This past week was busy for Lisa and I. We were out in District 5 and spent most of the time with Shannon, who is the RN for that district. She had us do the assessments, vital signs, medication pick-ups, appointment set ups, and charting. I felt that I was more of a nurse in training than a student nurse, which is a great feeling. Sometimes it was hard to fit in everything we needed to do in a day, but some how it did come together.
One home visit stuck out the most for me. We went to visit an older woman at her house for a check up. When we got there, she immediately said that she was not feeling well. After talking to her, we found out that she ran out of her medications that day. We also took a blood sugar and found that it was high, so we told her to take her insulin in the hopes that this was what was causing her to not feel well. As this was all going on, Shannon realized that this woman's grandchild had lice in her hair. We encouraged the grandmother to cut the hair because this was an issue before. The single visit now turned into two visits. Before we left, we told the family that we would get refills for the grandmother and get Nix (lice treatment) for the granddaughter. Later in the day, we stopped by to deliver the medications. When we got there, we noticed that the grandmother had cut her granddaughter's hair. We gave instructions for the Nix treatment and made sure that the family was capable of doing the treatment. When we asked how the grandmother was feeling, she stated that she still did not feel well. We retested her sugar, which was still high but did come down a little bit. We asked if she was able to take all her blood pressure medications for the day. She stated that she did not take a couple. We told her to take them now and see how she feels in the evening. If she was still not feeling well by that time or even the next morning, we encouraged her to go to the hospital to get checked out. Shannon told us that she will follow-up with this family on Monday to see how the grandmother is feeling and to see if the Nix treatment was done and working. From this visit, I have learned that your purpose for it can change at any second. You might be going to assess one person, but since that person is part of a family unit, you might end up assessing the family too. I also learned that sometimes the best kind of medicine is just encouragement and assistance.
On Friday, Lisa and I helped out at the Elder's Picnic. We were mainly there to give flu shots, but the CHR (community health representatives) were there to take vital signs in the morning before the activities started for the day. This picnic started with a walk, then a mini breakfast. After that, the elders could participate in a variety of activities including chair volleyball, chicken toss, bowling, bean bag toss, and horse shoes. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The event concluded with a lunch. At the end of the day, Lisa and I were pros at flu shots (a total of 23 shots were given). We gained confidence and experience!
This coming week is our last week with public health nursing. Starting on October 18, Lisa and I will be in the schools. I am looking forward to this change, but I think I will miss the staff from PHN who made the experiences worthwhile.
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