Today was our first day working in the hospital at Maniilaq. Shelbey H. and I were in the ER, working with two travelling nurses. One nurse had worked in Kotzebue several times and the other nurse had just started here last week. The ER has three exam rooms and a trauma room that is split into two sides so that two trauma patients can be treated in there at the same time. Throughout the day, we only had two patients come into the ER, which the nurses said was unusual. One patient came in with an ingrown toenail, so Shelbey and I had the opportunity to watch a partial toenail removal. Another patient came in an I was able to attempt to start an IV and draw blood to complete lab work, but I was only partially successful. I was able to get blood return in the IV chamber and fill one of the vials, but then the blood would stop flowing and we couldn't get it back. I started another IV and the same thing happened, the nurse then tried a third time and still was unable to get enough blood to fill the third vial. Later Shelbey tried to get blood for the lab work and had trouble with that too. After discussing possible factors for having so much trouble, we decided that the patient was most likely a little bit dehydrated, which makes starting an IV difficult. When we didn't have patients, we were able to talk with the nurses and other hospital staff about their experiences in Kotzebue. Everyone told us about how positive their experiences have been with the local people which made me more excited for the potluck that we are having tomorrow evening with some of the local people. Midway through the shift, one of the main ER coordinators came out to have the nurses complete some paperwork and take a medication quiz, so Shelbey and I took the quiz too and surprised the ER coordinator and ourselves that we would have gotten a passing grade if the quiz was graded. Shelbey and I worked together on the quiz, but the questions were designed for nurses who had been working in the ER for a while, not student nurses, so we were pretty proud of our work. After our shift ended, we walked to the hotel where Paula had made our Crock Pot supper. We had chicken noodle soup that turned into more of a hotdish with spinach and ate it picnic style on the floor as we discussed our day. We ended the night with a clinical conference with the Anchorage and Homer groups.
AuthorHi! My name is Megan Hamernik and I am a senior nursing student at The College of St. Scholastica. While on this wonderful trip to Alaska, I was able to spend time in Anchorage, Talkeetna, Seward, Kotzebue, and Alyeska. Please continue reading to learn about my amazing capstone experience in Alaska! ArchivesCategories |