nursing experience

Nursing Experience
Student’s Name
Institution
Instructor’s Name

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I must admit that during my internship program at a pediatric clinic as an intern nurse, I had mixed feelings. According to Garber, Gross, & Slonim, (2010), this experience is expected when an intern starts his/her duties at a hospital. First, it was a thrilling experience being in a working environment ready to make use of the skills that I had gotten so far from college. As an intern nurse, most of the duties were in the wards and I had preceptor who used to supervise how I managed and assessed patients. I can recall he was a young man of about 30 years who was admitted to the ward who had developed gastrointestinal complications. I was on shift that evening; the patient was consistently vomiting and complaining of abdominal pain and could not even walk by himself. This was my first encounter with a patient having gastrointestinal complications. The young man was accompanied by his wife. The wife also informed me that her husband had diarrhea for three days consecutively and had fever also. I was confused trying to relate the concepts that I had been taught in college with regards to gastrointestinal diseases such that I could not even remember to inquire from patient’s wife if her husband had ever been diagnosed with ulcers. My preceptor who was on duty came at the right time to continue engaging with the patient’s wife for about two minutes before a doctor came and ordered that a test on ulcers, cholera, and typhoid be done.

After twenty minutes is when I began to link the patient’s symptoms and the tests that the doctor had ordered to be done on the patient and this was my aha moment. The results came back and it was cholera positive and ulcers. It being my first encounter, it has actually motivated me to be quick in thinking and trying to relate classwork in a working environment. It can be devastating for a nurse to look confused when having a discussion with the patient’s family.
References
Garber, J. S., Gross, M., & Slonim, A. D. (2010). Avoiding common nursing errors. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.