Week 8 Nov 9-13

This week, I met with my preceptor on Nov 10th for 9 hours. Today, I witnessed how easy it is for a manager to get side tracked and not meet her goals for the day. We had intended to work on the staff schedule and ensure that there was enough staff for each shift. But, we were side tracked early by a meeting in which one of the lactation consultants was receiving an award from the director's of the hospital for a "good catch". Since this award was a surprise, it took us a few minutes to locate her. By the time we were finished, two hours of our time was gone. As we were walking back to work on scheduling, my preceptor received a call from the special care nursery. A patient in the nursery, born at 35 weeks, was receiving TPN. The IV had infiltrated and a calcium burn was the result. The bigger problem in this situation was how the nurse on duty had handled the family in this situation. The nurse's attitude was unprofessional and the family was upset. Needless to say, the family was upset. In an attempt to pacify the situation, the hospital had allowed the parent's to stay in an empty room in order to be close to their baby. This has carried on for two weeks. Now, the hospital needs the room for patients. My preceptor has to deliver the news to mom that she can no longer stay. This conversation took two more hours of our time. By the time this was over, it was time for lunch. After lunch, we sat down to work on the schedule and was again interrupted. The nurses in the nursery had become overwhelmed with discharges. So, my preceptor went and assisted with the discharges. By the time we got back to working on the schedule, the day was almost over. I thought that I had trouble at times with interruptions. It seemed that these were all unavoidable tasks that had to be attended to immediately. Though the tasks kept us from our objective, I feel that my preceptor did an excellent job with patient relations. She was able to maintain her professional demeanor under stress and work to keep the patients safe and happy. At the end of the day, I was able to sit with my preceptor and complete my professional interview. I was amazed at what I learned about my preceptor!