MICU

This past month I had the opportunity to spend 9 hours in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and I got to follow this great seasoned funky nurse.  I had a blast, but most importantly I got to put into practice a few of things I have been learning in my critical care class.  For instance, at the start of the shift my nurse prints out a current telemetry monitoring strip and proceeds to interpret it.  I loved this step because I had a take-home midterm that consisted of reading some strips and what takes me forever to interpret only took her a matter of seconds.

Then we got to meet our two patients for the day where one suffered from a slow brain bleed needing surgery, and the other a CVA (stroke) affecting the left side of the body.  I thought it was neat that the nurse had to do neurological assessments as often as she assessed for pain (approx. every 2 hours) and she had her routine down perfectly. 

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Ultimately what I liked most about this experience was that the family trusted me enough to ask me questions.  Instead of seeing me as a student they looked to me for help and information.  I stepped up to the plate and answered what I could, but I was quick to admit if I didn’t know something and offered to find out.  It was a busy day, but fulfilling.  I’m glad I got my job in OB, because I’m not sure I’m cut out for the MICU.

The last time I worked in OB, my boss was thrilled to tell me when I would be attending the AWHONNs fetal heart monitoring class.  One more step in the right direction, now I just need to find a good patho OB book for my collection.  Any ideas?