ICU

Okay, so I am not sure if ICU is for me...it was interesting to see that part of the hospital and what their role is in patient health care. I learned about the different "drips" and I also learned that alot of people are non compliant with keeping their blood sugar down. Every day I was there, there was a patient who was in for DKA..diabetic ketoacidosis. Most were frequent flyers, LOL. I did see alot of patients intubated and even had a hand in popping in NG tubes. I also learned about "art" lines and what purpose they have. An arterial line is usually inserted in the radial, brachial, femoral or dorsalis pedis artery. This is an invasive way of measuring one's TRUE blood pressure. Most blood pressure cuffs are designed to read blood pressure in a healthy individual and you would be surprised how wrong they actually are in measuring a sick patient. Dr. "R" was very student friendly and if I am ever in ICU, I want him to be my Doc, lol.
I also got to do chest compressions again. This time I was all up in the bed doing them. Poor guy didn't make it anyways. I don't really have much to write about this time. Certainly wasn't as interesting as ER or OB, but I did learn a few things. Co-workers were great also.
I am off for the next 2 weeks, but I did get an internship in the OB dept!! yeah!! not sure of my hours yet. Check back soon for my next post.