I spent the day in the Children’s Health Center shadowing doctors and nurses. In the morning, I first debriefed with the main doctor that I am shadowing, Dr. Kirstin Page, and then went on to observe 2 checkups and a PICC removal on a baby. A PICC is an IV line that is often inserted into a blood vessel in the upper arm. Like a central line, it is often left in place until all treatment is finished.
After lunch, I was able to watch an MSC infusion, which is a type of stem cell infusion. I then went on to shadow a nurse in the Valvano Day Hospital (VDH) who taught me how to order medications for a patient, start an IV, and time infusions for a patient. During this time, I observed how the nurses were able to work as a team, often covering for each other during lunch breaks and even staying after hours to help a colleague. Unlike the doctors that I have shadowed, they were able to have lunch breaks and had more interactions with patients. Today, I learned that the job of nurses widely differs from that of doctors even though they both work in the hospital environment.
