Mixexd UP

This week was the first week of my final clinical! I'm at a pediatric ED and worked my first shift this past weekend. I love the preceptor & the site...I'm less thrilled about the shift: midnights.

And there's no doubt that midnight shifts screw up your internal clock. The day of the first shift, I woke up around 7ish, and then went back to bed from 11:15 till around 4ish. But I wasn't hungry when I woke up and never really had dinner (I snacked instead...probably a bad idea). By midnight I was so tired that I felt drunk before we took a break to eat (lunch? dinner? midnight meal?). After that it was smooth sailing until 5ish when we finally had a chance to sit down. And true...I didn't work the entire twelve hours.

My nurse is this amazing woman who has such an incredibly (and refreshing) positive outlook on life and her profession. The day encompassed a lot of shadowing, but...I got to try and start my first IV! (classmates response: are we allowed to do that?! I have no idea if we're allowed, but she offered and I jumped at the chance). While I got in at the first try, and even got some blood return, the blood stopped flowing and wouldn't flow into the tubes (we were also collecting blood). My nurse then attempted to start an IV on the same patient with the same result before calling for someone else to attempt the IV.

I learned and saw A LOT in that one shift. There are about 7 more shifts that I need to complete, and hopefully I'll be seeing, learning, and doing a lot more!

After the shift, I slept until 2ish before running errands and meeting up with some friends, getting home at 1:30am, and then waking up at 9:30. I can see how nurses (or anyone working a midnight shift) can gain weight, as I've been eating and sleeping horribly this weekend and still in my pajamas lacking the motivation to attempt a 4 mile run. The 20-something degree weather, clouds, and winds aren't helping either.

Oh, someone give me a good kick in the rear!