NSG 480
Stratford University
Journal 3
This clinical experience was a lesson for me on having self-confidence, especially as a new graduate nurse. Throughout this internship, I have had the opportunity to hang a number of IV antibiotics and fluids. Going into this internship, I had very minimal experience in doing this. I have seen it being done by other nurses, however I rarely had done it myself. Truth be told, in the past, seeing all of the lines that would hang on IV poles used to intimidate me. This internship has given me the opportunity to improve on this skill. Although I do it very often on that unit, one area that I need to improve upon is trusting in my own abilities. I now know how to hang an IV antibiotic but there are times in which I second guess myself and on this particular clinical experience, I second guessed myself in front of a patient. This patient was a 59 year old male that was admitted for a fracture of the foot. I went into the client’s room to simply swap out an empty bag of normal saline for a fresh bag. My preceptor got a call from a client’s family member on her phone, so she stepped into the hallway to take the call. All of a sudden, I could not seem to remember which line I was to disconnect and which to connect. It seemed the patient could sense my uncertainty because he looked at me and asked “Why are you changing my bag, do you know why it’s being changed?” I could see that I was causing the client to doubt my skill and at that point I recollected myself and confidently explained to him that the bag was being replaced because he would soon be going down for surgery and this way his next nurse would not have to do it. He replied “that makes sense” and I correctly changed his bag for him with no problems. From this experience, I realized that as a new nurse, confidence is a major part of being efficient. When you believe in your abilities, so does the client and you performance is enhanced. This is some positive advice that my...