Today was the first time I got to spend a second day with a client. It was a great experience.

It was nice to walk into the hospital and not only already know what was going on with my patient, but also already have started to build a relationship with her and her parents. It made going into her room and working with her so much easier.

I also learned today that sometimes success as a nurse is achieved in small steps, and the little things can totally make your day. My patient today hadn't been eating or drinking anything. I had tried most of the afternoon. At 4pm she barely took her oral pain meds. By 8pm she still had drank almost nothing. It was getting very frustrating that no matter how hard I tried, she just didn't want to. At 8pm we gave her another dose of Tylenol elixir, and when it went down easily she suddenly was excited to drink. I got her to drink more than she had all day for me - and to eat a small amount of chocolate ice cream. It made my night!!

Watching my instructor interact with my patient, and talking to her about how to work with a child to get them to take meds, I picked up so many tips and techniques. Listening to the RNs at the Nurses Station talk about patients and share info, I learned more new things.

At the end of the shift, I had to sit and wait for my ride/classmate as he talked with our instructor about a bad experience he had in the ED today. As I waited I sat at the Nurses Station, studying for the Peds test I have on Wed morning. At one point the Unit Coordinator asked if i was just hanging out because I like them so much. LOL I said I was wating for my ride, but I also like being there. Her response? Good! :-)

This was a great first week in the Peds unit. Hopefully it will continue next week. The one big challenge I see is not so much working with the kids, but also working with difficult/controlling/neurotic/anxious parents. That will definitely take me time to get used to. 

Just like in Maternity, I am feeling like I am where I'm supposed to be. If this feeling lasts throughout the rest of the semester, I'm going to have to make some decisions about where I really want to work...

There could be worse things to have to worry about.