Medical & Surgical  

My experience while being on the medical and surgical floor at Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay was a very eventful and great experience for my Acute placement. At first, it felt different being at a new hospital, since I have been at PRHC for most of my nursing student placements. I was nervous for a new surrounding, and thought it would have been hard to catch on but it has been very easy. I remembered that I may not always be in the same hospital, so it is good to know that I can adapt to my surroundings easily. 

 

I have gotten the chance to take care of post-operative patients who are coming back from hip and knee surgery as well as people who are on the unit and require medical treatments. I have gotten the chance to remove a catheter, do multiple dressing changes using proper sterile technique, removal of sutures from the abdomen, listen to different heart sounds, watch a lumbar puncture, flush IV locks with normal saline, and discharge a patient. I have had the opportunity to care for someone with a colostomy, catheter, IV, and telemetry monitoring. In this placement I have enhanced my leadership skills, my therapeutic communication, my bedside monitoring, medication administration skills, and accurate head to toe assessments. I have been able to differentiate between what is abnormal and have been able to explain why it is abnormal. 

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This semester, I have been involved in many situations such as poking myself with a needle stick, and almost having a medication error, which I explain in my LEARN reflection #2 (Semester 6, 2017). 

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Feedback - Reflection on feedback from clinical instructor and peers

 

Throughout the course, my clinical instructor had a very important role to ensure myself and my peers were gaining the full experience in our placement. I really enjoyed being involved with my clinical instructor this semester as she always provided excellent feedback, and was always available to the students with whom she was working with. She brought much experience into this placement and made sure we had has many learning opportunities that we could get. She is very thorough, approachable, knowledgeable, and empathetic. She is an example of how I want to be as a nurse.  My peers were excellent to work with this semester. Many of them brought knowledge, and skills that I was able utilise.