I even wore my ugly white nurse shoes

I think my excitement about my new clinical rotation got lost in the stress and excitement about the house. But this quarter we are working in the hospital in "med-surg" which is where ya'll go after surgery, or when you have swine flu or pneumonia, or when you're alcoholic a$$ is found face-down in the gutter outside the bar.

I have an amazing clinical instructor this quarter. No matter how "dumb" our mistakes, she is constantly reassuring and encouraging us, reminding us that we are students and that every mistake we make is a learning opportunity (but more importantly, to call her for assistance before doing anything we are uncomfortable with!!!). And I've discovered that all those hours I spent volunteering at the hospital and then working as a doula, have made me MUCH more comfortable in the hospital setting than I was in the nursing home last quarter.

This week we were assigned our own patient to take care of. Four months ago I would not have thought it possible that I'd be ready to take care of a patient one day post-op already. But guess what? I was! Yesterday the patient's nurse kept a pretty close eye on me and taught me quite a bit, but today I was almost entirely on my own. I took vital signs, did my assessments (i.e. listened to her heart, lungs, assessed her pain level, etc.), helped her shower, charted everything under the sun, and gave her her medications including her injections! Guess what? Giving an injection to a human is almost exactly the same as practicing on hot dogs in my kitchen. Weird.

I'm certain every week won't go as well as the last two, but I'm so glad I had a couple of good weeks to get my feet under me. And I'm really glad that the last two weeks have affirmed that I really am on the right path.

But more than anything I'm glad I had on these ugly, but very washable shoes today.