MHKH 1/9/15

Kevin Mendoza

L&D

1/9/15

Report:

Responsibilities:

I didn't really have any responsibilities on the job due to the fact that literally nothing was happening that day. I hate that this sounds like an excuse but even the nurses told me that the floor can be very slow on certain days.

New Skills/Knowledge:

I really didn't learn anything new or practice anything on my rotation, but I got the chance to see a patient come in before I left the department.

Best Thing(s):

• A patient came in before I left.
• The nurses chatted with me about stuff that happens on L&D.

Worst Thing(s):

• I didn't really get to see much of anything.
• The patient came in a little before I left.
• I couldn't chat with the nurses for long because they were filling weekly reports.

All things considered, this week was rather fair.

My Experience:

Some of the Technology I was able to observe while at the hospital was EKG's, AED"s, and some of the inner-hospital cell phones. I think the most interesting piece of technology I saw was the entire setup they had to constantly monitor all of a patient's vital signs and have it on the nurse station computers.

As for Diagnostic Procedures, there weren't any that I was able to observe. The closest to a diagnostic procedure was hearing an EMT come up to the floor explaining that the woman was in labor.

Another thing I couldn't observe were therapeutic procedures. Though I did hear some of the nurses talk about giving her some pain medication to help, if that counts as therapeutic.

I didn't really get to hear the nurses mention many diseases but I did hear one. Metabolic Respiratory Acidosis is an accumulation of CO2 due to decreased respiratory rate, hypoventilation, or both. This can occur in the mothers during labor and should be monitored for.

As with the diseases the most I heard the nurses mention in terms of abbreviations was BD. Base Deficit (BD) is a lack of base in the blood. Base being either lactic acid or some other component in blood.

I. Environmental Assessment:

The department smells clean, like hand sanitizer (faintly), it's a very quiet environment. Nurses are very kind, quiet, and patient with one another and myself. L&D provides labor and delivery service for mothers who have gone into labor. The floor has EKG's. BP cuffs,a crash cart, a charting station, and AED's. The technology used is mostly EKG monitors and other monitors for BP and respiration that link to the nurse station computer.

II. Observation:

The nurses are the only people besides myself on the department at the moment. They are all very calm, quiet, and attentive. They've been working together to help finish the weekly report and they are also helping plan one of the nurse's weddings. They communicate between each other very effectively and rarely have to repeat themselves. I saw that if one nurse left the other took charge over her station for a while. The charting stations are kept behind the nurses station so that if a patient is rushed in there will be no obstacles. I didn't get the chance to see any diagnostic or therapeutic procedures while I was there.

III. Knowledge:

Due to things being slow on the department I didn't get much chance to learn many new med terms or abbreviations but I did learn some. I learned about metabolic respiratory acidosis and base deficit (BD). Metabolic respiratory acidosis is where CO2 builds up as there is a low respiratory rate, hypoventilation, or both. This could happen in a mother in labor and could be deadly. Nurses monitor each patient for this and also BD. Base deficit (BD) is a lack of base in the blood which could lead to some complications in the future. As for skills, none were really learned on the job.

IV. Evaluation:

To be honest, there wasn't much to do on L&D but I will admit there is potential for a great learning experience. I think we would just have to come back another day and see if it was busy that day. The floor is definitely a good learning environment but again, a busier day is required. It's also a good place to learn how to be professional about trying to control the situation if a mother has labor pains or if something goes wrong and rectifying that situation by getting someone else with greater knowledge on the subject. Hopefully the next time someone is there it will be busier.

GC

Grace Care this past Friday was pretty great in my opinion. Nick and I were in Dining where we had never been before. We started off by going into the kitchen and asking what it was that we could, but we weren't allowed in the kitchen because the supervisor doesn't allow anyone under 18. So instead we helped set up tables with napkins and we learned the proper folding technique. Afterwards we went all over the center giving snacks and learning what some residents liked and others didn't. It was actually pretty cool. When we were done we had nothing left to do as we had finished up with some time to spare. We were then rewarded with some ice cream and choco-tacos. It wasn't the food that made it a great experience but rather the time we spent with the patients. Hopefully we get that rotation again.