– By Alaa El-Saad, Senior –
Alaa is participating in a summer externship at Houston Methodist. Her enthusiasm for all that she is learning is infectious.
Let me start off by telling you I can already tell I am going to love the MICU (medical intensive care unit) way more than expected!
The MICU has 24 beds and each nurse has two patients. The MICU cares for a wide variety of diagnoses, which I really enjoy because I get to broaden my horizon and learn about many different diagnoses.
My preceptor is fantastic and I don’t think my experience would be as great as it has been so far without her. She is so patient with me and really wants me to learn. She has already exponentially made my experience at Methodist that much more fantastic! She’s nice, funny, and very caring to our patients and I hope to be as great of a nurse as she is. All the nurses are super sweet and when they have something fun that I can watch or do they come get me so I can learn.
I have learned so much and it’s only been a week! I am enhancing my skills and learning a lot about IV drips, which is a big part of the ICU. A couple of things I have gotten the opportunity to do are foley catheters, watch central lines and arterial lines being placed, draw up medications, post mortem care and more.
I see many different cultures in the hospital and I love that! There is a Masjid (a muslim place of worship) in the hospital, which I really love and appreciate. Ramadan starts this week and it’s going to be different since I will be here by myself but InshAllah it’ll be great!