Acute Care

Acute Care; what a change of pace from long term care. In the hospital, I have different emotions coming over me, similar to that of our first day in long term care. I am overwhelmed, nervous, excited, stressed, and anxious. It's a bit nerveracking being here but I know I will get used to it and feel more confident as the experience increases. I worked with a patient who had a foot of her colon removed due to diverticulitis and another patient with kidney failure who was trying to make a decision whether to go on dialysis or not. It was amazing how everything we have talked about in lecture and skills lab thusfar came together in a day. It made me realize how important our lectures and classes are, that the topics discussed are actually relevant to what we need to know in real life! Even stuff I don't feel confident in, I still understood the general concept of it. We were looking at the charts and the patient's electrolyte levels and I could differentiate which ones were high and which ones were low. I could do a physical assessment on a patient with less anxiety and pressure that I had in long term care for our checkout. I'm nervous, but excited for what's ahead.