Clinical Day 1

We got to the hospital, did our meet and greet, went over the course guidelines, and learned some basics. They gave us actual hospital ID cards. That made me happy, as I easily get excited by things like that. By the time we were ready to actually go up to the Peds. floor, I was terrified. I have no children of my own, had never even taken a temperature on a child that I know of and have had no experience working with kids other than babysitting when I was 15 years old. Even after having a solid 2+ years of clinical experience in different areas, this was different!

Our group of 8 students made it to the Peds. floor, to find out it was a very slow night. In light of this, my instructor decided to send a couple of us to the Pediatric ER, to practice grabbing vital signs and doing assessments. I'm always one to jump for experiences, so when my instructor asked for volunteers, I did not hesitate to speak up.

Even though I was terrified from the get go, I ended up loving the experience. After the first few kids came in, I felt a lot better about everything. The nurses, and the rest of the staff were AMAZING! They were so helpful, friendly, and open to us being there. After spending my last 2 clinical semesters at CHP, this was a very welcome change.

I LOVE Fairview Hospital. I plan on begging them to hire me as a part time LPN.