Epictetus
Estes Lake
I was so impressed with the staff at Children’s – the Magnet designation is personified in the fine nurses employed there. I got to spend 6 shifts in the PACU, and was fortunate to learn from the best. The PACU nurses demonstrated how a team should work – paying close attention to their individual patients and at the same time listening and watching for any problems their teammates may be managing. Their actions were exemplary, and I’ll never forget them and the lessons they taught.
My clinical instructor Megan Riccolo, MSN, yours truly, and my preceptor Trish Montano, BSN
We had a brief mid-term break – I returned to my job, enjoying the company of a wonderful group of co-workers. These nurses and admin staff are second-to-none in their commitment to serving Veterans. Many of them are Veterans themselves. They work hard, and cover me while I’m in school. They remind me of our ongoing mission, “to care for those who have borne the battle, and their widow, and orphan”. (Abraham Lincoln)
We got up to the hills a couple of times, and reminded ourselves that there is nature changing by the day, and seasons changing too. The elk were in abundance, and the trees were breathtaking. My husband graciously read from my textbook (again) on our trip to Estes. I’m discovering the joys of auditory learning! And he’s learning a thing or two about ARF (Acute Renal Failure) – it was a great road trip. To grab a cabin for a night, and sit and watch the elk and mountain sunset enriched our senses and souls.
October trees in RMNP
Then it was back to class, beginning now our Adult II rotation. I’m spending my clinical time at Pres/St. Luke’s. This is a cool medical center, with a rich history in Denver, including nursing pioneers:
“In February of 1892, 17 young, bright women blazed a trail for HealthONE-Presbyterian/ St. Luke’s Medical Center (P/SL) as the first class of the St. Luke’s Hospital Nursing School. In celebrating P/SL’s 125th Anniversary, we pay tribute to these early St. Luke’s nurses and their present-day P/SL colleagues who are among the best and brightest in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains regions.
St. Luke’s first nursing class graduated in 1894 to monthly salaries of $8 and primary job responsibilities including managing the wards, cooking, and cleaning the hospital. On-the-job-training really defined the two-year St. Luke’s nursing program in the 1890s, with more academic studies and rotation into specialties, such as obstetrics and surgery, introduced in the early 1900s.” (http://pslmc.com/about_us/history.htm)
Spending my first few days in clinicals, I am again reminded how hard the bedside nurses work. This can be thankless and difficult work, and we are so fortunate that there are people so dedicated as to report to work at 0700, get ½ hour for lunch, and leave at 1930. And return to do it again and again.
It is an honor to have the opportunity to spend clinical time in such a wide range of medical settings. Each clinical experience has been unique, and yet tied together with a similar theme – nurses caring for people, with professionalism, warmth and pride. We have many fine examples to follow.
