day 4 - roberts 15

Roberts 15 is one of the general medicine patient care floors. There are 30 patients, 7 nurses, and 2 technicians that run this floor. (I don't know how many doctors there are.) In this area, I get to experience the behind the scenes of how the this floor operates. There is one main secretary that answers all incoming calls and patient intercom calls, enters the data for every patient online, receives notification of each incoming and outgoing patient, keeps all the nurses, doctors and technicians in check and directs visitors accordingly. How this one lady can manage to do all of these things at one time and is still able to breathe, amazes me.

Behind the front desk is basically a bunch of desks where all the nurses, doctors and technicians do their write ups. It's shocking how much paperwork there is to fill out for each patient. For each patient, their medical file is about two inches thick. This area behind the front desk is always packed. (I don't know how people can work in this area because you can hardly breathe.) Most of the doctors sit by the phones for consultation about their patients while performing their write ups.

Today, I prepared incoming patient packets and charts, organized and restocked paperwork for each patient file, serviced each of the patient charts and assisted the secretary by answering incoming phone calls and the patient intercom calls.

Things I learned:
- It is very beneficial to know who everyone is so when a patient calls, you are able to contact the direct nurse or doctor behind the front desk.
- Behind every patient, there is a bunch of paperwork to be filled out before, during, and after patient consultation.
- In the hospital, everyone helps each other out whether you are a nurse, doctor, janitor, or patient transporter.
- Always be confident and attentive and wear a smile on your face in the hospital.
- Communication is very important.
- Once you understand the hospital lingo, everything will make sense to you.

Favorite thing of the day:
Usually, I absolutely HATE answering the phone, but today, it's growing on me. There may be times when the caller speaks so quickly with hospital lingo or when grumpy patients call requesting for help immediately, but luckily, Miss Annie is there by my side to help me get through it. Hopefully, I'll be able to grow accustomed to the hospital lingo and be more confident in my work.

Things to look forward to:
- Observing patient doctor interaction.
- Attending to patients.
- Getting to talk to more doctors about their experience

day 3 - gi services

Today was my first day volunteering in the GI Services Patient Area. It was a large room full of 30+ patient beds. The first 8 beds were used for prepping patients for surgery and the rest were used for patient recovery. I worked with Janon, a medical technician, and Darlene, one of the sweetest nurses you'll ever meet. I was on my feet for over 5 hour cleaning and changing each patient's bed as they were discharged. Occassionally, when there was down time, I was allowed to visit patients and provide them with warm blankets and drinks if permittable by the doctor.

Things I learned today:
- Each unit is like a family. The sooner you get to know everyone (by name and face), the easier it is to adjust to work.
- Everyone is friendly: the nurses, technicians, janitors, and some doctors. Some doctors are too wrapped up in their work to be aware of their surroundings.
- The hospital has a very fast paced environment. There's always patients coming in and out, patients who require assistance, paperwork to be filled out, etc.
- There is a large chart that displays every surgery that will occur that day, which includes the room number, time, the nurse and tech assisting the doctor, and the doctor's initials. There's one doctor that's AMAZING; he performed at least 10 operations that day. Talk about extreme endurance.

Favorite experience of the day:
I watched my first endoscopy procedure today. The doctors discovered that the patient had cancer in her throat, so they performed a cryo procedure to freeze the cancer cells in her throat to hopefully, destroy the cancer. In the room, there were two doctors, one nurse, a technician, and an anesthesiologist. It was intriguing to see how the doctors performed the operation with such confidence. The doctor inserted the endoscope as if it were second nature to her. It was also amazing to see how advanced techonology is today, for most of the procedure was purely based on the use of computers. The coolest part of the procedure was watching them find the location of the cancer and performing the cryo. The scariest part of the procedure was when the patient started choking on the endoscope and awoke in the middle of the procedure. Scariest thing ever...

Things to look forward to:
- Observing more endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures.
- Interacting with patients more.
- Learning more about the G.I. field