To sum up my whole CPE 200 experience in one word is” AWESOME”. The whole experience of it was just so great that it made me feel as if stepping foot in the hospital setting is where I belonged. Our instructor is an RN who currently works at Surrey Memorial Hospital. We did our practicum at an acute/ medicine care setting, in which we got to see and experience a lot different health condition and look at different types of wounds. Studying in a classroom is one thing, but using the skills we learned in lab in a clinical setting was the best feeling I have ever had. Unlike the first practicum in which we were placed in a residential setting, we administered medication, assessed patients, took vital signs, did our head to toe assessment and not only that we got to experience what it is like to take care of 3 patients all on our own.
By the end of my practicum I was so into the role of being a nurse that it felt as if these were my actual patients. One thing I am really proud of is that Stenberg prepared me really well with my skills and my knowledge to go into the clinical setting and even challenge myself. I was able to give a butterfly injection to a palliative patient, I was able to insert a Foley catheter in a male, I was able to answer questions that the patients and the staff working asked me from diabetes to what the medication are for and why they are given to the patient. I was also able to wean off patients from oxygen to room air and even notice a wound on the patient in which the nurses working there didn’t notice.
Our instructor was so well informed and knowledgeable, she went out of her way to get us injection to administer, and she looked for opportunities for us to perform new skills in which we will be learning later on in the program. This not only gave me confidence in my skills but It also gave me assurance that this is where I want to be after my program has finished. An aspect of Stenberg I like the most is that for placements, Stenberg doesn’t miss out. This school gives the students the opportunity to work in every setting where an LPN is needed which provides an insight in which type of environment you prefer to work in. All in all my clinical placement experience was a fantastic experience. An experience I can never forget, because this is where I performed my first injection on a real patient, this is where I inserted my first Foley catheter.
Going into the clinical I was very nervous. This was not only due to the reason that i was placed in a busy hospital, it was also due to the fact that this is where I wanted to work and start my career. The first day was orientation, where our instructor gave us a tour of the hospital. Just being in that setting felt like I was at home. Compared to the previous clinic we were welcomed and were given opportunities to practice our skills by the nurses. Last clinical working in a residential home, the speed of it was very slow. Our form of care was the exact same everyday. From waking up the residents, to getting them into the dinner table, to toileting them etc. In the hospital setting even though the routine was the same, the patients who you cared for would change. They would come in with different illnesses, and we were responsible for giving them care. In the morning, we took the morning vitals, then we gave their morning med and we incorporated head to toe assessments, with bathing, medicine administration to documenting all in one day. The speed increased as the patients increased. Because it challenged me so much, it felt like this is where I would like to work in the future.
Check out this video of our Practical Nursing Program.
