Hey guys!

I have been at my nursing internship for almost two months now, and I am learning so much. I am happy that I was given this great opportunity because not only am I learning the role of a nurse in different hospital settings, but I am also learning some of the most valuable nursing lessons like time management, priority care and how to communicate with patients’ families.

On Wednesdays we go to other floors of the hospital and so far I have been to Dialysis, the St. Vincent Call Center, Medical Intensive Care, mother-baby, the ER and the OR.  They were all neat experiences, and I liked the ER the best so far. It was fast-paced, and it was a constant adrenaline rush. I liked it because you don’t see the same types of patients — you really could get any age and any diagnosis walking through the door, and it definitely keeps you on your toes. I was with a newer nurse and she was awesome — she taught me a lot. I didn’t see any life or death situations but we did have a couple pretty serious cases.

The OR was a pretty cool experience as well. I stood in on an intense surgery that lasted about nine hours, I was there for about seven of nine hours. The doctor had to replace an infected graft, and during the surgery I was able to actually see the man’s lung. I am not sure if the OR is the place for me because I really enjoy talking to my patients and having that interaction, which is limited in the OR, but it was a really cool experience.

For the next five weeks of my internship I will be going to the PACU which is where people go after surgery to recover for a bit, one or two of the other ICUs, the joint center which is basically an orthopedics floor and a few other places.

This opportunity has been amazing so far. I feel so much more knowledgeable about the nurse’s role in the hospital than I did before and this internship will help me tremendously in a little less than a year when I graduate.

I have been enjoying summer as much as possible on my days off. Erie is a lot of fun, and I am really glad I made the decision to stay here for the summer.

Check back with me in a few weeks to see how the rest of my break and my internship are going.