Personal Narrative: My Clinical Experience

My clinical experience today has been a completely different, from any others. Today, Ashley my preceptor was scheduled as the charge nurse. I was surprised by the differences between a floor nurse and a charge nurse with their different responsibility each of them possessed. My first thoughts of a charge nurse were to merely fill in the cracks in the floor, to assist other nurses maintain their patient loads and to cover breaks and lunches, all the same, that is not always the case. This clinical experience has supplied me with a whole new aspect, as well as, a great deal of esteem for the charge nurse. In addition, to the previous mention responsibilities of a charge nurse, in

The field of medicine has always peaked my interest as I have been and still am a very accident prone person in and out of the doctor's office and hospital. It began when I was two and broke my left radius and was always going to the doctor to get it checked or to physical therapy to have my muscle strength brought back. I have broken my left arm three other times since the age of two and have had many other health complications, but there was one health issue that was not my own that pushed me over the edge. My freshman year after golf practice, my mom picked me up and on the way home she started experiencing severe cramps. She pulled over and parked her car, and began telling me how much it hurt. A few seconds later her eyes rolled back into

The next step after hearing from the neurosurgeon was getting Miranda through the pain of the surgery. Kevin decided he would take night shifts and I would take days. One of us had to be there at all times as her advocate. So, I was there from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm and Kevin was there the other 12 hours. Twelve-hour shifts are hard especially on a body like mine, which had just gone through two surgeries in the past four months. My first shift began as soon as Miranda requested us to come to her in the PACU unit, which is the first place a patient goes after surgery at that hospital. Kevin and I went in together, but he left so he could sleep and come back for the night. I sat in a chair beside her bed for about seven hours without a break. The unit was in constant motion with people coming out from surgery and heading to their rooms for recovery. Miranda’s breathing would not stabilize so we waited longer than most patients. Grandparents and friends were not allowed in the unit so I was on my own. It was odd. I had been there twice because of my surgeries, but this time I was there for Miranda. They gave Miranda a pump for her pain and it did help her

I had just turned sixteen, the year of driver license, college campus tours, and the peak of teenage angst, when my school's guidance counselor requested for my mom and dad to be brought in for what she described as a “heart to heart” confrontation.

Our clinicals at Cadbury at Lewes is quickly approaching an end and we are still learning new things each day. Everyday we do something new and so another skill is checked off. Yesterday, we got numerous things done, it was a very busy day.

I was able to make connections between the clinical and the lectures. I was able to apply the knowledge I learned from lectures and our assigned textbooks, readings, and videos to clinical. Over the course of the semester, I became much more comfortable being on the floor at the psychiatric hospital. I was able to see the symptoms the patient presented with and make connections as to what their diagnosis was. as well as the as well as see the therapeutic effects of the medication they were taking. My clinical provided me with exposure to patients with borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, eating disorders, and bipolar disorder. I was nervous about clinical simply because I didn’t know much about mental

When I woke up I had no idea where I was. I was dazed and really confused. The nurse came in and said, “Jaclyn you're in the Toledo Flower Hospital and you passed out.” My parents were sitting there with worried faces. I just wanted to know what was going on. She was giving me a medicine through my IV, looking as if she was frantic and dripping with sweat. As soon as I got my medicine a stretcher burst through the door. There was a bloody unconscious man lying on it. My nurse immediately ran to them and she was rushing around and looked like she was on an adrenaline rush. She was yelling for a Doctor, but there wasn't one around. She had to make the decision to intubate the patient without the doctor and that was a risky decision.

My goal for clinical experiences is to apply what I have learned throughout my semesters to a clinical setting. I want to become more competent in my skills. I want to be able to look at a patient and identify clues that help me create a focus assessment. I also want to be able to use the patient medication to identify some adverse effects to create a preventative plan of care. My goals are to become more structured with my care plans. I want to make them more patient centered and more focused on initial issues that the patient might have then move it towards preventive methods instead of having my preventative methods first . I also want to become more confident in preparing and starting IV. I know that perfecting starting an IV will come

The most gratifying experience for me was my interaction with patients. Along the course of their hospital stay, I established a kind of relationship that allowed me to not only see them as patients, but to see them as real people. Each patient had a unique story; a story that defined them a individuals and that had led them to this point in their lives. The patient presenting with a Lupus flare was a 42-year-old female that had to give up her job and career because of the chronic disabilities the disease brought over the years. She had developed chronic kidney disease and was on dialysis waiting to match for a donor kidney. Over the years she had given up hope, and this attitude had an impact on her marriage. Her husband wanted to donate

I worked as an observer for 4 weeks in the departments of Internal Medicine and Cardiology. This was the first time that I worked in US healthcare setting. It was an exhilarating experience as I got a sense of what I was striving for. Fresh out of medical school, interviewing patients, following up on their labs and coming up with a differential diagnosis was very exciting as I was experiencing the practical aspect of medicine for the first time. I also attended outpatient clinic, observed Angioplasty, Pacemaker Insertion, Echocardiography, Nuclear and Exercise Stress Testing. This observership strengthened my resolve of aiming for US Residency Training.

My last clinical experience was at Oakland Grove in Woonsocket, RI and others offsites. I reported to clinicals on mondays, tuesdays, and thursdays; from 7am to 4pm. I was not always on time, however I can say that I reported to these sites well groomed and prepared. Fortunately, I did not get sick and did not have miss a clinical day.

As shown by my previous semesters, I am a strong student. Unfortunately, during my fall semester I encountered more physical and mental trials than ever before. The semester started with my working at a job that insisted on scheduling me Friday nights, all day Saturdays, and all day Sundays along with a regular Tuesday or Wednesday. All this time on my feet exacerbated a knee pain that had started to develop over the summer. The pain got so intense I had to quit my job and go in for an mri. We discovered i had a tumor in my knee in early october. The radiologist unfortunately mentioned to our family doctor that it could be cancer, which was then relayed to us. The tumor was removed on November 29th, during that time my knee was in major pain

Like any other experience I had in a clinical setting, I must say it is always short lived. I thought that I would have a difficult time in the class as well as the clinical setting. Class has been difficult for me, but clinical seem to be a great learning experience. The fact that I had a teacher that is passionate about her specialty was even better than I imagined. Sometimes its intimidating to ask questions that may come off as dumb or too simple to ask to her, but she can help you conquer your fears and weaknesses. I still wish that we could just have more time, and more learning experiences so I can get a better feel of the specialty. I know that OB isn't for me, but I did enjoy learning a in depth experience of it. I never know what

As the first day of my placement draws nearer, the nerves set in and you really do wonder if I can make it. Will I cope? Most at the time I just lost my sister to the cold of death. It was a very tough time. To be honest there is no feeling of ‘first clinical placement’ symptoms, like excitement, rather than a feeling of fears and panic and maybe even a few little heart palpitations.

Today is the last day of our clinicals in the facility, and I would say that from the first day up to today I have learned so much and grown so much as a student nurse. I remember that very first day of clinical, I had no clue on what to expect and what to do, and I was so nervous that I would made mistakes. However, as I became more exposed to the clinical, I gained more confidence on doing things, applied the concept I learn during the class into practice, and gradually improved my communication skills with the residents. Today, I was able to learn about certain medications by going through the chart and by the help of our instructor. I learned how the medications work to treat and manage particular diseases. Also, I was able to creatively