Health Diary || First Day On Clinical Practice at General Hospital Iquita Oron AkwaIbom State.

As student nurses we are sent on clinical posting to the hospital for practicals and further experience every 2 months. This time I was sent to the General hospital iquita oron and posted to the surgical ward. As the name implies the surgical ward deals with surgical operations like hernia, removal of tumor, breast cancer, disposal of bad tissues to mention but a few. Also in surgical ward dressings of wounds are carried out.

This was my first posting in the surgical ward and I knew I was going to experience a lot of complicated cases. Today, an accident patient who was brought to the accident and emergency ward was referred to the surgical ward for dressing of wounds. The patient was unconscious when he was referred to the ward. The senior nurse who was on duty placed him on IV infusion to help replace his lost fluids and electrolyte and manage the state of unconsciousness.

	Accident Patient

After that she started the dressing of the wound. The affected areas were the face and the leg. The types of dressing she performed were the Gauze dressing, adhesive dressing and suturing. The Gauze dressing is a type of surgical dressing whereby a simple absorbent dressing made of gauze with the use of sterile forceps to cover cuts, wounds or abrasions of the skin.

The nurse covered the wound with gauze a white sterile cotton material. The adhesive dressing is a type of dressing with an adhesive backing used to secure the dressing in place. Whilst suturing is a fundamental surgical technique used to close wounds ,incisions, defects in the skin or other tissues. There are two types of suturing, the absorbable and non absorbable suture. The non-absorbable suture was used.

In the process of dressing, the nurse administered lidocaine to the patient which is a local anesthesia that helps to relieve the pain of the patient. She completed the dressing and the patient regained consciousness after an hour. The patient's relative brought him food and helped him to it.

After ensuring appropriate care was given to the patient , we allowed him to rest for a few hours before another medication was administered. We had no other patient to attend to throw out the day so it was considered a calm shift. During the calm shift,the Nurse in charge made use of the time wisely
She did a thorough orientation for us about the surgical ward.

She enlightened us on the guidelines,the do's and don't, patients care in surgical ward, pre and post care of surgical operations etc. I learned a lot from her and took notes while she was speaking. After that I kept myself busy by reading my book. I read microbiology which is my favorite course. I read about the immune system.

	Lidocaine

How antigen is introduced into the body to form antibodies which is a resistance to diseases and infections. Time went really slowly but we came to the end of our duty for the day. I was a bit exhausted as I went back to my room , had my bath and took a nap. I woke up later in the evening hungry so I decided to make a quick dish of okro soup and fufu. I ate to my fill and rested a little while before I went for night class.

Night class is held from Monday to Friday everyday for tutorials on courses. It is really beneficial for students, as the tutor will explain the difficult courses to the understanding of the students. Although we have a category of people in night class, the sleepers, the ones that come to gist, the serious ones, the noisemakers. Although sometimes I fall under the category of the sleepers, I'm in the category of the serious ones who know her purpose in school.

I read for 5 hours and slept so I'll be prepared for the next experience tomorrow. I want to have tons of experience in my clinical practice so I will be ready to handle any case when I am a competent and registered nurse . Hoping to share my beautiful experience with you tomorrow.