Acute Care Clinicals: Week 1

This week we started the acute care portion of our clinical rotation. Seven other students and I have been placed on the floor of a hospital where people receive care for problems related to end stage liver failure, most are on transplant lists and some have just received new livers. Most everyone there with light skin is bright yellow with jaundice and swollen with ascites. We were all soooo nervous on our first day, but once we got to the hospital and saw what it was like on the floor, I think we all started to calm down a little. I really love the fact that all of my classmates readily admit how scared they are -there are no tough guys in the group. It's really nice to know that when you are feeling really doubtful about your preparedness for these situations, there are seven other people around you to reassure you that, "girl, I'm crapping my pants too..."
On day #2 we were assigned a patient who we had perform a general assessment on. My patient was having a liver biopsy performed on another floor when I got there at 8:00, so I didn't get to work with him until about 11:00. When I finally got to meet him, I found him to be a really nice guy which made it a lot easier for me to do the assessment...!
Aside from working with my patient, I helped another classmate wash hers up . This guy had two chest tubes, three JP drains, a "mercedes" incision (use your imagination) AND these things they wrap around their calves and hook up to a machine that squeezes their legs (I think to help prevent deep vein thrombosis). He had just received a new liver the day before. He was acting a little strange because liver failure can cause neurological problems and I guess he wasn't feeling the effects of his new organ yet. He also had an IV and bandages on both arms. Oh! and don't forget the catheter and butt tube! I mean there was barely an inch of skin that we could actually clean before running into a tube... I also drained a catheter bag (is this getting too disgusting?) and helped a nurse draw blood off of a PICC line. I also saw a craaaaaazy dressing change on this lady's abdomen (the nurse could fit her hand up to the knuckles into the wound).
Next week, we'll start passing meds (just pills, I guess) and the following week we'll be ready for injections!!! This is too fast!