Friday, August 25, 2006

LMH N4 Clinical Group

Hey y'all, It was really cool seeing you in LMH today. If you need any insider info on how to make things run smoother, let me know.
Bonnie

4 comments:

Harrison Cole said...

Hey Bonnie,

Any LMH survival tips? I'll take 'em all! Thanks!

Bonnie Boss said...

Hey Harrison,
1. The nurses and staff are pretty friendly at LMH.
2. Make friends with the CNAs and tell them to come find you if they need help.
3. Do not be afraid of a cranky nurse. This is usually a signal that the nurse feels overwhelmed with her duties at the time and a cry for help. Instead, if your duties are done, go check on this nurse's patients, and help with whatever you can. Nothing makes a nurse feel better toward you than when you go to her and report a patient problem that has already been taken care of by you. I like to find out the stressed out nurses and help out. This is being a team player.
4. You can find patient teaching sheets on the computer desktop page.
5. Keep your patient sheets from Wed. to use Thurs. if you have the same patients. You can follow changes and will have your meds already written down on the back so that you will not have to rewrite most of them again. (Always check for changes though) Watch confidentiality by blanking out the names or use initials.
6. As soon as you get to the clinical, stuff your pockets withthe alcohol wipes, tape, gauze, adhesive remover, a saline flush and anything else that you routinely use. It saves a lot of trips and time. You will always look prepared too.
7. Let all of the nurses at your station to come and get you for any finger sticks, IV starts, proceedures and anything else that is exciting. They will and when they let you know of something, always let your primary nurse where you will be and if it ok to go with the other nurse to do the task. I have never met a nurse yet that stopped me from a learning experience.
8. Never just sit around. Always look or be busy. You don't want anyone to think that you are lazy. Someone, somewhere always needs help, and may return the favor to you when you feel overwhelmed. This includes your fellow classmates and CNAs. They will REMEMBER the favor.
9. Look EVERY person that you meet in the eye and smile. It is contageous and all parties will feel better.
10. Humor and a genuine caring concern and attitude go a long way.

Bonnie Boss said...

Recap for point 5. There are 2 ways to reuse a patient sheet. 1 is just keeping it in a separate pocket for reference, and the other is reusing it if there is enough room. Chart the first day in 1 color and chart the 2nd day in antother color so you can tell the new from the old. This can help with trending and you can report off any changes.
If you use the nurses pocket notes, you can have everything already written up in one color the first day, use an alcohol wipe to erase all of the routine vitals for the next day, or keep them and change colors.
Play around with custum making your own patient sheets. There are sample sheets at all of the stations. YOu can take them home, cut and paste, and create your own. I am still playing around with different forms.

Harrison Cole said...

Thanks Bonnie!