nicu clinical mon

Lots of babies today.
42 babies in the unit.
Tiny whole little humans.
Feet as small as my fingertip.
The other student with me changed a diaper today
for the first time EVER
and it was on a 2 pounder.

Lots of PDA ligations.
I thought it was more rare than what I saw today.
Substernal retractions.
Heart murmurs.
5 toes.
Helped with 5 C-sections.
Have yet to help with a vaginal delivery.

Used lots of bili lights, need to do more research on that.
As well as caffeine given IV.

Then saw a healthy birth.
The baby seemed HUGE!

For now....
Sleep.....

Getting closer

The time I have left before graduation keeps getting less and less. Which, I guess is a good thing. We had our pictures taken last week. The pictures are for our graduation announcements that we will send out for invitations. I thought they turned out pretty good. I even thought about ordering a few extras so I could give one to my mom and dad - until I looked at the prices. I cant even get one single picture for less than 30 dollars, regardless of the size. So........ I may be reconsidering that decision. Students are poor. They need to change their prices! Oh, BUT the thing that I really did like about the pictures was that they took one single picture of each student with just a plain white background. That one is so we can use it when we apply for our state license since you have to add a picture. And the licensing boards can be pretty picky about the picture (and well the whole process for that matter). Anyway,there will be a big framed picture of everyone that will be hung on a wall in our classroom. In a way thats not a big deal, but then again, I do feel kind of honored because we are the very first graduating RT class this school has had. So every class that comes in from here on out will see our pictures hanging on the wall (like we are starting the tradition sort of).

I have had 3 weeks off (excluding the state rt convention last week). My clinicals start again next week. These clinicals will be different from the past two years, though, because it will be in the pediatric and neonatal units. Granted I have had a few clinicals in a pediatric unit in the past, but let me enhance the word "FEW". I have A LOT to learn. And that fact in itself scares the living hell out of me. Why? Because I graduate in ONE month. WHAT IF I'M NOT READY TO GRADUATE. WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO WORK AN RT SHIFT ON MY OWN BECAUSE THEN I WONT HAVE ANYONES DECISIONS TO RELY ON BUT MY OWN. OH GOD!


Oh god how am I going to pass my test? Have I studied enough? Do I know enough?


This is getting stressful................

State Conference - OSRC

Just got back to town from the state OSRC Conference...

The conference was at the Reed Center.



















Let me tell you..... it would have been much better if students could actually use the CEU's. There was one presentation that stood out to me. It was a lecture about HFV - High Frequency Ventilation on adults. I learned quite a bit from the speaker.

For those of you who don't know, last year at OSRC, our class played in the state sputum bowl. We entered the competition thinking we didn't know NEAR enough to actually win, but we did it for fun. Well, we ended up winning the entire competition and got an expense paid trip to California this past December for the National Respiratory Conference. That was sooooooo much fun!


So........... this year we entered the competition again - and won - AGAIN! Can you believe it!? The national conference this December will be in San Antonio Texas.

We graduate NEXT MONTH!!! Cant wait cant wait cant wait cant wait!