Maternity/Pediatric

 

During my time on the maternity and Pediatric floor at Peterborough Regional Health Center during January - April 2016, I had many meaningful and great experiences that I can carry with me through my years as a student and as a future nurse. My favourite part about being a student on this floor was having the ability to build meaningful relationships with the mothers. I also appreciated the amount of work it actually is to take on 5-7 different pairs of mother's and baby's throughout the day. I really experienced chaos taking on 2 pairs (4 people), as I was flipping back and forth from page to page finding the different vitals. There is a lot of information to record, so I really learned how important it is to be organized. During the semester, I gave my very first injection to a mother. The injection was an MMR in the subcutaneous tissue in the arm. This experience was definitely the most heart racing moment out of them all and one that I can carry with me throughout all my placements. I would definitely like to have more practice with giving injections! 

 

Something I wish I had done more of during this placement was doing more baby baths. I really enjoyed learning how to do it for the very first time, and this skill was one that really had me attached to the babies. I also wish I had gotten to experience a labour and delivery day, especially since birth was one of the scariest things for me coming into this placement. I have definitely become more comfortable with pregnancy, and I appreciate all the little things throughout the semester that helped build up that confidence. I believe throughout the semester, I was able to improve on being able to teach the mother's about baby care, as I was comfortable in myself to do it properly. For first time mothers, I was able to go step by step through a baby bath, as well as teach about how to use a car seat properly. Also, I became confident in myself to do vital signs on mothers, and on their baby's. I can definitely feel the level of confidence increase tremendously from first year to now.

 

During this course, lab and the theory course that is linked with my placement, I really got to learn many new skills that would help me to be successful in my placement. In lab, I learned how to do a neonate, infant and pediatric assessment, i learned all about pregnancy, postpartum, breadfeeding, the birth process etc. I learned how to adminster oral medications, and well as learned how to give injections, and do IV's. All these skills that I learned during my lab gave me a good basis and understanding of what I would be doing during this course as a student. Once we learned the new skill in lab, we were able to officially do it in clinical. 

 

I'd like to mention that I was extremely nervous beginning this placement, especially since I've never held a baby before as well as giving my very first inection to one of my mother's (Read about my experience from my LEARN about giving injections). Holding a baby and giving an injection for the first time were both extremely overwhelming experiences. I just want to take a moment and say thanks to my clinical instructor for always pushing us, and making sure we are always gaining the full experience. I appreciated the group of girls I got to work with this semester to as everyone was so helpful, and always willing to learn. Overall, I really enjoyed this placement, I appreciated how helpful the nurses were with teaching the students, and how approachable, and knowledgeable they were. Thanks for a great semester!