Postpartum Journal

In postpartum I followed two nice nurses, one who has been a nurse for a while and another one who just started working there for two weeks. I felt a good vibe inside there and looked forward to learning things in this unit. They were really nice to the patients so I got a good vibe out of this unit to start off.

The first patient I saw was a one who was done delivering and the nurses took her to the postpartum unit. Both the nurses and her husband help take her to postpartum. When we arrived in her new room, the nurses set her up in her new room and hooked her up with her IVs. Once she was set, they welcomed her in her new room buy explaining them the phone numbers and what nurse will take care of him and where he will be. After they gave them the legal documents they have to fill out and also gave them a time capsule. After the nurses were done welcoming the patient into her room, they checked her breaking stomach since she had a c-section and took her vital signs. Then they brought the baby into the room and the nurse helped her breast feed her baby for the first time and explain to her what she needs to know.

I learned more with the first patient than with the second or third one. Inside the room they have a sphirometer and that is used for patients to avoid getting pneumonia. A pulse oximetry is used to measure the oxygen level in the blood and most of the time in is put on the feet. Rooting is when the baby turn its head towards the direction of being touched on the cheek. They do this most of the time when they are hungry or want to suck.

My personal experience in the postpartum unit was interesting and good. I learned a lot of information I did not know about and I honestly would want to work in a unit like this with nursing and all that stuff.

Postpartum Experience Record

Technology observed
•sphirometer - this is used for the patient to breath on it so they cannot get pneumonia.
•pulse oximetry is used to measure the oxygen level in the blood of the patient.
•IVs and vital sign machines

Diagnostic procedures
•the nurse checks the vital sign every minute. All of the patients I saw were fine.

Therapeutic procedures
•with every patient, the nurse always checks the vital signs and then checks the stomach wound. They also check how swollen their feet are. They are supposed to breastfeed every two hours and they will get some cramps when they start.

Disease/disorders observed
•walk and drink can help the swollen feet go away. The patient gets hormonal 2 weeks and the best way to cure it is to at least take a walk

Postpartum Learning Report

• My responsibilities for this week were to observe the postpartum unit and gain some knew knowledge about it.
• I learned how the patient transitions from labor and deliver to postpartum, the transition from the hospital to going home, home care instructions, a pulse optometry, rooting, how swollen feet can go away, and a spirometer.
• I go to see some babies and saw the a patient transition from labor and delivery to postpartum and how they helped her set up in her new room and her check up. I thought that was really interesting.
• I honestly cannot think of anything bad or disappointing in this unit. I enjoyed it.
• This week was good because I learned a lot of information that I found interesting and that I might personalty use later in life and I was always interested in going in this unit and I saw satisfy with what I learned.

Nursery Journal

When I first walked into nursery, it felt like a nice and chill environment. It did not feel like the vibes like the other units were everyone is doing something or in a rush. When I walked into the nursery, everyone was on the computers charting and I asked if there was someone I could follow and they just told me to sit down in a chair in the room but they told me nicely.

Since every nurse was busy on the computers, I just decided to walk around and look at the babies that were in the nursery. There was only four and they were all sleeping when I started to walk around. Even thought I had nothing to do, I loved looking at the babies and seeing how adorable they are when they wake up and how they look like wrapped burritos. Some left and some new ones came and I took the advantage to walk with the nurses whenever they take the baby back to their mothers at postpartum.

I literraly did not learn anything new at this unit. The nurses were too busy charting and walking up for like a couple of seconds to another room and then back to chartting.

My overall experience in the nursing unit was bad because I did not learn anything new and nothing was going on to observe. I was also disappointed because this type of stuff is the type of stuff I want to do in the medical field.

Nursery Learning Experience Record

Technology Observed

• I did not observe any new technology. The only close technological thing I came close to was the computers

Diagnostic Observed

• I did not observe anything like that. All the babies were healthy and they were in the nursery because their mothers are taking a nap.

Therapeutic Observed

• Like I said, all the babies are healthy and they were just sleeping in the nursery

Nursery Learning Report

• My responsibilities at this unit were to observe the nursery unit and learn something from it
• I did not learn anything new because they did not want me to "follow" anyone
• Literally nothing. Except seeing the cute babies and that was the only exciting thing I saw.
• I did not learn anything and I felt like they did not want me there.
• Since all they wanted me to do was to sit down and look at them chart, I decided to just walk around and look at the babies and try to learn something new, which I did not
• This week was bad because like I said before, I did not learn anything new and I felt like they did not want me there

MDS 6 Experience Record

Technology Observed

• The IV pump was new to me because I never knew what it looked like or what it was called or what it was used for. A mongol is a machine attached to the IV pump depending on how many bags or pumps are connected to the patient. First, pull the pump open and connect it to the tube, also hang it on the IV pump and then put how many mL the patient is going to use and how fact the pump is going to go (ex. 100 mL/hr) then open the tube so the liquid can start running into the patient.

Diagnostic Procedures Observed

• This patient was really dehydrated. She was checked in because she fell and got dehydrated

Therapeutic Procedures Observed

• The nurse gave the patient .45% sodium chloride to hydrate her again and she was planned to go into surgery

Medical terminology/abbreviations encounters

• TKO: to keep open
• KVO: keep vein open
• NPO: nothing by mouth

MDS 6 Learning Report

• The responsibilities for this week were to observe med surgery and to learn something out of it
• I pretty much learned what a IV pump is. I'll be honest that I did not know what a IV pump was used for or how it looks like but I learned a lot of information I would need to know about an IV pump
• I got to see how the patients showered since I've never seen that before and the IV pump
• We only got to see one patient and the nurse was charting the whole time
• This week was fair because I felt like I saw the same thing I always to when I go to med surgery

Day Surgery Experience Record

Technology Observed

• There was barley any technology used in day surgery. The only time technology was used was when we were checking up on the second patient and the nurse took her vital signs on those carts and then the nurse used the portable computers to ask her question before she went to surgery.

Diagnostic Procedures Observed

• The first patient had a wound on her foot but then she got an infection that was so bad it got to her bone. The second patient was going to have a right breast autopsy

Therapeutic Procedure Observed

• The first patient had her dressing taken off so the nurse could clean it and then after put another dressing sponge to help the surrounding skin around the wound, Then she puts a tube which connects to a machine that clears out the drainage which helps the tissues come back together

Disease/Disorders Observed

• The first patient had wound that got infected really bad that she lost her small toe. The second patient got out of chemo therapy but the nurse never mention what she had

Day Surgery Learning Report

• My responsibilities were to observe day surgery
• Day surgery is where the patients that are getting ready to go to surgery stay or if they are just doing a minor surgery. Also learning how to wrap a third degree wound around it
• The first patient was very interesting because she has a wound that got really infected and i saw how the nurse took care of it. Even though it looked disgusting, I was amaze and interested when I saw how big and deep her wound was.
• The nurse I was with first was done for the day so I followed another nurse but she was just prepping the patient to go into surgery.
• This week was fair because I felt like I actually saw something from the first patient but barely saw anything with the second. I thought I was going to see more surgery related stuff in this unit.

GC 2.9.14

• Older American Act: originally enacted in 1965, supports a range of home and community-based services, such as meals-on-wheels and other nutrition programs, in-home services, transportation, legal services, elder abuse prevention and caregivers support
• Omnibus Budge Reconciliation Act of 1987:  creates a set of national minimum set of standards of care and rights for people living in certified nursing facilities
• Ombudsman: an official appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration, especially that of public authorities

Radiology Experience Record

Technology observed

• The only equipment I got to see the nurses use in radiology was the x-ray and the ultrasound. two women in from the emergency room were taken into here to have their sides checked out so I got to see how they move the x-ray equipment and the procedures they do when they take a x-ray. 
• Just like the x-ray, you can see images but instead have beams that pass through certain tissue and are echoed back to the instrument by denser organ tissue Also the procedure can be record and see images in real-time.

Diagnostic procedure observed

• The patient that took a upper gastrointestinal tract radiography has scarring but she felt like it was getting worst. I think she also had inflammation of the esophagus.
• The patient that took the ultrasound came from the emergency center. She was in pain and the pain came from her pelvic. The nurse checked it out with the ultrasound and try to look for unusual stuff.

Therapeutic procedures

• Mostly what we did in radiology is help their doctors find the reason of their patient's pain. In radiology they help by taking images of the problem to the other nurses can find the problem and give them the right treatment. 

Disease/disorders observed

• The patient came in to do upper gastrointestinal tract radiography had scarring and probably inflammation of the esophagus
• The patient that came from the emergency center had pain in the pelvis so she could have an inflammation 

Radiology Learning Report

• My duties for this week were to observe radiology
• I learned the different stuff that they do in radiology like x-rays, mammography, MRI's, ultrasounds, and CAT scans. I also saw how they prepare everything and how they used the computers and save the images
• An interesting thing I saw in here was a upper gastrointestinal tract radiography. They gave a lady something to drink and we could see the drink go down her throat when she drank it on the screen and i thought that was awesome to see
• The x-ray department were done looking at paitients for the morning
• they send me to ultrasound
• This week was fair because I saw and learn new stuff but at the same time I did not see as much stuff as i wanted to

GC 2/2/15

The basic types of assistive devices for individuals with disabilities are objects like cane, walker, wheelchair, slip-resistant flooring so they can walk easy, get around better and to keep their balance. For bathing, dressing, preparing for food, enjoying hobbies, and even using the phone have a different type assistive device and it is used the same way as the normal ones. A long-handled shoe-horn and velcro fastening are are used to help to dress themselves. Height-adjustable cupboards and counters, automatic-stop kettle, pouring aid are all used for helping disable people to serve themselves to eat. 

GC 1/29/15

Social Worker

• Gerontology is the study of the aging process and the problems that elderly individuals might encounter
• Geriatrics is the medical care of older adults. A geriatrician is a doctor who is specially trained to evaluate and manage the unique healthcare needs and treatment preferences of older people. They work under geriatrics
• Geriatric nursing assistants are also known as geriatric aides and they work directly to supply care to elderly patients
• 
  

Med Surgery

• When I got to med surgery, the nurse I was following started going around with her patients for their medicine and she did that the whole time I was with her because their was some mistakes with her second patient.
• The second patient we saw does not like swallowing her medicine so what the nurse did was she took the pills to a crusher thingy and then mixed the crushed pills with plain pudding and I thought that was interesting because I honestly would have never though of that.
• The best thing that happened was talking to patients and their families and just finding out what happened to them since I am so curious. Since we stayed a little more in the second patient's room, I found out that she was staying in a nursing home and she was doing well in their but then she all of a sudden fell on her face. I think she was diabetic or something but she had blood cloths all over her face from when she fell.
• The worst thing that happened was when the nurse was ready to give the second patient her medication, the patient's daughter asked if she was going to give her a type of pill because she told the doctor not to give her that pill because it was only for people with some type of stomach illness and it made her feel horrible after taking it. The doctor did not leave any note for the nurse whether she cannot take it so the nurse already crushed the pill before the patient's daughter asked her about it so it was too late. They decided that she will take the pill even though the daughter did not want her to and the nurse will make a note about it and talk with the patient's doctor.
• I would say this week was fair because I wanted to see more stuff in med surgery like helping the patients get up or taking their vital signs than just giving them medicine. We took most of our time with the second patient because the nurse had to crush the pills and then talk about whether the patient should take the pill that she is not suppose to take anymore.