Post #2
My first week of clinicals was not exactly what I was expecting. In many ways, I thought it would be harder. I had assumed that beginning on the first day that I would be required to actually start taking care of my resident. This wasn't the case. Instead, we sat and listened to a lecture for almost 5 hours and then went on a tour of the facility. After that, I met my resident and talked to her for only a few minutes before she said she would see me later because she was going to lunch. She is very independent and does not need that much help from other people to take care of herself. This should make the next few weeks interesting because I'm supposed to be giving her care throughout most of the day. After meeting my resident, I basically observed the other residents and stood around a bit, not really sure what to do.
The second day, friday, was better because I actually got to see firsthand the type of care that I'll be giving my resident. I got to shadow one of the NAC's (or CNA's) at CRISTA and see what their everyday routine is like. The only thing I actually ended up helping with was taking the vital signs of two residents that were falling asleep in their wheelchairs before lunch. After the experience on friday, it made me realize that I don't want to work in a nursing home when I become a nurse. Their work is very stressful because they're taking care of about 8 residents that all need help going to the bathroom and getting out of bed in the morning. This takes almost 2 hours to get everybody out of bed. Doing transfers and peri care for the majority of the day is not what I want to be doing as a nurse. Yes, the care is very hands-on (which I enjoy) and needed for those older adults, but I feel that my calling is to help take care of younger generations rather than those that are in nursing homes and long term care facilities. I will do my best in the next few weeks to learn as much as I can from everyone at CRISTA so that I can say that, even if I didn't enjoy my time there as much as I would have liked, I still took every advantage to learn how to become a better Christian nurse and provide the best care possible.
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I had the similar experience and i don't want to work in a Nursing home myself. I was wondering though if we all have the similar feeling then who will work in the nursing home and make a difference. Honestly, I was not very pleased to see the way some of the CNA's took care of the residents, but i had to understand that they have many other resident's to care for. I am working in the Dementia unit, and so it was a little challenging for me as the older adults there are more difficult to deal with as they are cognitively disabled. Personally, i am more inclined towards the older age group and i enjoy working and taking care of them. I have mixed feelings while am in the nursing home because the environment depresses me and at the same time i am happy to serve the people in need and who long for love and compassion. I just want to make the best use of my time at the nursing home by giving my best to the residents. I am going to have a positive attitude and do what i am there for and make the most of it. All the experiences that we gain from these clinical
ReplyDeletesites will mould us and make us not only better nurses, but mature individuals.