Blog 4!!

This week I watched a Grey’s Anatomy.  I know Grey’s Anatomy is not a realistic hospital representation, however I believe that there are good patient/provider relationships.  In this episode a patient came into the hospital who was a foster patient who ended up turning 18 while in the hospital.   He was very close with her foster siblings and had trouble being separated from them.  He was not close with his parents while in the system and had nowhere to go when he got out of the hospital.

The patient had a surgery that needed physical therapy after, and the patient struggled with completing the physical therapy.  The doctor said okay, and proceeded to search the hospital for a video game cart so he could stand and do his PT.  The intern who was with the doctor proceeded to question the doctor and ask why in front of the patient.  I think this was a negative communication between the patient and the intern.  The intern should have asked the doctor outside of the room, because I think it was inappropriate for the intern to say something in front of the patient.  However, I think the doctor had an appropriate response to the patient.  He accepted his refusal and attempted to fix the situation and make it better.

Another conversation that happened with the same patient was with a different surgeon.  The patient was getting ready to be discharged, and she asked him where she he was going.  He said he didn’t know and would get a job at a fast food restaurant.  She then proceeded to show him around the hospital and all the different jobs he could potentially do.  This was positive communication that happened, I believe.  She helped and encouraged the patient.  However, later on during this interaction she asked the patient to come live with her and her family.  I think this was a negative interaction the occurred.  She got to be too close with her patient and overstepped her boundaries.

Blog 3!

My clinical experience has been really good so far.  I feel like I have been overall communicating very well with my patients.  I can ask them questions about pain and their current situation, but I am not sure how to approach their past.  The only time I find communication hard is when it comes to asking personal questions.  All of my patients have been older, and so I want to ask them about their past.  However, I am not sure if that would trigger a bad memory or be inappropriate on a professional level.

I feel like personal questions help to distract patients from the pain, or just make them feel more comfortable with you. In situations where you are just cleaning their room, or watching them eat, I find it weird to sit and talk about random things.  A lot of the time I want to ask about their families, or if they went to college.  However, I am scared if I ask about their families that it could bring up bad memories or they just don’t have a good relationship with their family.  I guess if they said, “I don’t have a good relationship with my family”, that would be okay, but then I do not think I would know how to respond to that.  So far, in my clinical setting, I have only talked about to the patient in regard to their hospital stay.  However, I would like to maybe incorporate more conversation to make the patient more comfortable with me.

I think the reason I do not like asking personal questions is because I hate conflict.  I am known to my friends and family as “people pleaser”, and I do not like to make people feel uncomfortable.  I am very worried about the bad responses that I could get.  Instead of focusing on the conversation, I start to focus on all the things that could go wrong in these conversations.  I think this really stems from my generalized anxiety disorder.  I started to take medicine to help with my anxiety, but it is still a daily struggle to become calm and conscious of my thoughts.

I think by pushing myself out of my boundaries and asking those questions can help me overcome this fear.  I find that when I do something one time, it becomes much easier to do that task from then on.  Next clinical, if I find the situation appropriate, I would like to get to know my patient more outside of the hospital stay.  I think this information could give me ideas of why the patient is in my care, and what I can do to make them feel more comfortable.

 

Blog 2!!!

This week I decided to go to Starbucks off campus and people watch.  I decided to choose an off-campus location, so it wasn’t full of people just studying.  The Starbucks I went to was very small with only 3 tables.  I could pretty much hear everything everyone was saying.  Honestly, I felt a little guilty listening in on their conversations so much.  I sat in the corner away from people so I didn’t look “creepy” as some would call it.  I saw many different forms on communication and uses of technology while in the coffee shop.

The first group of people I noticed was 3 people dressed very nicely.  They all had their computers and 2 of them even had a tablet as well.  I assumed they were at Starbucks for a business meeting.  One man led the conversation, so I figured he must be the lead on this project, or in some way above the other two.  The other man was talking or texting on his phone a lot.  The body language of the other two didn’t seem to be annoyed by this, so I thought it might have been a work phone call.  The 3 people were there longer than I was, so I didn’t see the interaction of how they left.

Another group I saw, was two women in their mid 20s maybe.  This was one of the few conversations I couldn’t hear very well, so I watched non verbal’s very closely.  The women seemed as if they knew each other well, because they would touch each other’s hands frequently.  The one woman that I could see the face of kept rolling her eyes.  However, she also seemed very sympathetic when she rolled her eyes. The women also never got out their phones or technology while I was there.  I thought this was so rare. I honestly find it hard to not take out my phone even during a serious conversation. It was very interesting to watch their body language, and how I made up a story in my own mind of what they were talking about.   I assumed the woman who I couldn’t see the face of, was telling a story to her best friend about a boy who did her wrong.  After they left, they both gave each other a hug and got I their separate cars.

This experience was very eye opening.  I was very surprised how much I ended up taking away from the conversations.  My favorite conversation I watched was the one between the two women.  I enjoyed this because I couldn’t hear what they were saying.  This activity really brought to light how much body language can teach you about a people and the type of conversation they are having.  I do not know if I got their conversation even close to right, but I would like to believe that I got what they were feeling throughout the situation.

Blog 1-Introduction

My name is Lane Scott, and I am currently a third year at The Ohio State University.  I started out my freshman and sophomore year majoring in Radiation Therapy.  I was admitted into the program, but later decided that program was not for me.  I went on to apply to the College of Nursing my 2nd year, and I was accepted! I still struggle with the fact that I will be attending college for 5 years, but after my first semester I really believe nursing is the right choice for me.  I went to a very small high school in Ohio and graduated with 45 students in my class.  My first year at OSU was a bit of a culture shock, but I have grown to love this university!

In my free time, I enjoy working out, playing sports, and hanging out with family and friends.  I grew up playing soccer and basketball, and I really enjoy getting a group of friends together to go out for a scrimmage. This semester I am working on getting a group of my peers together to play in an indoor soccer intramural. My roommates and I all enjoy sports and working out has brought us all closer together.  I live in an off-campus house with 3 other girls, and we all have really good relationships with each other.  Even though I live off campus, I still go home every Sunday for brunch with my family. Family is very important to me and I believe that I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.  I have a sister and a brother, with me being the middle child.  My older sister had a little girl in 2017, and so a new name I go by is “auntie Lane”.  I love being able to be a part of her life, and I look forward to watching my niece grow up!

When I am not studying or in school, I work quite often.  I am currently a caregiver for a woman with mental disabilities.  I love my job, and I am really excited that my future career is in the same field as my job.  When I first started nursing school, I thought I knew what I wanted to do (work in pediatrics).  However, the more patient populations I am introduced to the more I feel like I want to work with everyone.  I am very interested in psychiatrics, geriatrics, pediatrics, and neonatal. I believe there is so many options as a nurse, and I am eager to be able to work with every population of patients that I can.  I believe my overall goal for my career is to be a nurse practitioner, and possibly a nursing instructor one day.

The start of this semester intimidated me tremendously, but after the first week I have become more confident in myself.  I have made more friends in the College of Nursing, and I am looking forward to sharing more memories with my peers over the next two years.  I am very excited to get my feet wet in the hospital this semester, as well as becoming more confident as a future nurse.