Babies Holler When They See Me Coming

Clinic nursing just wrapped up today.

We spent four days in a free (or low cost) clinic in a depressing, rundown town outside of the city. I can't exactly tell what the nurses did that was different from a tech; we did a lot of vitals, blood draws and labs.

Big deal.

It wasn't enough nursing for me. Yawn! Other than sticking a lot of veins, I was bored out of my gourd. I suppose the only thing I liked was not having to roll around with a cart dispensing hundreds of pills like on med-surg. (Not implying that's ALL they do...but it sometimes feels like it.)

A few highlights:

• The round, fat 7 month old infant there with an ear infection, just stared googley-eyed at me while I interviewed his mom, but when I came at him with my stethoscope it was all over. He hollered uncontrollably like I was ripping him limb from limb. He screamed when I weighed him. When I measured him. He even tried to cry when his mom nursed him to calm him down. I wanted to reason with him: "Hey kid -- what if I was here to give you your shots? Quit being such a baby, baby!" (I feel this is foreshadowing, since my next rotation is pediatrics. I dread it.)

• The young woman there for some labs. I giddily got ready to stick her. I love finding veins. Unfortunately she didn't have any. Grrrr. I had been on a high the whole time because I hadn't missed yet, and she was my very last blood draw for the term, and then she had to ruin my record. She claims she doesn't use IV drugs, but my instructor and the med tech begged to differ. I don't know how she looked me in the eye and denied it with all the scars on her arms, but whatever. She blew my record and I'm pissed. My only consolation is even the med tech hadn't seen arms that bad in all her years and sent her to the lab for blood work after she failed twice. 

• The jokes between the doc and staff regarding drug-seeking patients. Doc: "It's not you it's me. I just don't think we should see each other anymore. I'm not ready for a long term relationship!" Hahahahahah! I saw her get hit up so many times, I can see how she'd get burned out.

• One of the docs didn't speak English as her first language. She also scared me, this tiny powerhouse. I had to fight not to burst out laughing, nervous as I was, when I watched her interview this old guy. She said, "Any veezing?" He said, "What?!" "Veezing." He cocked his head and looked across at me for help, but I was damned if I was going to correct her and get sent from the room. I just had to raise my brows and shrug. She said it again, "Veezing...VEEZING!" (I quietly wiped tears from my eyes and looked away, before the poor guy looked my way again). Finally he triumphantly shouted, "OH...WHEEZING!!!" He looked so relieved, and he and I shared a private moment of joy. 

Anyway, clinic nursing is not for me. I'm beginning to narrow down my path in terms of selecting the place where I will do my preceptorship during our last term. I really appreciate how widely spread our clinical experiences are since there are so many directions to take for a nursing career. This school does an amazing job of exposing us to our options. 

Wrapping up the term:

The freshman are looking haggard in their second term. Sadly, I wonder how many they will lose from their class next Friday. There's the complete triumph of making it yourself, only to look around while you celebrate and realize a few of your classmates aren't there. Our class bled off a few people every term and now only the veterans remain. I'm trying to keep the spirits up for the students I mentor.

Just 7 more school days left in this term. If I think about how many exams there are left, I'll bury my head in the sand. Tomorrow its a drug exam, and the next day we have a big nursing exam, followed by a pharmacology exam. The weekend for some sleep and then studying for finals next week. 

As always...I'll sleep when I'm dead.