This past week at my internship was rather busy. On Monday, I prepared the operation theatre and equipment required for a canine ovariohysterectomy. I observed the surgery as well as assisted a veterinary technician in monitoring the parameters of the anaesthetized patient. The rest of the day was then spent caring for the hospitalised patients making sure their cages were clean and that they were comfortable, as well as administering their medications. Also, I got to feed tablet medications to a cat by hand, which I found challenging and required a few tries before I succeed. Additionally, I aided the doctors in restraining patients for blood collection from the jugular and cephalic vein. I also observed in a consultation, how a fluorescein eye stain test is carried out to detect damage to the cornea.
The next day, I was assigned to feed oral medication to the same cat, at which I was more
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successful and succeeded feeding the tablet on my first attempt. Besides that, I was also given the responsibility to administer IV and other medications to other hospitalised animals. In addition, after having observed the proper way to remove an IV catheter in the previous week, I got to try my hands at removing an IV catheter from a patient. I was also guided in the making and staining of a blood film. The rest of my time was spent observing consults as well as performing basic housekeeping and refilling of supplies in the operation theatre and consult rooms. On Wednesday, I assisted the veterinary technicians in the preparation of the operation theatre and surgical equipment for a canine orchiectomy and a feline ovariohysterectomy plus dental.
Additionally, I also had the opportunity to shave down and clean the surgical site for the feline ovariohysterectomy, as well as aided in the monitoring of the anaesthetized patient during the surgeries. Thereafter, I washed and packed the surgical equipment to be sterilized in the autoclave. In addition, I observed and had a go at tapping fluids from lungs, as well as observed nasal tube feeding.
On Friday, I was tasked to carry out nasal tube feeding after having been taught how to do so earlier on. During a canine orchiectomy plus dental and canine mastectomy, I monitored the parameters of the anaesthetized patient throughout the entire procedure, ensuring that it was stable and on the right plane of anaesthesia. After which, I was assigned to take care of the patient recovering from general anaesthetic. The remainder of the day was then spent doing basic housekeeping around the
clinic. On Saturday, besides carrying out my day-to-day duties, I monitored a patient under general anaesthesia during a dental procedure. Additionally, I aided the doctor in wrapping a cast around a dog’s fractured forelimb, and was tasked to administer subcutaneous fluid, as well as carry out nasal tube feeding to patients. On Sunday, I attended a BBQ organised by the clinic and had a blast. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know the people at the clinic better outside of work.
AH-CHO!!! The patient finally sneezed us out of her nose! That was a very enjoyable journey. It was so fascinating going inside the human body and getting an up close look at the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It is just amazing on how all this is going on inside our body and we do not even notice it is happening. It is also fascinating on how the body automatically knows what to do when there is an infection of some sort going on. Now it you will excuse me, I am going to go take a shower. Something about coming out of a human’s nose that makes me feel icky.
This time, I decided to be more talkative and ask more questions about the patients. My senior nurse showed me a patient who fell down a couple flight of stairs and due to his accident, he injured his brain severely to the point where he couldn’t speak anymore. She explained to me all the medications that he had to take and how she had to look up the patient’s lab report because the medications he takes might affect him in different ways. After she was done with looking up his lab reports, I watched her feed the patient for an hour and thirty minutes. During this time, I really felt bad for the patient because he was half-awake and half-asleep while eating. It saddened me how we had to disrupt his resting time to feed him before he could take his medication. After the patient was done eating, I watched the nurse give the patient Lovenox, which I learned was given to patients who are immobile in order to stop blood clotting. After giving him his medication, we had to transfer him off the bed and into a chair, which was my favorite part about this clinical observation. I got to physically help move him off his bed and into a chair. This took 3 nurses, including myself to move him and it made me realize how nursing really requires teamwork. I then got to help clean him up and after changing him, it was time to leave the hospital. This clinical observation made me really excited to be a nurse because I
In the beginning of my senior year I was eager to expand my understanding of how it would be to work in a hospital. An opportunity arose allowing me to volunteer in the hospital at the University of Chicago. I was able to volunteer at the children's playroom, which consisted of a weekly commitment. The daily tasks I had to perform where to enlighten the spirits of children and reduce the amount of anxiety that developed within them when they approached a hospital visit. I would play games, read books, or just company the patients at their bedside. I especially love to interact with the younger patients because their laughter and innocence warms my heart up.
Humanity has relied heavily on animals for millennia, for everything from food to transport, companionship and entertainment, and as such animal welfare is a topic that is hugely important to us as a society. My passion for the preservation of animal health coupled with my love of science has set me up perfectly for a career as a veterinary surgeon.
More often than not positive patient outcomes come from these procedures, but not without challenges along the road to recovery. Recently I had a patient that underwent a bowel resection with establishment of an end colostomy for the treatment of her diverticulitis. Fortunate, the procedure went without complications from a surgeon’s point of view, but sadly this was not the case for the patient. Caring for this patient postoperatively presented great opportunity for me to practice presence. The pain and suffering my patient was experiencing had nothing to do with the mechanical aspect of her surgery, but rather the emotional craters created by discovering her colostomy bag. For the patient, a colostomy was the absolute worst case scenario. New colostomies require frequent attention from nurses; checking for viable tissue, emptying output, and watching for signs of infection. Each time I assessed the ostomy humiliation and shame consumed her spirit and body. After the second flood of these emotions, I stopped dead in my tracks, pulled up a chair and asked the patient “how are you feeling”. A constant stream of tears ran down her face as she expresses to me the fear she has in telling her significant other that she will forever have “a bad of feces” on the outside of her abdomen. My heart cried for her! I couldn’t imagine how she must feel. As a woman, she previously viewed her body as a sacred part of her that she was able to share with her partner, but she no longer felt beautiful and sexy, but rather a disgrace. Her painful emotions struck my heart like a bolt of lightning, how was I supposed to help her see the beauty of this colostomy? In the end, it was my time and patience coupled with positive affirmations that relieved her fears of the unknown. I had every opportunity to place ignorance at the frontline of my care and ignore the obvious
Sometimes the clients can be difficult to work with. Working in this field is also very fast paced. Communicating to the clients is a large part of this occupation. It is my job to tell them any reactions their animal may have after receiving vaccinations, medication, etc. I also assist with surgeries, perform dentals, perform physical exams, as well as assisting the veterinarian with any help he/she needs.
Hours are long and the work is high pressure. The job requires complex responsibilities and decision making. The needs of the animal and those of the owner do not always overlap perfectly, and decisions concerning treatment must be made to best balance the needs of both. In this way, veterinarians act as the gatekeepers of both human and animal welfare. My passion is to play an active role in improving the lives of both my animal patient’s and their human owners. In doing this I believe I will be able to fulfill my drive to help animals that was born out of the devastation I experienced in Japan.
I followed the RN nurse who was to assist and prep the operating room (OR). She first went into the clean utility room, where she picked up essentials for the surgery. When everything was gathered and prepared, we had to sit and wait for the patient who had arrived late. The RN would check the computer constantly to see if the patient was on file. After the clock hit 9, which was the time for the surgery, the RN nurse decided to go help put the patient on file quicker. When we arrived at the patients room, there was a nurse making the patient fill out papers. The RN nurse took over the papers while the other nurse completed the documents on the computer. While watching all the questions being asked, and the time it took to fill out the paper work, I realized that the paper work process is not easy.
Even though the journey to becoming a veterinarian will be a long and rigorous road ahead, in the end, it will all be worth it. Sixty five percent of animals around the world die from abuse or improper treatment, and as a future veterinarian, I want to start putting a stop to it now. “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” –Mahatma Gandhi.
Today I felt overwhelmed about my clinical day because I had patients with situations going on that I had never taken care of before in my other clinical rotations.
Time out was done by the anesthesiologist, the circulating nurse, the surgeon, and the scrub tech all pausing before the surgery and verifying the patient’s name and date of birth, the procedure being done, the site and location on the body in which the procedure was being done, and documented the count of all the equipment the scrub nurse had before surgery to compare to after surgery. 5. The patient’s privacy was protected and respected throughout the whole surgical procedure. The staff was very professional and I felt I learned a lot from them during my OR experience. 6. A sponge count is when the scrub nurse counts the sponges that are unused before the surgery she relays this to the circulating nurse and it is documented. After the surgery the count is redone to make sure that there are no sponges left in the patient. 7. The circulating nurse documents the information and signs the chart in the operating room. From pre-op to the operating room the nurses in pre-op gave off report to the circulating nurse by SBAR. From the operating room to PACU the anesthesiologist went with the patient and handed off the patient’s condition and information to the nurse in there. 8. There were no ethical or legal issues that were raised during my observation in the whole surgical process. 9. I learned how the whole operating procedure works from start to finish, all the legal paperwork involved, and how the team interacts and helps each other out to give the patient a safe and
Misery loves company, they say. That’s why the third Thursday of the month was bar night for all surgical personnel. Everyone was invited and came to do a little socializing among the nurses, doctors, and the technicians. What happens during these after hour delight sessions stayed within in the walls of the institution.
On the second week of my placement, I was asked to bed-bath an 85 year male old patient in my bay, in the ward and get him ready for breakfast. This patient had, had a bowel surgery and as a result he had a stoma bag on. This patient was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) IN 2010, but his condition had grown worse over the years. IBD mainly refers to Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohns disease (CD). However, this patient had Crohns disease. I was asked to bed-bath him by my mentor while she was observing me as she had taught me how to assist patients with their Activities of Daily Living (ADL) which are considered to be important.
This was the first day of entering a med tech lab. My supervisor was Jeser Leon, a graduate of the University of Belize. We were told we are not sent to work, but to learn. However, the lab tech said, as soon as I walked in, “I will have work for you in a moment.” I found that alarming, but, nonetheless I was eager. The first things I had to do to prepare for “work” was to wear my lab coat and put on gloves. I wasn’t even instructed to wash my hand first. I was told to focus a microscope on a urine sample. I had no idea how to do that since I had very little chance to practice and I had no idea what to look for. I eventually I was shown how to focus a microscope and had practice with the many urine sample that entered the lab that day. Since
I went to the operating room on March 23, 2016 for the Wilkes Community College Nursing Class of 2017 for observation. Another student and I were assigned to this unit from 7:30am-2:00pm. When we got their we changed into the operating room scrubs, placed a bonnet on our heads and placed booties over our shoes. I got to observe three different surgeries, two laparoscopic shoulder surgeries and one ankle surgery. While cleaning the surgical room for the next surgery, I got to communicate with the nurses and surgical team they explained the flow and equipment that was used in the operating room.