My experience this summer has been amazing. Nursing students are usually subject only to what they witness in clinical. Being a nursing student we get excited to do things normal people wouldn’t enjoy doing. In my time at Covenant Hospital- Plainview, I had the opportunity to do many skills I have learned in school (with the supervision of a licensed nurse) that I might not have encountered in clinical. I had the opportunity to work in areas of the hospital we will not cover in school those areas being Same Day Surgery, Operating Room, Emergency Department, Nursery, and Clinical Education. I also got to witness every day operations on several different units and witness situations that might not happen while I’m in clinical.
One of the situations I got to witness was a newborn baby who was having trouble breathing. We could see obvious retractions both intercostal and subcostal. Retractions are when you can see the outlines of the ribs when the baby breathes. The baby was put on a machine called a vapotherm that helps by delivering oxygen at a high flow rate and reduces the work of breathing. The baby was obviously still having trouble breathing, so the baby was eventually transferred to another hospital that was able to care for the baby at a higher level. This was lesson number one about working in a rural hospital. Rural hospitals don’t always have the capability of treating sicker patients, so they are transferred to other facilities that do have the capabilities.
The Emergency Department was one of two of my favorite areas. The Emergency Department is where I witnessed most of my skills from starting an IV line to inserting a Foley Catheter.
The interactions with my supervisor were very helpful. She always had great advice and allowed me to sit in on a diabetes education class. I got to meet community members who had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and got to see the affects of the disease on their lives.
I definitely learned a lot through this internship. I learned what it’s like to be a part of a smaller community. I got to see what it’s like to know the name of everyone you work with and even the patients. This isn’t something you would see in a larger community. I got to witness situations that are generally only seen in the Emergency Department that don’t usually make it up to the floor. I had a wonderful experience with Covenant Hospital-Plainview that I will carry with me for a very long time.
