March 30, 2012

My first night shift at Littleton Hospital was on Saturday March 24, but I am just now getting around to writing down my experiences. Even though I was only running on eight hours of sleep in the forty eight hours leading up to my night shift, I made it the whole night and did not have to go home early like I thought I would have to.

 My first experience was in the ER observing a young child who had had a febrile seizure that lasted about ten minutes. I learned that febrile seizures are caused by a fever in infants and small children and can cause the child to lose consciousness and shake, moving limbs on both sides of the body. Febrile seizures can last a few second to fifteen minutes, but most commonly they last about one-two minutes. Approximately one in every 25 children will have at least one febrile seizure, and more than one-third of these children will have additional febrile seizures before they outgrow the tendency to have them(National Institutes of Health). The young child I saw come into the ER ended up being ok and went home the next day.

I then spent some time with RNs and CNAs talking about how their nursing careers took off and what they would recommend for me to do as far as getting started. I learned a lot about what schools people like and don’t like, what they would change about their career if they could, and really just gave me great advice about how to get started. I heard from many people that getting my EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) before I go for my BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) because it will give me background and give me experience in the ER. I have checked into some schools this week since talking to the staff here at Littleton hospital and will hopefully be visiting Aurora Community College EMT simulation classrooms.

Tonight I am also running on a few hours of sleep but so far am keeping myself awake with some snacks and Mtn Dew. A Nursing Educator tonight was very helpful by looked over my resume and gave me a few edits to correct. I am very grateful for all the help I can get as far as advice of how to start school, how to compose a good resume and any help with terminology I may not be familiar with.

Tonight I saw a man who was assaulted and came into the ER with an Orbital Floor Fracture (Blowout) which is caused by direct trauma to the orbital bones. It is a fracture of one or more of the bones surrounding the eye which can increase pressure and bleeding around the eye and the patient may leak fluid into the sinus cavity. In worst cases when fluid is leaking into the sinus cavity, the patient may lose their eye. The patient was in a lot of pain and had swelling around his eye. Once the swelling goes down, he will be taken into the OR to hopefully reduce the pressure caused by the blood behind his eye and to stabilize the fracture to control the bleeding.

I also got to spend some time in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) which specializes in the care of ill or premature babies. Seeing how tiny some of the babies were made me realize just how fragile life is. Many had feeding tubes because babies under thirty four weeks tend to not have the reflexes or strength to suck/drink on their own.  The NICU nurses work with the babies to help them get to a point where they are able to feed on their own once they get old enough. I really enjoy being in the NICU but I am not sure how I would handle it if a baby became non-responsive and emergency life saving actions had to be taken.

I have never had to deal with the death of a family member, only pets, so I am curious of how I will handle the death of a patient when they are under my care. Tonight an older man passed away in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and it really got me thinking of how OK I am with death. I know that death is a natural thing in life, but I do think I will have a much harder time with it if the death of a patient could have been prevented. For example, a patient killed by a drunk driver is much different than an older patient who has lived a long life and is dying of natural causes. I now see the consequences of doing “dumb but fun in the moment” things such as riding a motorcycle without a helmet or heavy clothing, driving drunk/high, not taking medications when they are prescribed by your doctor and even simply smoking cigarettes/marijuana. Yes accidents happen, but many times people can prevent injury or illness by just making smarter decisions for themselves and their loved ones. I make a lot of choices to not do “dumb but fun in the moment” things just because of the fact I don’t like putting myself at risk. But I know that when I choose to not smoke, drink, drive drunk and just be stupid in general, I am possibly saving my life and maybe someone else’s that my actions could effect. Death at this point in my life scares me, and I’m not sure how to get over that. I know that my feelings towards death will change as I get more experience but for now it makes me feel very vulnerable.

So far I have received a lot of great information of how I should start my career as a nurse, how to apply for jobs, as well as a lot of medical terminology. To say the least I am so far enjoying my time at Littleton and hope I will be able to see more “action” before my time is up. I also have to say that having one of the most knowledgeable nurses I have ever met by my side each shift has helped me tremendously.