Last Week in the CSL

As much as I've enjoyed learning the basic skills in the Clinical Simulation Lab, I also feel like it's time to move on to the clinical setting. I don't feel too much more prepared than I did a month ago, but I do realize that most of the skills, both technical and interpersonal, that we're going to develop will come from trial-and-error in a "real life" setting. This week we learned how to put in foley catheters and care for wounds. Catheterizing was surprisingly easy (well, on mannequin genitalia), but I just feel like between the patient's unease in addition to my own when I first do it (which may not even be this semester), it's going to be Awkward City. Each of us doing the catheter for both male and female genitalia took most of the morning, so we didn't get to wound care until after lunch. (P.S I love that already it's not a problem to discuss wound care and catheters and God knows what before, during, or after eating haha) Again, it was pretty simple, but I feel like it's going to be a different story when you see (and smell, honestly) a person's wound, particularly if it's a nasty one. The idea doesn't bother me though because I knew that's what I was getting myself into from the day I decided on a career in the medical field. I'm going to miss the comfort and community that we had being in the CSL, and I'm definitely going to miss walking around on campus in my scrubs because that makes me feel like the coolest thing ever haha but I also can't wait to move on to less comfortable but definitely more relevant things in the nursing home.