Hearing and Seeing

Today we were very, very busy yet again. The census rose to about 70 patients, so our patient loads increased to 7 or 8 per student!

It was very, very challenging on my part because I had a completion duty the previous night, so I really haven’t gotten any sleep at all. I felt so tired that during the endorsement it felt like it was already the end of our shift. But I took it easy. I didn’t roam around the ward unnecessarily. I rested frequently.

In the middle of the shift I was already ready to collapse. But I endured to the very last hour.

We had a little quiz afterwards outside the ward.

We were not very busy this morning, or, at least, not as busy as yesterday. We had relatively few patients, but we still had to care for six patients while making two SOAPIEs.

We did better today. We were more organized. We have adjusted to the setup of the ward. We have gotten ourselves acquainted with our responsibilities. We were able to finish early because we were able to document all the necessary data to the patients’ charts for the morning shift.

Today we went early to the Communicable Diseases Ward – Pedia (Ward X-A) for our first day of clinical duty. We were to report at exactly 5:45 AM. The head nurses for the week, who were chosen the day before, were expected to report at 5:30 AM.

Our morning circle already started when I got to the ward. We immediately put on our commu-gowns. Our attire consisted of the gown, a bonnet, a mask, and a pair of OR shoes. The get-up is terribly uncomfortable. I mean, it felt so hot. I was sweating during the whole duty.

Aimee Belle Go was our Head Nurse 1, so she stayed inside the nurse’s station most of the time. Helen Ferrer was our HN 2, and she was in charge of the medications. Dean King was our HN 3, and his work involved facilitating the work of the staff. He assigned the patients to each of us. He also checked our SOAPIEs. During the whole duty he was also very busy because he helped around with the work of the staff.

Most of us had six patients whom we were expected to provide care to. We monitored them, took their vital signs every 4 hours, some hourly, and checked their IV fluid and I&O. We made SOAPIEs for two of our six patients.

It was a terribly busy duty day. I mean, in all my months of being a nursing student, that day was probably the busiest of all. We had those many patient loads because we are the only group on duty for the AM shift this week.

All of my patients were diagnosed with dengue fever. The oldest was 11 years old, a girl, and the youngest was about 2 years old, a boy. Luoy jud tan-awun ang mga bata basta ma-ospital. They look so helpless. They look so fatigued because they’ve been in the hospital for 3 or 4 days already. Most of them are very irritable, some even cried because they were already very thirsty but they’re still under NPO order by the doctor.

We got out of the ward at about 3 in the afternoon. Aimee got her first taste of how it is to give the endorsement for the next shift. It was not very easy at all.

November 26, 2007

This morning we went to school for our orientation on Head Nursing. I honestly didn’t know that Head Nursing is actually a subject, or that it’s part of the curriculum. I thought our orientation was about the Communicable Diseases Ward.

Anyway, I really like the lecture, because it showed us clearly who the head nurse really is – what are his or her duties and responsibilities. I was able to appreciate what it means to be a head nurse and what is expected of you as head of the staff.

I’m quite excited about being a head nurse. Of course, I’m also anxious. But on the whole, I’m really positive about it and I’m looking forward to the experience.

Mrs. Doreen Lopez discussed to us the details of Head Nursing. She talked about the general and specific objectives of Head Nursing. She mentioned to us the four management functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling. She also discussed the Head Nurse’s responsibilities. Actually, there are three head nurses in the ward: HN 1, HN 2, and HN 3. Each HN has his or her own scope of roles and responsibilities. Lastly, she gave us the requirements for the course. We are to secure a lesson plan book and we are to document our experiences in the ward on a daily basis – what we did, what were our duties and responsibilities, our goals, what is the organizational structure of the ward, etc.

Mrs. Lopez also discussed to us the kinds of data found in the Kardex. We had a little exercise about it. We were given a patient’s data and we had to decide where to write those data in the Kardex.

Head Nursing will help prepare us for our work as future nurses. It will bring out the leader in each of us, and leadership is one skill each nurse must have.

Oisssst... there's a wonderful new channel I've discovered on TV. Pero naa ra sa cable. It's called Wealth Channel TV. It educates people about wealth and financial intelligence. Have you read Rich Dad, Poor Dad? You will love this channel.

Naa siya sa Channel 44 (Sky Cable).

(I've read Bo Sanchez's latest book, 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich, and I simply loved it! Daghan practical suggestions on how, and why, to become rich, truly rich, meaning materially as well as spiritually wealthy. Dili man evil ang kwarta, di ba? It can be used for evil, yes, but it can, and should, also be used as an instrument to do good. So my dream is to become a millionnaire someday hehehe... The more wealthy you are, the more people you can help. The next book I'm going to read is Think Rich, Pinoy! by Larry Gamboa.)