By Ashley Saenz
Never did I imagine spending the summer before my senior year of college working at the number one hospital in the nation. When applying for the Summer III Externship position at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, I knew that there were going to be many applicants and very few available positions. Therefore, when I received my offer I was excited and a little shocked. Â Through a lot of deliberation and discussions with many people, I accepted an offer on an orthopedic floor and was ready to move to another state for the first time in my life. Come June 4th, I was beginning my job and meeting some of the greatest people.
Over the course of the two weeks that I have been in Rochester thus far, I have learned a great deal about myself, nursing, and the Mayo Clinic health system. Mayo Clinic-Rochester is comprised of a great number of buildings that are in the heart of Rochester. The hospital was built in 1889 and has slowly risen as the best hospital in the nation. They employ over 35,000 people and about 7,000 of those employees are nurses. The first week as an employee was spent in orientation sessions, as well as getting accustomed to our units. We also had the opportunity to tour some of the historical Mayo buildings that are located in Rochester. These buildings include the Mayo Foundation House and Mayowood Mansion. During this time, I have gotten to know all of the Summer III Externs. It is amazing to think that there are fifty-three of us from all over the nation and represent more than twenty different colleges. Luckily, we have all become friends and are trying to always make plans to hangout and explore the Midwest.
Although I have only been here two weeks, there have been many differences that I have experienced in comparison to the hospitals I completed clinicals at in Austin. For example, Mayo Clinic has multiple teams for many different needs. There is a team that specifically puts in IVs all day, as well as a team that inserts Foley catheters. The nurses very seldom are responsible for these skills and are more focused on providing other care for patients. Nurses on my unit usually work eight hour shifts, rather than 12 hour shifts. When speaking to my nurses about this, they said that they prefer these shorter shifts because they feel as though there is less of a chance of them being burnt out from working longer shifts. As I continue my next few weeks here, I’m excited to learn more about the healthcare system and about the unique patient cases that Mayo gets.