MRSA and all things -ostomy.

Welp, this week was our first week of big kid clinical at St. Mary's. Last week we just had orientation on Wednesday and then on Thursday we just shadowed a nurse. This week we actually got assigned to a patient and were their primary caregiver for the whole day. The nurse that was assigned to that patient still went in and saw the patient occasionally and did a quick assessment, but mostly we did probably 90% of the care and of the charting. We can do all of the patient's vitals, assessment, personal care (showers and cleaning up), emptying catheters, giving medications, changing linens, etc. I had the same patient both days this week since he wasn't leaving, which was really nice. My patient was an older man, and at first I thought he was going to give me a hard time and be a crotchity old man, but I won him over :) I also spent a good deal of time talking with his wife and just talking with them. It was nice being able to get to know my patient on a personal level, since I was spending a lot of time with him. I was able to see a lot of things that I had never seen before. He had a colostomy and ureterostomy and I learned how to clean those out (Again, glamorous nursing skills). And as a side note, after taking care of him ALL day on Wednesday starting at 7am, at around 1:30 my nurse comes over to inform me that they just found out he was positive for MRSA. So for the rest of my time taking care of him we had to be wearing a gown and gloves any time we walked into the room. I understand why this is important, but it was SUCH a hassle to have to do this just to walk in the room to give him his meds or drop off a fresh glass of water, but oh well. But my nurses both days were really great and all the the nurses at St. Mary's are really great and super willing to help us with anything that we need. I am really enjoying my time there :)