Orientation Near-End

27th August (Wednesday) - The day started off with bed-making and sponging as usual. As a bonus, we are given our new uniform and we get to wear it. Oh yes, those who had seen us walking around in the previously worn blue shirts were like, "Wow, you all look smart..." "You all look so different..." "Now you all look like real staff nurses..." My father jokingly said to me when I came down to eat breakfast, "What? Are you taking up waitressing? Cause you look like one." Ha-di-ha.
With the usual morning routine done, then comes the next wave of routine. Doctor Rounds, or to be more precise, Professor Rounds.Since all wards are short-staffed due to unfortunate circumstances, everywhere is a mad rush. Even though I'm still a newbie, the senior girls were like, "Here come Prof So-and-So, new girl. Gogogo!" I'm not complaining but... The prof(s) handwriting looks like worms, squiggles or chicken tracks. You can spend hours turning the whole paper 360 degrees and it still wouldn't make any sense. The first time I was rather blur and just let a prof ran off without confirming his orders. Arghhh, I'm so pathetic! Then some nurses told me to never let a prof run off without confirming his orders. They told me, "If you can't get the prof's orders, tackle him til you get it." Well, okay. So for the next two, one I managed to read his handwriting which isn't so bad, the other one I asked him since he looks like a nice guy and he just said to me, "Yep, planning for discharge and follow up in 2 weeks. You got that?" Lucky me.
Then after all the prof rounds, I was asked to assist a dressing. So I asked why and the senior nurse told me to help because the dressing is heavy. So I went in and...what a shock. The wound is huge, I mean, really huge and bloody, like a huge hunk of meat with visible muscles mass and bones, with external steel reduction
and large pins and bars. And the patient is in constant pain. I asked the staff nurse whether they gave him any pain killers and she said the med nurse already gave him a shot of sub cut morphine.Even so, when I asked him whether he felt any pain, he nodded in reply. The staff nurse brought very little cotton balls, so I asked her whether she wants me to get some more and she said to go right ahead. So I opened tons of cotton balls (6 packs at my last count) and I poured nearly all of the 500ml of Saline solution just for cleaning itself. If you think that's bad, wait til you hear about the part why I'm there to assist. I have to lift the patient's leg up. Easy task? Not! Even though the patient has received his morphine, he moans in pain. And you can't lift his leg by ordinary method, his younger sister, who is an Orthopaedic doctor herself, told me to lift him by the reduction. I counted mentally to myself and ups-a-daisy. Ohhhh, my shoulder is screaming in pain and I have to hold his leg for about 5 minutes or more. I have to use the foot of the bed as a support and tip toe a little so that I can hold his leg up higher so that the nurse can clean efficiently and wrap his bandage around. I should've eaten some more to boost my stamina. I even strained my eyes and could feel beads of sweat on my forehead. But at the end result, I'm really happy for the patient cause his wound is all cleaned nicely and everyone's happy.
Then I have to rush for my late lunch but who cares? If we don't eat, we'll end up fainting. And this is something that I'm familiar with during my time as a student nurse. If you don't eat enough, you'll end up fainting form hunger or become tired til you don't even have the strength to help your patients. See, break is important. Don't always say, "I have to help the others so I can't eat." That's bull.
The rest of the day pass as a blur, but the CI said since a month has passed, we're no longer under orientation, and starting from next week, we'll be entering the wards. Hoo-boy. Here we go into a whirlwind of being a real staff.