Weekend 2 of clinicals and it was an amazing day!
When I arrived this morning, the instructor had a list of patient assignments to hand out, but hadn't made any specific assignments to us. The first thing she read off was for a patient who would be getting an EP study and possibly an ICD placement that morning. I took this patient, and then went to the right nurse's station. I introduced myself to the nurse I was going to be working with that day, and then learned my patient was already gone. They took him really early at 0530, so I was rushed down to the cath lab, so I could maybe catch the tail-end of the procedure.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the EP study, which is too bad. But, I was in time to catch the ICD placement. It was really interesting to see everything on the monitors (for most of the case, my view was blocked by the surgical tech). I think the most unnerving part wasn't when they did the ICD testing (they induce an irregular rhythm and check that the ICD picks it up and delivers a shock to get the patient back to normal sinus rhythm), but was in fact after the shock was delivered and the monitor wasn't reflecting a return of heart beat. It turns out the monitor was just slow, but still. I had about 15 seconds of near-anxiety wondering what was going to happen if the ICD wasn't working properly.
After the procedure, I helped transport the patient back to his room, and then took over the post-anesthesia monitoring (vital signs every 15 minutes x4, then every 30 minutes x2, and then every 4 hours x6). At this time, I was also able to do an assessment on him, and spent the rest of my day working on giving cares for him, speaking with his family, and then taking notes on another patient for my care plan/concept map.
After the EP study, it was a pretty quiet day, which was kind of nice. Nap time shortly after getting home, having lunch, and taking a shower! Hooray for afternoon naps!!
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