Kaitlyn Cerne's 4th Blog

Today I was able to visit the 5th floor of the hospital and shadow a few of the floor nurses. This floor of the hospital treats patients with heart problems and those who have had heart surgeries. I was able to see everything from administering drugs to patients as well as changing IV fluids. In addition to this, the nurses were able to participate in rounds on this floor. The doctors relied very much on the nurses to provide them with information that they or the residents did not know about patients. Because this was a floor dedicated to patients with cardiac problems, I was also able to learn a little bit about telemetry. It was important to keep a close eye on patients because they were at a high risk of developing an arrhythmia because of their heart complications. Today was important in seeing how nurses work and what they do to help doctors with their job. Seeing the interaction between the two groups during rounds was very interesting. I also was able to take a trip to the cardiac intensive care unit. This is where the patients are taken when their condition worsens and they need intensive care.