Mercy Day #2

Even though it was my second day at the hospital, it felt more like my first since I mainly sat through orientation with other employees yesterday. Today was the first day I wore the white lab coat, pager, and name badge. (Enough to fool someone into thinking I'm an actual professional :)

One of the RD's, Steph, taught me how to review patient information as well as how to chart on a patient using the software they have at the hospital. Once I play around with it on my own, I'm sure I'll catch on pretty quickly.  She also let me borrow her "nutrition bible" that she made up during her internship and has added to since she started practicing 9 years ago.  I was so giddy when she told me I could make copies of whatever I wanted and pointed me in the direction of the copier. 

I sat in on a patient discharge meeting in the ICU. It involved a respiratory therapist, nurse, social worker, and dietitian. It seems crazy to me how much information everyone memorizes on the patients. They were rattling off lab values, medications,  diets, etc.,  without ever having to look at their clipboards. Very cool.

I listened in on Steph talk to inpatients who were isolated due to disease. As long as you're not going to be very close to the patient and not touching them, it's not required to put on the personal protective equipment (PPE) such as the face mask, hat, gloves, gown. 

So that was my day. I'm now sipping decaf green tea, listening to Frank Sinatra on pandora, and am going to start putting together my reference binder. What I really need to do is get started with using the gym here...still haven't done that. It's just so warm and cozy in this apartment.

Ciao!