time with my mom. Jesse let me take the car out and we went to Mocha Cabanas, we went to look at a craft store and just drive around since I need to begin to practice for my drivers test.

Later on that night sister missionaries came over, they were Sister Matangi, and Sister Jones. Man did Sister Jones talk a lot they were very funny, and had so much energy. They were so excited for the gospel and happy to be on their missions. It was great, I loved having them over and would love to have them over again since it was so much fun. We now have so many personal jokes with them.

Practicum ~ Week 6 ~ Surgical suite part 2

This week I had Jeff and he is such a cool guy. He is quiet at first but he likes to make people feel comfortable when you are in there with him, which is nice. The first night I learned that they pick the first two cases for the next day for all the elective surgeries. Then for the night we just add on cases that are emergency cases. Then we finish anything that is left in decontamination, we put neptunes onto the cleaner for a 50 minute cycle to make sure that they are clean. That is pretty much all you do at nights on surgical suite and order the supplies that are needed in the room by sending a order to storz. 

But last night was hectic. In Lethbridge there is a water crisis, where there is a boiling water order sent out to everyone in the city. This caused a major issue in the OR since if we do not have a clean water supply we cannot carry out with decontamination services downstairs or even autoclave since it just uses tap water to carry out the steam process. At 6 pm, they were ordered to shut off the autoclaves and the washers downstairs and that we had to send out our dirty stuff to Taber since they were still able to carry out processes. But the drs. talked about how if patients crashed that they would not have the proper supply in order to help them without having things that are cleaned and sterilized so they cancelled ALL elective surgeries for both Thursday and Friday. We had to put away the first two cases for tomorrow morning and send them back downstairs and now they only can add cases that are life and death or c sections. I also got to see the removal of an appendix and its amazing how tiny they are.

Last day - This day was pretty much the same as the others. The boil water cease ended and surgeries were resumed. I got to see a fixation of an ankle fracture that night and I got to meet Dr. Anderson and he and his nurses explained the procedure for me about what is going on. I also had to wear a lead since they take pictures throughout the whole procedure of the ankle to make sure that it is in place and that the screws are deep enough etc.

 

Practicum ~ week 5 ~ surgical suite

Day 1 - this day I had Jackie and of all the people I have had this far she is definitely the most excited, energetic, and optimistic person i have met thus far. In surgical suite we have a flash sterilizer and a steris machine that sterilizes as well. In or we have to pull the extra things for the carts such as all the steripeel stuff for surgeries and prepare the carts further for surgery. Then what we also do is get anything that the nurses need for the surgery and it is our job to top off the anesthetic carts. The break room is nicer thoufh since the drs. Nurses and us take our break in the same place. There are couches a tv a Kurieg machine and tons of coffee for people to drink but everybody is very nice so it was a good day. 

Day 2 - This day I had Dani, which Jackie says is like her twin which I could see. She was very nice as well, and its interesting how you see everybody do their tasks on their own turf. Today she let me do a few anesthetic carts by myself and we did the eyes cart, which is always scary since the draws are not very organized. But today we pulled a few carts, and then she showed me how they plan a case and send it downstairs etc. I almost got to see a C section today as well, but there were already nursing students in the room so I didn't get to see it but I was excited that I nearly got to. But today I learnt the stresses of working in the OR when the drs. constantly add new cases and then ask for very specific equipment or they add new and then reschedule them and you work so hard to do all the work to just have them cancelled. Then we had a few ARO cases today too, which is when there is an antibiotic resistant bug such as meningitis, MSAR, etc. What this means is that if a patient had a "superbug" the dr and the nurses inside are not allowed to leave the room until the case is completed. So we have to do the running that the nurses would normally do so it can get stressful. Then today we had lots of add ons as well.

Day 4 - Today I had Dani again, its nice having her because she is very chill, relaxed so its easy to get things done. But the most exciting thing today were two things 1. I got to see a c section, 2 a nurse asked for something and I knew exactly where it was.

1. I was allowed to see the last scheduled c section of the day which was very exciting. It was a lot different than what I thought. I had no idea that they had to cut into so many layers of skin in order to get the uterus, then they place the uterus ontop of their stomach to get to the baby easier, and when they cut into the uterus it was just a huuuuge gush of water that came out. Also they do not make a huge incision either so they still have to pull the baby out a bit more and have some pressure on the mom. But the baby was a girl and she was over 8 lbs so she was a big girl.

2. A nurse came out of the ortho theatre asking for a small frag. screwdriver and my perceptor was so happy that I was able to find it by myself. It made me very happy! So things are coming along, I sort of am getting used to where everything is so thats good.

Day 5 - Today I had a woman named Christina today, she is very cheerful and nice and she truly wants you to have the best education up there and I can tell.  I did very well this day because I picked items for nurses that I confidently knew where they were. They were happy that I was catching onto the work in OR so fast, and sort of remembering where things are once I have some idea where they go. One girl also told me how well I was doing, it was very reassuring to know that I was doing good, I was picking up well since I never got that downstairs before. I also got to sit in on one of the lectures that a nurse was giving to RN students. The lecture was on the procedure called a D & C it stands for dilation and curettage, it is only used for women and you can only imagine what that kind of procedure would be like. But it was interesting because she described the instruments and how their purpose in the order in which they would use them in the surgery. But I completely love it in the OR, it is a great support system up there.