I am well into my experience at the CDPH now. The clinic i am at is a reproductive health clinic. the services offered include STD testing, HIV testing, Pap tests, birth control, and immunizations. I am going to share my first experience at the immunization clinic.
Every monday morning parents can bring their children in for immunizations. This week we had 7 patients, ranging from 14 months to 15 years old. I administered the required vaccinations to all of these patients, with the exception of the 14 month old who the RN took over for. For the most part it was nothing that i hadn't expereinced before. Once you've given a few IM/SQ injections it is pretty routine. Even the younger children handled it well and didnt put up a huge fuss. However, the last patient of the morning was a different story. He was 5 years old and was slightly developmentally delayed. He required 5 vaccinations. He was ok for the first one, but once he realized what was going on, he lost it and started screaming at the top of his lungs and attemped to escape. He was sitting in his mothers lap, but he was a larger 5 year old and his mother struggled to restrain him. The RN jumped in to help, but both of them combined still struggled to keep him still enough to administer the vaccinations. I managed to administer the other 4 with some difficulty, but successfully. I felt terrible for the boy and once the shots were done he wouldnt let me touch him to put band-aids on. He didnt understand the difference. When it was all said and done the boy calmed down and gladly accepted the stickers we had to offer.
This experience sticks out in my mind because it was the first time i had to give injections to children, and because it is so different than a usual day at the CDPH. I don't think i will ever forget that little boy!
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