Last Clinical. Week 14. I’m Done!

Today was my last offical day scrubbing clinical as a student. The next time I scrub in the O.R. will be as a CST!!

It seems like it was just yesterday that we were struggling to gown & glove ourselves. We couldn’t figure out how to get our blade off our knife handle. We were perplexed with all the suture! Trying to figure out how to pass from across the patient or beside the surgeon… left-handed… now we barely have to think about it!

Anways, on to how my last day went…

Clinical. Week 13. Semester 5.

Cases:
1- Fistulotomy
2- Lap Chole ICG

I made it to closing the second case before the charge nurse came in and held a post-it out to me that said my son had cut his finger on a saw at school & was being transported to the ER!

Clinical. Week 11. Sick.

Tuesday & Wednesday I did not go to clinical. Tuesday I stayed home because I was still dealing with pain from my kidney infection. Wednesday I went to the Dr. and got more antibiotics for my kidney infection. Thursday & Friday I went to work. Luckily, our patient count wasn’t too bad, but enough that I was exhausted.

Saturday I wasn’t feeling the best. All of a sudden I was sitting at my computer and my body was weak and heavy feeling and I think I just kind of blacked out…

Clinical. Week 9. Semester 5.

I finished out my week at the Ambulatory Orthopedic Surgery Center! It was such a wonderful experience!! I loved it there.

Clinical. Week 8. Part 2. Semester 5.

OPEN HEART SURGERY!! – CABG
6:30 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Clinical. Week 8. Part 1. Semester 5.

Going to the orthopedic ambulatory surgery center today was an awesome change of pace. Straight off the bat, they were so welcoming of me. They didn’t assume I knew things, they asked me what I knew, what I have done, what I was comfortable with, would I like to first scrub, could I open stuff, etc. My tech put me straight into it & let me scrub in & open up the case & set it up even though I didn’t know what I was doing. I just made sure to ask how they did things & what they preferred. It is definitely a different world there…

Clinical. Week 7. Semester 5.

Well… it was fun while it lasted…

Clinical. Week 6. Semester 5.

This week was my birthday!! I got to 1st scrub my first knee arthroscopy at this campus & then scrubbed 4 total knees until the surgeon’s assistant could get there…

Clinical. Week 5. Semester 5.

My 2nd clinical site does DAVINCI robotic surgeries. These are not my favorite. I think a lot of people like them because they’re longer & you don’t have to do as much… I don’t know. I would prefer to do surgery the regular laparoscopic way or open. But we all prefer something different. I think one of the CONS of possibly getting a job at this hospital, for me, would be the robotic surgeries. It’s a lot to set up & having to drape the robot. Once the surgery is started it’s not so bad, but each hysterectomy took around 3 hours doing it with the robot! For me, it’s just super long & boring. I would rather do a bunch of smaller surgeries that keep me more involved.

Scrub Tech Interview

Everyone kept asking me what I was going to do after graduation. Had I applied anywhere? Where did I want to work? Did I fill out any apps?

I didn’t know I could fill out any applications before I graduated & wasn’t sure I wanted to. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself.

I did, however, go for it & fill out an application for an open scrub tech position at the hospital I work at. I had my interview today & found out they were thinking several steps ahead of even what I was thinking & planning…