Day Twenty-Five

So its been a while since i last posted about how work has been going. Definately still learning lots, but at the same time i have started to have confidence in myself and my abilities as a nurse. There are some things that are becoming more natural to me, chest pain for example. We have had about two a day for the past week, so im in the routine now. Take some obs, put on oxygen, get an ECG, draw bloods for Trops and then call the dr. :) Then start the admission, get set up for the dr to put in IV access and ya done. :) 


Today i had a pt admitted to the hospital from the medical centre. The pt had abdo pain that started around 1300. It was just after 1500 when the pt was brought over to us. The pt not only had pain that was 9/10 but also had a distended abdomen, and nausea. I was looking after them. Once the dr came it was decided that they would be going to Adelaide so the arrangements for the transfer began. It was believed that the pt had a triple A (abdominal aortic aneurysm) which basically means the abdominal aorta dilates and causes pain and can rupture, causing the pt to bleed out in minutes. So the pt was on 5 minutely obs, coupled with IV morphine and IV maxalon. The ambulance arrived within 40 minutes of the call being placed, and then the pt began vomitting, and once the paperwork was done, he was whisked off to the RAH via the RFDS. I found out later that he didnt make it, though i am unsure what the cause was in the end. :(


Other then the chest pain, and the unfortunate event above, the week while i was at the hospital was fairly uneventful. But i have 2 weeks in the hospital before i begin my first aged care rotation. And i have my appraisal (meeting to discuss how im going) sometime in a fortnight. Fingers crossed it all goes well. :) x