My thoughts on Technology in Nursing and Education- Blog #10

When reminiscing about my experience in the nursing program for this past semester and thinking specifically about the impact of technology, it helps me see that nursing education has evolved into cirricula that almost require technology nowadays. A majority of my research is found on the internet, my papers are conveniently typed on my laptop and I keep up with the array of assignments we have due because of Discovery's convenient calendar. I can imagine a more simple, basic time when technology was not incorporated into everyday life, but frankly I am relieved I do not live in that time. I consider technology to significantly enhance my education. Technology allows a broad spectrum of information to be shared and made accesible almost immediately. As far as nursing goes, I can see how technology has made everything more convenient and accurate in the realm of nursing care. The computer acts as a doublecheck for medication administration and errors will appear if any of the five rights are not correct via the system. Technology allows faster communication between the diagnostic labs and nurses, so that nurses can be updated when necessary on their patient's lab values to see if any of them are low or critical. In this way, nursing interventions (i.e- calling a doctor and informing them of a critical potassium level, allowing the doctor to order a Kcl IV solution) are sped up. Technology's role in nursing has become very broad; everything from continuosly monitoring a patient's O2 sat with a pulse oximeter, to adusting the patient's position on their electronic hospital bed, to calling/emailing the doctor with an inquiry to charting and printing up essential discharge forms. I feel like technology has allowed an accuracy check in most tasks nurses complete in the day, and in a lot of ways saves time so that more tasks can be completed.
Nursing is a profession which seems to always be developing in its practices and technology is one area which seems to evolving as well, so to incorporate technology into nursing care seems like it can only enhance the care we give.

Clinicals at Evergreen In Retrospect-Blog#8

While the experience at Evergreen helped me practice some of the skills I've learned this past semester and utilize the knowledge I've gained from classes, I am finishing up this semester feeling only slightly more confident. Being on the Med-Surg floor opened my eyes to how much I have yet to learn. I can't believe that in three short semesters I will be an RN. My last day at Clinical I had a patient who was a young woman who was in for a rectal and uterogenital prolapse. Unlike most of my other patients who have mostly been elderly and "chatty" this woman was cooperative but gave nonverbal communication to me that she did not want me in her room longer than I needed to be. As far as completing Gordon's Functional Health Assessment, I found this to be a challenging struggle. I felt self-conscious about asking personal questions to a patient who did not seem like she wanted to be disturbed. This patient was discharged at 11.00 am that day, and I had never even reached the third page of Gordon's with her. All of the personal questions regarding her spirituality, self-concept and sexuality I left blank. When discussing this issue of self-consciousness with Professor Haldeman, she gave good insight in reiterating the importance of giving holistic care for the patient, and giving the patient an opportunity to share with you, at least giving them the choice to. This made me realize while it may not be convenient or always within my comfort/confidence zone, I need to gain confidence by understanding that my scope of understanding will grow, and that the patient's care is what counts.

Supernurse Blog#7

A total of two of my clinical days were spent following a nurse from Uzbekistan named Frida. This time gave me a clear impression of a nurse I admire and will try to emulate. Frida shared with Chanda and I her almost unreal story of how she had been nursing in her country for a children's hospital. Not for the money, but for the principle of helping the sick. She was forced to immigrate to America for safety's sake. Uzbekistan was a war-ravaged country in the late eighties, and Frida was a part of all of it. When she was in the hospital ready to give birth to her son, her mother wisely suggested they should move up to the top floor of the hospital, where it would be less likely that the Russian soldiers would find and harm them. Frida had her son and lived to tell the tale. Now she works as a nurse on the Med-Surg unit at Evergreen and is someone who just by spending a couple of hours with, I have come to admire and desire to be like. Frida was able to handle all of her patients with care and with calm authority. She was able to answer all of her call lights almost immediately and showed utmost conscientiousness with all of the tasks that she completed throughout the day. I respect Frida for her demeanor, her confidence and her care. I think of her as "supernurse". One of her four patients was an older lady with a very rough attitude, who spoke to Frida in a very rude demeaning way. Frida, instead of complaining about this patient as she left the room, as I've seen a lot of the other nurses do, shook her head and said - "She's had a rough morning. I'd be upset too if I were having to go through what she is right now". Frida seemed to incorporate the "golden rule" with most of her patients and treated them with respect, honest and empathy. At one point in time, she was hanging up an IV bag of blood to be transfused into the patient. Minutes later, we found out the blood was leaking from the bag and spilling onto the floor instead of flowing fully through the line. Frida fixed the situation, cleaned up the floor and kept her calm throughout it. I was grateful to Frida for her kindness to me as well. She really went out of her way to be the "teacher" and made a point to highlight things she thought we would find useful and necessary later. The experience of following Frida showed me a lot about the kind of nurse I would like to be someday. Amidst her history, Frida was able get hired as an RN at Evergreen and daily care for patients with a gentle, confident ability. I will remember Frida as a good example of the kind of nurse I'd like to be someday.

Black Jeans and Boots at Med-Surg-Blog#6

Our first day at Evergreen started early in the chapel. Meeting in the dimly lit, serene chapel calmed some of my nerves. We were to report in the staff meeting at 7.00 am to meet the nurses we would be shadowing for our first orientation day. The nurse that I was assigned to was not there. She came in frazzled and late at 7.15. She wore black jeans and leather boots, had tattoos on the side of her head, and chewed gum ferociously all day. T* was not your stereotypical nurse. My first day at Evergreen was a whirlwind of events, observing T* go from room to room, while personally trying to sift through all of the information we had learned in class about correct nursing techniques and watching T* do almost the opposite in just about everything. "Hey Hun! Did you poop, pee or did your heiny make music today?"T* asked the patient loudly as she went about the room. The patient's face mirrored my puzzled face. As the day progressed, I found that this was a typical interaction between T* and her patients. As she flew around the room referring to the patients as "sweetiepie" and roughly adjusted their IV lines, more than once the patients would look at me, with worried or confused looks. More than once, as she left the room they would comment to me "I think that lady has had enough coffee for the day," or "she seems a little crazy, you might want to be trained by someone less nuts." Shadowing T* for that first day was a wild experience. Before nursing school, I would have been completely ignorant to correct practice, but watching T* allowed me to scrutinize her communication and actions and realize that I could learn from this experience. It allowed me to sharpen my understanding of good technique, since I could contrast it against her actions. During medication administration, I noticed the lack of caution and conscientiousness in the preparation of the drugs. By the end of the day, I realized this experience with T* gave me a solid understanding that someday I would be working alongside nurses with all kinds of different backgrounds, philosophies and styles. By the end of the day, I was grateful to T* for allowing me to follow her around all day. This experience gave me a clearer understanding of the nurse I would like to become, and the importance of sensitivity and conscientiousness. At the beginning of the day, T* seemed frustrated with my presence, but throughout the day I was able to have conversations with her and this seemed to lessen her hesitation towards me. It was a great experience to build a relationship with someone like T*, who describes most of her life as "rough". This first day was the opposite of what I was expecting, it will be a memorable first day, it allowed me to construct a clearer vision of the nurse I'd like to become. It was also useful experience to show me how my focus shouldn't merely be reaching out to patients, but it will be so important to reach out to my co-workers as well, and build strong relationships with them despite opposing work ethic.