Third Week of Clinicals

Post #6

It seems so strange that next week is our last time to be at CRISTA. I have grown to like being there over the last couple of weeks. Even though I wouldn't want to work there, I really like the environment that they have created for the residents. They try to provide them with activities throughout the day that they can attend, and they have exercise times for those who are able to move at least a little bit in their wheelchairs.

This week was not very eventful compared to weeks past. I practiced doing the head-to-toe physical assessment on my resident again and then checked out on it on friday. I wasn't too worried about it because I have been practicing this for two weeks now on both thursdays and fridays. My resident is so pleasant and helpful that I could probably do the assessment for an hour and she wouldn't mind. But it doesn't take me that long, so that's good! Because my resident has edema in her legs and feet, I'm not able to feel her DP and PT pulses. I was able to use a doppler instead to hear the pulses. That was pretty cool. This week I have overheard a couple of the CNA's say that we as students are very helpful to them. The first week or so, I could tell that they probably would have preferred if we weren't there because we were more in the way than anything else. Now that we know how to care for our residents, the CNA's have less stress in the mornings. They ask us to take vital signs because they think we are better at doing it than them. It's nice to feel like we are helpful to these people and that they actually want us there. In some ways, I feel sorry to leave CRISTA because I have gotten used to the routine of the day there. However, at the same time, I am very excited to actually go to the hospital where we will get to work with acute care patients instead of long term patients.