Julia's iSTAN reflective journal 11/14/2016

Today in iSTAN, my group and I took care of an 85 year old African American female who was admitted for dehydration and urinary retention. I was honestly dreading my iSTAN experience since it is the last week, so theoretically, it should be the hardest. However, I had such a good experience overall. I had four people in my group and we all worked together, had great communication, and got done what needed to be done. We did very well with prioritizing our patient's needs. Within the first 10 minutes, we went in the room, assessed our patient head to toe, hooked her up to telemetry and got her vital signs. Of course her arm band was wrong, so we divided and conquered. One of us performed a head to toe. One of us hooked her up to telemetry and got vitals. One of us hooked up oxygen and suction and the last person called the secretary for new armbands. Her temperature was slightly elevated so the next thing we did was gather her 0900 meds and administer them. As one of us was administering medications, someone else was drawing blood for a CBC and CMP as ordered while yet another one of us was hanging up a new bag of fluids and priming her pump. Next, we gathered a sterile urine specimen from her indwelling foley catheter. Once we got the urine specimen and blood draw, we sent them to the lab as ordered. I learned multiple things pertaining to the clinical experience throughout the day. I learned how to correctly label a lab and the importance of correct labels. I also learned how truly valuable nurse's clinical assessment and judgement skills are. My next clinical experience, I will assess allergies every single time I go to administer a medication, no matter how many medications I am giving. My next clinical experience, I will also correctly label items sent to the lab the first time. While watching my teammates today, I learned how valuable communication with each other and with the patient is in the clinical setting. I also learned that having a game plan before entering the room for iSTAN truly speeds up the process and you tend to get everything accomplished that you were supposed to. Another very important lesson I learned today throughout watching and reflecting both groups is that it is okay to ask questions. If you are unsure, please ask, because chances are that someone in your group has knowledge and guidance and can help you think through the situation. One important aspect I learned in the classroom and got the chance to apply to my patient today is therapeutic communication.  You find out so much more information when you actually listen to your patient and actively seek information from them. Another aspect I learned in the classroom and was able to apply to our experience today is team work. As nurses and student nurses, we are a team and we must have each other's backs. Finally, I learned in the classroom what an important role in collaboration the nurse plays. Nurses are constantly communicating between all of the patient's health care providers, dietitians, pharmacy, and even their own family members. It is for this reason important to have knowledge about your patient and communicate that knowledge to every health care team member. Overall, I had a good day and good iSTAN experience. Team work makes the dream work!