November 17, 2011
Today was the first day that I actually got two patients! With all that is going on, it is actually quite difficult to do, amazingly enough. Only two patients and I was already getting overwhelmed. With one of my patients, I learned how to take all the measurements that are part of a Swan Ganz catheter. I learned how to take Wedge pressures, Cardiac Output, CVP, and pulmonary artery pressure. It was intense and kind of difficult to master! Cardiac Output was especially cool because you have to shove the syringe down super hard to get an accurate reading. My hand was killing me after; it’s actually pretty hard work! Another issue I ran into today was trying to communicate with a patient that is awake on a ventilator. All my other patients have been on vents, but they have all been unconscious. Today, I interpreted a lot of hand motions and gestures. It is very difficult to do, and I was very impressed with my nurse who could do it very well. My other patient was pretty low maintenance, but I did get to transfer her to another floor all by myself. I packed up all her stuff and informed her of what was going on. It made me feel like a real legit nurse in a lot of ways.
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