Doing Nursng Things (Part Deux)

For our Adult Health I rotation we are in clinic Thursdays and Fridays.  A major part of this  session is not only starting to put theory into practice, but also to practice the skills we learnd in lab on real people (how scary is that).  One of the major jobs of the nurse on a unit is to keep track of orders and medications.  As a result, the students on my floor are responsible for giving medications/running IVs one day a week (there are too many of us to do it both days).

Today was my first day on the floor giving meds which meant last night I needed to research all the drugs my patient was getting: drug class, pharmokenetics, indication, contraindcations, side effects, adverse effects, thinks to keep in mind as a nurse, patient education.  All of this info was then placed on several 4x6 inch index cards which I could use for reference when quizzed by my clinical instructor. 

With my bag of meds (and let me tell you there were quite a few), IV bags and tubing I headed to my patient's room with my clinical instructor gave the PO meds, hung the IV and then GAVE MY FIRST INSULIN SHOT.  Now you might not think this is a big deal, but up until this point all we have "shot up" is a pillow.  Later on this afternoon we headed back with more meds, IV bags and I got to do a LEGIT subcutaneous injection.  Two weeks down 5 to go.