—By Lauren Williamson, Senior—
As my time here at Houston Methodist comes to an end, I can’t say enough how much this internship has grown me as a student nurse. The learning opportunities I have received here are incomparable to anything else I could’ve experienced as a student. To begin with, the health care professionals that Houston Methodist employs are some of the best I have had the pleasure of working alongside thus far. I am constantly amazed at the level of teamwork my nursing counterparts exhibit each shift, whether it be all helping out when a new admission arrives to the unit, all running to help with compressions during a code, or simply aiding each other in the day-to-day duties required of nurses. Not only do the nurses on the Coronary ICU get along well with one another, but the physicians that practice on the unit also treat each employee with respect. No matter if you are a patient care assistant, nurse, or physician, everyone respects one another and does not dismiss anyone due to their position.
Methodist truly cares about our learning experience, and wants us to gain as much knowledge on our units as we can in the small amount of time we have here. My preceptor for the summer, Michelle, is an outstanding nurse to say the least. One of my favorite things about my job is getting the opportunity to observe other nurses and what skills and attributes make them successful at their job. Michelle is constantly staying on top of her patients’ needs, whether it be labs that need to be drawn, medications to be given, physicians to consult with regarding patient care, or simply patient hygiene. What I love about Michelle is that no matter how busy she gets, she always lets me complete the nursing skill required at that time so that I can gain hands on nursing experience. While many times it took me longer to complete these various tasks due to my inexperience, she was adamant about me physically feeling what it was like to be a critical care nurse. In addition, other nurses and physicians would often times call me into their patient rooms when different procedures were being conducted so that I could optimize my time on the unit. These included insertions of Swan-Ganz catheters, intra-aortic balloon pumps, paracenteses, thoracenteses, chest tube insertions, and central line insertions.
As much as I have learned and grown from this internship, I will admit that when I initially came onto the unit, I felt like I practically knew nothing. While nursing school allows you to learn basic nursing skills and a handful of disease processes, there is a steep learning curve when you actually get out in the field. Initially I let this knowledge gap intimidate me, but as a student, it is crucial that we embrace this gap so that we can continue to actively seek learning opportunities that can help us become better future nurses. This sort of discomfort with my knowledge base encouraged me to continue asking questions and remain curious about my patients’ disease processes. Whether it be standing in on different procedures, or simply browsing patient charts to deduce how they got to where they ended up, there was never a second that passed by that did not offer me an opportunity to learn.