It is hard for me to believe that I have finished my first two semesters. Following the five-week obstetrics rotation, my clinical group moved on to our pediatrics rotation. There are six of us in the group, and we remain together for four different rotations.
At this point, we have completed our first three rotations. We started with adult health on a gynecological oncology floor. Then we were on an obstetric floor. We recently completed our pediatric rotation, and the psychiatry rotation is the only one that we still have left.
Within the pediatric hospital we were placed on an infant post-operative floor. However, it is also used for any patient overflow, so there were children of all ages who wound up in rooms on the floor.
Treating the pediatric population was different from how I imagined it would be. For some reason, I anticipated that it would be easier to treat children than it would be to treat adults. Well, I learned pretty quickly that this was far from the truth.
I enjoyed treating babies (as I did on the obstetrics unit in the newborn nursery). Toddlers, children, and adolescents, on the other hand, posed more difficulties.
There were a few aspects of the pediatric floor that stood out to me as being different from adult floors. For example, it is remarkable how resilient children are. One of my patients was discharged from the hospital after having been on life support less than two weeks before. He had a healthy appearance, was on a regular diet, and showed an eagerness to play despite the acute hypoxic respiratory failure he had recently experienced.
Another unique part of working in the children's hospital was observing intricate family dynamics. I now understand that when a patient is not old enough to make decisions regarding his or her own health it creates the potential for fighting between parents, and among other family members.
During this rotation I have had the opportunity to watch bedside nurses navigate these tricky situations. I was repeatedly impressed by their poise and confidence.
A third valuable takeaway from my five shifts at the children's hospital is that children develop unbelievably fast. The differences between a 10-month-old and a 24-month-old surprised me. I finally understand why our professors have insisted that we understand the developmental stages proposed by theorists like Erikson and Piaget.
Between the crying, yelling, resisting, and ignoring that I experienced on this unit, I very quickly developed respect and admiration for all pediatric nurses. I also realized that working with kids might not be my strong suit.
Throughout these two years of new experiences, I understand that it is important to be able to distinguish my likes from my dislikes, and my strengths from my weaknesses.
I am learning how to navigate hospitals more effectively while simultaneously learning how to manage my classwork more effectively. Over the past nine months I have developed a few important strategies for managing the heavy workload that has fallen into my lap.
I have learned to not worry about any test, quiz, paper, or assignment that is not due within a week. I call this the one-week-rule.
Unlike at the beginning of the year, I now accept that I will never know every single tidbit of information that could possibly appear on a test. I am comfortable with this, and am better at setting limits on time spent studying.
Lastly, I appreciate how important it is to study with friends, and that they make the process much more manageable.
Gloria Rothenberg, a native of Livingston, N.J., completed a summer internship with 51˶ in 2016 and is now a nursing student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville beginning last fall. Her accounts of the program and her experiences appear in this space from time to time.
Previous installments:
Confidence Bends but Doesn't Break