Operating Room

Once again, we were reshuffled. You know what? I’m thinking of a new word to describe what my college does to us: rerererererereshushushuffle. Haha. Whatever. So yeah, basically, majority of the people in my section are strangers to me. Likewise in my group. On the other hand, I know two people in my group.

Just a side note, in our registration form, the original schedule for my hospital duty is from Wednesday to Friday, that’s why when I learned that it was misprinted last Monday, it got me really annoyed. It turned out I have Saturday classes (my hospital duty is from Thursday to Saturday). My rest days are Wednesdays and Sundays. It sucks, right?

So, our first assignment for this semester is in the Operating Room. Luckily for us, we are assigned in a tertiary private hospital. That means, we could get more sophisticated cases that need millions of instruments. Yesterday, when we got in school, some of the girls in my group were in school uniform, some were wearing their duty uniform and the others were wearing their OR/DR suit. Most of the males were wearing black leather shoes (including me), others were wearing white. We were at a lost. It was really funny. When our CI arrived, it was finally cleared to us. We have to wear our school uniform and once we get inside the OR, that’s the only time we are allowed to wear our OR/DR suit.

Our CI turns out to be good. She’s not scary at all, sometimes, she even throws jokes at us. We were given a tour around the hospital, and once we were inside the OR, she gave us most of the information that we need to know. She taught us how to scrub our hands and arms (the faucets were amazing, they were knee operated, haha), wear sterile gowns, closed gloving, serving gowns and gloves to surgeons. She also introduced to us the strange instruments used in the OR. Two instruments almost look the same, but when you look at them properly, you’ll find out that they are different. It’s crazy. Plus the names are not easy to remember, in my opinion. She also taught us how to serve these instruments to the surgeon. She taught us other things too, but I guess, I’ll stop here.

So today… our CI told us that some of us would already take in the fray. Guess who was the lucky guy who took part in the fray? Meh. LOL. I was the scrub nurse (well, the assistant of the scrub nurse, or whatever). Since the case was a major one (cholecystectomy or the removal of gall bladder), I had a partner (circulating nurse) but what my partner does is very different from what I do. My tasks were to give whatever the surgeons need (e.g. instruments), make sure the instruments don’t fall, and help in holding retractors (which is very tiring especially if you have to hold it for long periods of time, plus, you’re standing from the start ’till the end). I think I did many things soo wrongly, but my CI said for a first timer, I did great. Yay? At first, I was not so anxious, but when I started to do things so wrongly, I got terrified. Good thing, the surgeons have a long patience. I wasn’t shouted. LOL. The surgery took around 2.5 hours. Yeah, I was standing for 2.5 hours, actually, more than that because after the operation, I still had to clean the instruments that the surgeons used. I think I washed more than 50 instruments. LOL. Overall, it was fun and crazy and I can’t wait to get a new case… basta hindi lang ako masigawan. Haha.

The Rest…

The past three weeks was sort of rough to me. Both expected and unexpected things happened. And in this post, I’ll try to summarize what happened during that three weeks.

September 22. This day marks the first day of my group’s morning shift. We had a new instructor, well, just for this day. Dunno what’s the reason. I had the worst patient ever! My patient really annoyed me. My patient was already for discharge. I had to make a METHOD as part of my SOAPIE (charting)… and make sure the patient don’t get out of the hospital without paying. So… the patient was strong enough to stroll around the hospital and I was asking him to go back to his room. While following him, he told me “Bakit mo ako sinusundansundan?!” It shocked me, because I didn’t expect to be told like that. In the end, I followed his SO.

September 23. Three got late. They were not able to catch the bus. It was hilarious, it was the first time someone got late. I was the leader for the day. I didn’t handle any patient.

September 24. Ms. Bortusa didn’t get to ride the bus. LOL. She was late. My patient for the day has acute gastritis. Today was my first time to give bolus IV med. It was, uh, fun! LOL. Uh, that’s all for today. We also did records review for our case study.

September 29. My last patient for the rotation’s admitting diagnosis was Dengue Fever. But when I handled the patient, he was already fine (in my opinion). I had the chance to give another IV med. Yey!

September 30. We didn’t handle a patient to give way to our oral defense of our case study and final evaluation. The defense went well, again, in my opinion. Plus, I think I did my best… but it was the other group who produced the best case study for this rotation. I was not expecting much from my group’s case study, given the fact that two of my group mates are horrible. Hehe. But still, I felt sad about it because I gave my best, but what I gave was not enough. Yeah, whatever. As for our final evaluation, I really didn’t review anything for it, as our instructor told us not to review. It turns out it was a bit hard. But I was still able to pass it with flying colors. Haha.

Our group gave our instructor a shirt. Well, it was the girls who picked it. They were eager to buy him something. You know, they like him. LOLZ. They were also able to convince him to go with us later that evening. What did we do? Well, we had fun. We went to a karaoke bar and they sang.

October 01. I finally got back home. Good thing, it was a holiday.

October 06 and 07. Supposed to be, we don’t have any classes since our duty was over, but we had to go to school because of our make-up classes. Boo.

October 09 to 11. The dreaded finals. Sad. Micro was good. NCM was hard, I’m expecting my grade to fall. Haha. Pharacology was fine… well, it was easier than midterms.

Sorry. I feel so sabaw tonight.

The Surge: Medical Surgical

September 09. Our final rotation has finally begun. As what I had expected, most of the girls in my group are in lurve with our CI. It’s so gross when I have to listen with their “girl talk.” Because it was an orientation day, we didn’t get to hold a patient. Our CI gave our requirements for the rotation. God, when will this end? But the requirements he gave us are lighter compared to those in CHN. Towards the end of our duty, we were informed that our midterm exam in Nursing Care Management (NCM) was postponed. They didn’t want to give the reason of the suspension. It’s really unfair, I told myself. If they have the right to postpone it, then we have the right to know why. Right? Oh, well, news flies so fast… I heard that the reason was because… well, that’s not for public consumption. Instead of having an exam tomorrow, we’ll be in teh hospital. And oh, mind you, the hospital is sooo far from my home.

After our duty, my groupmates almost forced me to eat isaw. They told me it’s yummy, but no, thanks.

September 10. I had my first patient for this rotation. Since there was a scarcity with patients, I teamed up with one of the best students in our group, well, actually, he was the one who asked me to be his partner. LOL. The patient we handled had pneumonia! And the patient was like 80+. It was crazy. Haha. We had to talk very loud just so the patient would hear us. Oh, we had a hard time getting the patient’s temperature. There was a gap in his axillary, so the thermometer would slide. Haha. We also received a bad news today, our midterm exam was rescheduled tomorrow. Now, how nice is that?!

Had Jjamppong for my pre-dinner. It was my first time to eat Jjamppong. Oh, you eat soup and you don’t drink it. Haha.

September 11. The proctors for our exam were sooooo paranoid for the whole period. LOL.

September 12. Our midterm exam for Pharmacology was super hard. Hopefully, I’ll pass the exam. Me thinks the computation part was my savior! w00t!

September 15. My patient for the day has pneumonia. She’s 94 years old if I’m not mistaken. Her significant other (SO) was sooo annoying. We chose her for our case study, kase yan lang yung matinoing i-case study. Bwiset. LOL. The vehicle we used to get back to school was some sort of a van. Yung parang pang-service. Weird. But it was faster than the bus.

September 16. I got a perfect score for our first quiz. Rejoice! After our test, I presented my report: Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). Thanks to WikiPedia. I dared to use it, well, the Wiki article about MI is full of resources so I decided to use it. My groupmates were laughing the whole time. LOL. It’s because I was pronouncing the word “beta” the right way. Whatever. Well, I’m used to it. Wala sa akin yun. There was a scarcity with patients again. My patient for the day has an admitting diagnosis of Diabetes Melitus Type II with Dehydration. I teamed up with one of my groupmates for our case study. Yep, we’ve shifted to another patient for our case study. Mas magandang case kase. I had the chance to perform capillary blood glucose (CBG) monitoring. I had to prick the patient… the patient got scared with me. LOL. So by the time we had to administer rapid acting insulin, the patient was refusing. So, it was my partner who injected it.

The bus and the school service-like vehicle were missing in action. We rode an old coaster. It was — as what the people in the college call it — air-continuous. LOL. For the whole ride, we could feel that the coaster was vibrating, thanks to the bad condition of the road. We were laughing during the whole trip. Some even dared to say how they hate the coaster. Buti na lang, mabait si Manong Driver. Uh, my girl groupmates are getting into my nerves. Di pa rin matapos-tapos ang girl talks nila. And it became worse than ever. They kinda like the CI of another school. The thing is, kabatch nung CI namin yung CI na yun. Whatever.

September 17. The reporting continued. The first reporter has the P&F syndrome. He was constantly saying “pever” instead of “fever,” “pat” instead of “fat,” and “pamily” instead of “family.” I guess, you can imagine how hilarious and pathetic it was. The next one was sooo boring. She was reading her report… and she can’t even pronounce the words correctly. Parang first time pa lang nya binasa yung report. Then, there was also Ms. Bortusa who was making her requirements, Drug Study and Nursing Care Plan (NCP) during the reporting. Our CI told her to listen but she still continued with it. Then, our CI started to ask questions… there was this question that we cannot answer. He said “Napaka-passive nyo naman.” I was shocked. I never expected him to say that, because he was so good to us. After the reporting, he said “Next time, I want you to listen to the reporters and don’t do your requirements while the reporting is going on.” Obviously, we hit the limit.

September 19. Why I’m always the one who gets laughed at during our Pharmacology class? Mukha raw kasi akong bata. Haha. I’m not getting annoyed, really. Actually, I laugh with them but it would be better if they stopped it. And oh, finally, after 238723472 years, our Family Case Analysis (FCA), our big and tedious requirement for the past rotation is finally done. We’ve passed our final copy. w00t!

Bye DR!

July 28
The start of my group’s morning duty. It was raining pets when we get in the hospital. And in the place where we wait to be called inside the DR (actually, you only get inside during your deck) it gets wet. We had to transfer numerous times. We had a pre-test. The test includes a multiple choice type of questions, solving, and giving the meanings of acronyms. The test was easy, except for the multiple choice type of questions. It was, as far as I can remember, classes were suspended at around 10:00 am, but it was no longer raining there. I got home by 11:00 am. Ang saya!

July 29 and 30
I can’t really remember what happened during these days. I’m so sorry. The only things that we did that I can remember were the following: reporting of the usual cases that one can encounter inside the DR such as placenta previa, placenta accreta (the one that I reported), abruptio placenta, pregnancy induced hypertension, hyperbilirubinemia, and gestational diabetes. I hope you’re still with me. Hehe. For every case, we had a ten-point quiz. It was crazy. Haha. I think that was the 30th when I went inside the DR again. I was supposed to hold the baby once it’s delivered, but I ended up with watching. You see, the baby was delivered via cesarean section. I was not even allowed to go inside the surgery room. Sad, I know. At least, I assisted with providing new born care. Oh the food (specifically liempo) in the carinderia was good and I got addicted to it. I had no choice but to eat there, puro carinderia lang dun, eh.

August 04 to 06
Again, I can’t give you the day-to-day events because I’ve already forgot them. Sorry, it’s my fault, I know. I should have posted them here sooner. This was our last week in the DR. The reporting continued. But the reporting for our drug study didn’t push through due to the lack of time (it’s quite ironic). We had a big problem with the bus on the 04th. It didn’t depart on time, actually, it only started to move an hour later. To make the problem worse, we had to attend a seminar on stress management. We missed the main part of it. Well, at least, we were able to hear the resource speaker for 15 minutes. LOL. During the last day, we had an evaluation examination. As expected, the multiple choice type of questions was hard. But the rest, the computation part was easily. After our exam, we entered the DR, but it wasn’t the time yet for the baby to get out so we spent agonizing hours inside the DR. By noon, the mother was still in labor. So we went out for lunch. We had Jollibee for lunch (it was delivered in the hospital) care of by two of my group mates. We gave a scrub suit to our clinical instructor as s gift. After lunch, we headed back to the DR. I injected something to the mother. I forgot the name of the medication. Hehe. After 30 minites, the mother was already 10 cm dilated. That means, the baby could already pass through the birth canal. I assisted on delivering the baby. I caught the baby once it was expelled, cut the cord, and tugged on the umbilical cord — I was assisted by the midwife — so that the placenta would be expelled. Too bad (for me), the mother didn’t need episotomy. Wala akong minor case tuloy. It was a great experience. And until now, I can hardly believe that I did that.

All in all, our DR experience was spectacular. Everyone in my group will surely miss this. And in my case, I will miss those cyanotic babies (they appear blue, like aliens, upon delivery), crying mothers, hilarious midwives who love shouting at the mothers and shaves the pubic hair of the mothers carelessly. I will miss the food, every hour is a break time, the effing bus driver, our CI, and of course the bumpy roller coaster ride.

Misc
Our CI got really annoyed with one of my group mates, the one that always makes our day awful. From this point, I’ll be calling her Ms. Bortusa. Our CI had hinted to us how she hated Ms. Bortusa a hundred times. LOL.

Angelica (not her real name), a group mate had amoebiasis. She had to absent herself for a day. According to her, she got it from the fish balls that she ate. She has two make-up duties under her belt now.

On other news, Ms. Bortiua has acquired 14 make-up classes for this rotation alone. Kawawa naman siya.

Ako? Wala. I’m a good student kase. Hehe. LOL.

Ice Cream Man

07/21
Got in the hospital by past 1 pm. So hot. Everyone was complaining. Was diaphoretic due to excessive heat. Ate ice cream. Waited to have a case. None. Shouted when ice cream man returned. Ice cream man was speaking in English. Sosyal. Had another round of ice cream. Planned to review for prelims and read a few pages of Atonement. Fail. Wasn’t able to concentrate well. By night, the sky was giving us a spectacular show. But it didn’t rain. Got home by past 9 pm. Bus arrived at hospital late.

07/22
Planned to review. It was not as hot as the other day. But definitely not my type of weather. Wasn’t able to review because we had a case. Finally. Just got in the delivery room and put my gloves in time. Was able to see how a baby is delivered. Was surprised. Pregnant woman was primigravida. Delivered baby so fast! People in the room were surprised too. Provided cord care to the baby. Injected baby with Vitamin K, intramuscularly. Done APGAR scoring. Another student from another school almost cut the cord without clamping. Freakish. She thought she was holding the clamp. Good thing her CI was able to stop her in time. Spent time inside the DR for 1.5 hours. Ate liempo for dinner. So delicious. Left hospital earlier that usual.