When I was in nursing school, I had to focus more on my studies than other aspects of life, and learn so much in a short amount of time. However, the clinical experience of nursing school allowed me to have the opportunity to put what I learned in my classes and readings into action.
One of my favorite experiences during my clinical training was when I had a patient who was first starting chemotherapy (化疗). My nursing instructor Marie told me that patients often experience an anaphylactic (过敏性的) reaction to the medicine when they first start chemotherapy, so it is important to give the medicine at a slower rate. Marie said that if we had a patient who reacted to the medicine, we should stop running the chemotherapy, check the patient's blood pressure, and then give the appropriate medicine from the emergency kit.
When I checked my patient a couple of minutes after starting his chemotherapy, I asked him questions related to an anaphylactic reaction. I also noticed his face was getting a little red and he looked short of breath. He mentioned having lower back pain, so I immediately stopped the chemotherapy, started taking his blood pressure, and reported it to Marie. His blood pressure was within his normal limits, so we gave him Benadryl via his IV. The Benadryl helped the patient, and we had the Benadryl running when we started his chemotherapy again, but at a slower rate. This time the patient did not have an anaphylactic reaction, and tolerated his chemotherapy well.
This experience taught me how important it is to assess your patient and to teach your patient beforehand about the reaction the patient could have due to the medicine. Marie and I taught our patient about the reactions he could have due to the chemotherapy; due to our teaching, our patient recognized his symptoms and was able to know that what he was experiencing was an expected reaction. During the clinical training, I had many experiences where I had to think on my feet and conduct nursing care quickly. These experiences taught me a lot about how to be a nurse and emphasized the importance of conducting proper patient care.
