I love IV's

Hey everyone~
Well, my community health clinicals are going well!  I just finished my 2nd day at the Ohio Surgery Center and ABSOLUTELY love it!!!  I'm sad to be finished with it.  It is basically an out patient surgery center that does ENT surgeries.  Mainly tonsilectomies, adenoidectomies, and some nasal repair surgeries. 

My first day was last monday and I basically preped the patients to get them ready for surgery for the first half of the day.  I watched the RN hook them up with an IV and I gave them their oral medication and their IV sedation medications.  The 2nd part of the day, I was in the PACU phase 1 where they were after surgery.  I did vital checks every 15 mintues and made sure they were stable.  I also gave them more pain medications if needed. 

Today was my 2nd day there and my last...sigh!  I spent my first half of the day actually in the OR observing the surgeries!  I was right behind the doctor leaning over his shoulder to watch him do tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies.  I also watch him remove a tube from a little boy's ear.  Very cool stuff!  When he did the nasal surgeries (basically cleaned out the sinuses), that was harder to see b/c the nose isn't that big so I stood and watched from a distance.

The BEST part of today was that I successfully inserted my first IV in a 9 year old boy!!!  He was sedated of course.  I don't think I could have done it if he was awake.  Having him cry would have broken my heart!  So, he was dreaming while I did it!!!  But I was so proud of myself for getting it on the first try!!!!  Everyone was very proud of me and I thanked them for the opportunity!  After the surgeries were over, I went back to the PACU in phase 2 where the patients are fully awake.  I got them up and walking and disconnected 3 IV's.  I also gave some discharge teaching too!

It was an amazing experience.  I really like surgical nursing!  Having all these rotations have really made the decision on where I want to start, pretty hard!  There are so many things that I like!  So, we'll see!  I'm going to actively start applying for RN jobs in November.  I know the OSU medical center is hiring and hopefully some other big hospitals are hiring also!  Keep your fingers crossed that I get a few prospects!!!  Graduation if coming quickly.  I'm down to 5 months now!!!

P.S. I have also done 2 days at Worthington Christian High School.  It's interesting but a bit boring compared to surgery *lol*  I see a lot of headaches and cramps.  But it's all good experience.  The students are all very polite.  I have my night free clinic on Wednesday.

Hope you all are having a great week!

Love,
Ashlie

Adelyn in her scrubs!

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Happy Birthday Beth!

We wanted to wish Beth a very happy birthday!!! We hope you had a fantastic day!!!

Kiser Lake

We had a perfect day for a picnic at Kiser lake!! One last family "outside" event before it starts to get cold! It was absolutely beautiful there! The lake just shimmered and the trees have already started to turn! We all had a good time! Some fished, played at the beach, played boggle, or just sat and held Adelyn!!! I just can't get enough of that little girl! She gets more adorable each time I see her! It was nice to get out of the city and relax a bit. Hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend!!!

Clinicals

Hey everyone!!
I just wanted to give a little update on my clinicals this session! I'm pretty excited about them. I am in my community health nursing class. I have had my first clinical and I was a school nurse at Worthington Christian High School. That was fun! I passed out a lot of tylenol and ibuprofen for headaches and also had to send one girl home due to diarrhea and a fever. Definitely washed my hands after taking care of that one!!! We also did screenings on some of the freshman. We check their blood pressure, height, weight, do hearing tests, vision tests, and also checked for sciolosis. It was interesting but fun! I will be at the high school 3 more times. I will also do 2 days at the elementary school. During my time at the high school, Jess (my partner) and I will do a quick presentation during their health class on the H1N1 (swine) flu. Just basically educating them on what it is, prevention (handwashing), and what to do if they think they have it. I love educating people so I'm pretty excited to do the class! We will also do some education to the teachers also.

My other rotations include an observation for 2 days at the Ohio Surgery Center. I'm not sure what that will be. I go there on Monday at 6:45am!! Ugh! That is really early!

The other rotations are working at a free clinic. That will be 2 wednesday nights from 5:30pm to 9:30pm. They give out free health care to those who need it. I'm really excited to do that one also. Should be a neat experience. Maybe a little similar to Honduras??

The last rotation will be at the health department in Delaware (north of Columbus). One group has already gone and they said it is maily a woman's clinic on Wednesday. They do pap smears, STD checks, and other issues. They said it was really informative and a good review of our Obstetrics class. Women's health is the area that I really find fascinating so I'm really anxious to do that rotation. In the afternoons, they said they sat in on some WIC classes.

So, that is what I'm currently doing at the moment!

Doug is working like a good husband!!! Working 40 hrs a week M-F! He's adjusting well to the transition :) He said it's not as bad as he thought!! Probably much like a vaction. When you work and have school at the same time, your mind never rests. You always have something going on! I should also mention that he looks super cute in his dress clothes!!! ;)

Anywho...hope everyone had a great week! Hope the weekend is even better!

Love,
Ashlie

Labor Day!

We are wanting to wish everyone a very happy and safe labor day weekend!!! Hopefully most of you get to enjoy the 3 day weekend!!! It's the last big event before fall arrives!!!

Enjoy!!!

Love,
Doug and Ashlie