A Day In The Life | Clinical Day edition

I did one of these last semester, so I’ve taken you along on a nursing school day before.

But no two nursing school days are the same, so today I’m gonna have you tag along on a clinical day. 🙂

6:30

I rolled out of bed, threw my walking clothes and shoes on, and drove to a trail by the water, where I caught the sunrise.

Actually…because of the way the trail is set up, I could see the moon on one side of the peninsula, and the sun on the other.

I spent part of my walk on the rocks instead of the trail.

Something about navigating the uneven rocks makes me feel like a kid again…and on the rocks, I can enjoy the eastern sun, hear the waves, and feel the cold breeze on my cheeks.

Happy is not a big enough word for how I feel but…I do just feel like I am bathing in happiness at moments like those.

After my walk, I drove back home, but I made a stop at Safeway because I’d had a brain cramp the day before.

See, I’d gone to Sam’s Club, largely because I needed eggs. But I came home with exactly no eggs. Sigh.

Sooo, I bought a dozen at Safeway after my walk.

8:00

I got home and

• did a weights workout
• unloaded my dishwasher and put away my hand-washed dishes from last night
• showered
• did my minimal hair/makeup routine
• put on a white t-shirt and my scrub pants (yay for no thinking about an outfit!)

• made my bed
• fed Chiquita

9:00

I made a batch of no-stir granola and put it in the oven.

I made whole wheat blueberry pancakes for myself. Or rather, I cooked them. I’d made one recipe’s worth of the batter two days ago, cooked half, and put the other half in a Mason jar in the fridge.

That makes for a nice quick breakfast for me in the next day or two!

I also started a batch of creamy tortellini soup because I needed a packable meal for my two clinical days.

I tried this new-to-me recipe, and I landed on it mainly because it used a lot of things that I happened to have on hand, and my main need was to use up some wilty kale from my fridge.

I only needed about half an onion, so I stored the other half in this jar; it’s all glass, so I never have to worry about the onion stinking up a lid. I got the jar at Goodwill for $1 a long time ago.

Next, I printed out my required clinical paperwork; we have plenty of documenting that we do on the computer system, but there’s also actual school paperwork that we do each day.

10:00

I sat down to type up my day before I forgot everything I’d done!

Then I finished making my soup and did some dinner-packing prep.

I packed up my non-food stuff for clinical (because if I do this last-minute, I am sure to forget things.)

I broke up the granola and put it in jars. It was an easy process to get it out of the pan because this time I remembered to grease the pan first. Yay me!

I made coffee.

And I cleaned up my kitchen.

11:00

I made a very unimportant Instagram Reel just for fun.

I responded to blog comments, shared the day’s post to social media, sent it out via email, and worked on a post for the next day.

12:00

I ate a peanut butter sandwich, put a coat of paint on the scuffed table, and got my lunch packed.

12:30

I headed out the door to drive to the hospital.

1:00

Clinical starting time! Obviously, I can’t give you a detailed report of what I did because, hello, patient privacy.

But I can say in general that at my clinical shifts, I:

• get report from a student nurse and a regular nurse
• do vital signs
• do a head-to-toe assessment on my assigned patient
• administer oral and injection meds (with the supervision of my nursing instructor)
• hang IV meds and program IV pumps
• document things in the hospital system and also in our student system
• fill out clinical paperwork for school
• make a care plan for a patient

And I try to take advantage of every opportunity to observe the nurses and techs as they do their tasks. If they’re the type that doesn’t mind questions, I ask about their process and the why behind they do certain things.

We get a dinner break around 5:00, and after that, we’re back on the floor until 8:30.

9:00

Home! Tired!

I:

• caught up with Zoe
• unpacked my lunch stuff
• started the dishwasher
• did my daily Duolingo lesson
• spent some time on my phone (noooo phones during clinical, so there are a lot of notifications by the time I get off)
• texted with Sonia
• tried returning a call from Lisey (our schedules did not mesh well this day, so I didn’t end up getting to talk to her)

I also ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich on whole wheat bread because I was hungry.

And then my exhausted self got ready for bed, where I fell right to sleep.

And that wraps up my day. I hope you enjoyed riding along with me virtually. 🙂