My Pediatric Experience
This fall I began my pediatric rotation at the hospital. With only four days of clinical under my belt I have become very comfortable with kids and their families who range from being very easy going to extremely nervous and in need of reassurance. My last clinical was on a medical-surgical floor, so I have compared many of my current experiences to those on an adult floor. I have loved both experiences so far even though I have found many differences between the two units.
Emily Hoffiz is a Junior in the BSN program at Oakland University. She volunteers in Guest Services at Royal Beaumont Hospital and is a member of the Dean's Circle. In her free time she enjoys playing team sports and hanging out with friends!
Upon first encounter with a pediatric patient, I have found that when introducing myself to the parents first, if present, I become less intimidating to young children. When children see me interacting with someone they trust, they begin to trust me too. Although this is something I learned in lecture, it was emphasized through my clinical experience. It is also important to realize that when a child’s family is present, the nurse must utilize all the resources around them; parents give a vast amount of information about their children’s illness. At times, when a child is too young to speak, parents might be the only resource a nurse has in regard to the details of a current illness! In order to provide excellent nursing care, especially on a pediatric unit, the nurse must truly embrace the definition of a patient as the one receiving direct health care as well as their family and loved ones.
Another big aspect of pediatrics is drug-dosing knowledge. Before the nurse administers any medications they must calculate each dosage to make sure it is safe for the child’s weight. Keeping a calculator in my pocket is not something I found myself doing on a medical-surgical floor, but it has been absolutely pertinent in the pediatric setting.
Some of the different medical diagnoses I have seen on my unit so far include meningitis, tracheomalacia, sickle cell anemia, failure to thrive, cerebral palsy, and testicular cancer. Seeing these processes in the pediatric clinical setting enhance all of the readings from our nursing books and lecture notes taken in class. My favorite part of the clinical setting is when I get to see how all of the laboratory values correlate to a diagnosis. In attempt to learn and memorize all of these values I keep note cards on me that tell me the normal values for a pediatric patient.
This clinical experience has made me so excited for my nursing future because I am beginning to see the different career paths a nurse can take. Making the decision of where I want to specialize is going to be difficult, but how many careers get as many choices as us?!
Giving Back
Jeff Biehl began the Accelerated Second Degree BSN program in the Fall of 2011. He is a member of the Dean's Circle, SNAOU, and the National Student Nurses Association. He has his CNA certification and eventually plans to pursue further education through the CRNA program. Jeff graduated from Wayne State University in 2005 with a degree in Spanish and also played baseball there all four years. In his free time he likes to enjoy the beach, sports, a good movie, and spending time with family and friends.
Well, I’m through my first couple weeks of the ASD BSN program and needless to say, it can be quite overwhelming. It seems like we have a test or validation every day with very little time to prepare and our social lives can be described as null and void. However, we recently had an opening in our schedule this Saturday and some of my classmates and I decided to give back. The Student Nursing Association of Oakland University (SNAOU), which I partake in, organized a team with the Children’s Hospital of Michigan for the diabetes walk at the Detroit Zoo. Our team significantly surpassed our goal of money raised and I’m glad to say that I was a part of it.
There were a ton of people who came to the event including a few contestants from past “Biggest Loser” shows. They had a nice opening put on by the morning show folks at 99.5 WYCD and then the walk began. It wasn’t your typical marathon, which was nice, since we were able to stop and check out all the animals in the park during the walk. After crossing the finish line, we were given food, drinks, info, etc. It was definitely a great success! I just want to thank all of those who supported me in my walk with their time and generous donations. Thank you to my family, my wonderful girlfriend and her family as well!
1 in 3 children in the United States face a future with diabetes and 25.8 million Americans are living with the disease. Diabetes is clearly a disease that needs more attention and needs more funds for research. I think that it’s not only important to help out as future nurses in these types of ways, but it’s our responsibility to contribute our time, knowledge, and resources when needed. Prior to starting the ASD BSN program here at Oakland University, I told myself that I was going to maximize my student experience by joining student organizations and volunteering whenever possible. Although our free time in this program can be described as anything but abundant, I think it’s important and part of our scope of training to be a part of the extracurricular volunteer work that is available to us.
Excitement and Anticipation of Back to School!
Whitney Myers is a Junior in the Basic BSN program at Oakland. She is a member of the Student Nurses Association of Oakland University (SNAOU), the Dean’s Circle, and the Lambda Alpha Delta honor society. She works at Troy Beaumont Hospital as a Tech Aide in the Emergency Room. When not in school or working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cuddling up to watch a good movie, and shopping, of course! She plans to further her education by becoming a CRNA.
The beginning of each year brings about mixed feelings for me; including excitement, anxiety and even curiosity.
This Fall 2011 semester begins my journey as a junior in Oakland University’s nursing school. Previous students have defined junior year as the toughest and most intensive. The curriculum includes Medical-Surgical nursing, Obstetrics and Pediatric nursing. Each specialty also includes a 7-week hospital rotation.
My excitement and anticipation seems to outweigh my anxiety and suspicion. Out of all my classes, I am most excited for the clinical aspect. My first clinical rotation is Obstetrics. NRS 326, which is the Acute Health course, includes the three specialties listed above and is one of the most important courses of my BSN degree. Acute Health encompasses critical nursing skills and care techniques every nurse needs in order to be a competent healthcare provider. Although tough, NRS 326 will be especially interesting and the most advanced nursing course I will have taken to date. Even though I have only had 2 classes so far this semester, I already have my work cut out for me. The amount of reading and studying required is pretty large, as with any nursing class. It will definitely take me a week or two to get back into the swing of things. Besides NRS 326 and the coinciding clinical, I also have two general education courses, Spanish and Music.
In addition to classes beginning, I am also looking forward to events on campus and school organization proceedings. A current member of SNAOU, I also recently joined the Dean’s Circle. To start off the school year, SNAOU holds it’s back-to-school meeting and bonfire during the second week of September. Nursing students, pre-nursing students and anyone else is welcome to join! There will be a fire and s’mores and is a wonderful way for students to network and form relationships with other nursing students. There are students from every year of the nursing program (sophomore, junior, senior) there for you to chat with. It is at this bonfire event where I get a lot of advice from other students bonfire, which is why I so greatly enjoy and look forward to it (well that and the s’mores!). The bonfire is held at the on-campus fire pit on Tuesday, September 13 starting at 7:15pm. I encourage everyone to attend.
Cheers to a great school year.
Good luck everyone and study hard!
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