Back to school...

Ugh... Back into the classroom today. Although I am glad that acute care is over, there are certain things I will miss about being in the clinic. Just a few more classes and then I am done with all of my schooling! This semester is supposed to be a whirlwind, it's only 7 weeks long and there's a lot to fit in. I have Dysfunction of Multiple Systems (lovingly referred to as Multi-Systems) and my final Research course (time to write that systematic review!), as well as a professionalism course.

It looks like a ton of busy work, but I was happy to see my friends. I'm looking forward to getting these next few weeks out of the way so that I can go on vacation!

Oh! The best part about today is... I'M A THIRD YEAR STUDENT!

So excited to have that designation... Woohoo! :)

It's over! No more acute care!

Holy cow! My LAST day. At times, this clinical seemed to be dragging, but really, overall it went by so fast. I really can't believe it. I'm done with my second clinical! Only two more to go before graduation! WOW! Today was a really good day. Yesterday, my CI and I started going over my final evaluation and then we finished it up today. I was really happy with all of her comments and suggestions. I really have grown a lot and she definitely recognized my hard work and I definitely feel rewarded for it. I did have a good experience, it was a little hard at different times, but overall it was good. I learned a lot, and the staff at the hospital are so nice and helpful. 

The best part of today was one of my patients was also discharged! Much like my lady who was post-open heart with complications, so was this particular patient, although much worse. He ended up having sepsis and multi-organ failure, including the need to be on continuous dialysis for awhile. It was really sad for quite some time because it appeared he was maybe not going to pull through. But within the last week or so he has been doing so much better medically. He is starting to talk to us a little and today he got his foley cath out, the last line.tube holding him back! So, we went in to see him and I told him it was my last day and we talked a bit and I told him how proud I was of how far he had come, etc. It was a really nice, special "goodbye" (He has been in the hospital since May 9!!!) Well, later in the afternoon when my CI went to check off my progress note for him it came up he had been discharged to the nursing home!!! It was so exciting!! And perfect timing! :)

Well, I guess it's time to put another experience in the books and call it a day. I had a nice experience, but I'm glad to be done and ready for the next step! 

Substitute CI for the day...

Today my CI was off, so I got to be with a different therapist for the day. I got to work with one of the part-time therapists. It was a really good day. She is really nice and kept telling me how impressed she was with my skills/knowledge. It felt good! She even bought me a coffee at lunch time! ;) I was proud of myself because I fought for a patient who hasn't been doing well in the ICU and she wanted to discharge him, but I convinced her not to, since he isn't normally her patient. I keep hoping that he will make a turn and come around the other side, but it seems like every day he is worse. My CI and I had discussed discharging him last week, but we were worried that he may fall through the cracks if he does get better and then he will lose out on therapy he desperately needs. 

I can't believe I'm in week eight. I will be so glad to finish this clinical because it has been a lot of hard work and I've learned a lot! I have been working really hard on my in-service and I think it's going to be really informative for everyone. We've had so many patients (my CI as well as other therapists) with brachial plexus symptoms following open heart and it has been a really long process of researching over everything and I'm currently trying to find some treatment ideas now. I feel like I'm sort of "stuck" but I haven't given up yet! My CI seems like she is pleased that I'll be doing my in-service on this topic and I hope that she enjoys it (as well as everyone else) when I give it. We still need to pick a date to do it, though. 

Well, two more days til the weekend! :) Then, onto week 9!