Super Crazy Busy Spooky Season

 My month of October as a master's student was filled with three block exams, numerous independent studies/JiTT sessions, and over 96 hours in the ER working. Throughout this month's coursework, I have been able to pick up more and more on different drugs that are actively utilized in an emergency setting. Not only have I find that I am more familiar with different drugs names, but that I can also look at this drug name and know why the patient may be on it. I have found that by talking with patients about the different medications they are taking while hooking them up to the monitor has helped to build a repour and helps them to have confidence in my as an Emergency Room  technician. As an ER tech, I am often the first person to see the patient when they get into a room in the ER. I have found that I am able to utilize my knowledge of different cardiac rhythms on EKGs in my work setting to notify a higher up provider about anything concerning before they are able to see the patient. For example, I was able to notify a nurse of a patient going into atrial fibrillation before the patient digressed too badly. By doing so, the nurse was able to get a doctor to see the patient more immediately and get the patient medications to help correct the arrhythmia. Since I have a better understanding of common medications due to being in the master's program, the providers in the ER are more comfortable with my opinion on a patient's current health status and I am able to learn more about pharmacology in the hospital setting from my coworkers. I find with every lecture that I learn more about medications and common health conditions that I see in the hospital setting every shift. Another example of me being able to utilize my lecture knowledge in the real world is when a patient with a severe blood clot in the leg was placed on a heparin drip in the ER and I was able to talk more with the doctor about what the plan for the patient would be following the temporary fix with heparin. In the upcoming weeks, I am planning on contacting a hospice community to do some volunteer work at and I am looking forward to being able to serve this type of patient population being as it is one that I rarely get to be around in the ER. Hopefully I will be able to discuss my experience volunteering in November's blog post update!