taking a quick break!

so I'm sitting here late on a Saturday night, and thinking I should really write about my last clinical rotation. This past rotation was Clinical Integration, which is basically all about communication.

Let me start off by saying that this rotation was very, very different from my long term care experience. This was very, very chill- we were pretty much free to do anything we wanted. All of the 'nursing' aspects were taken out of this rotation, and it was purely communication. So I didn't have to worry all morning that I had forgotten to asses something or that I hadn't given my drugs on time. All I had to do was find a resident in the assisted living community who wanted to chit-chat and do exactly that, talk with them.

Now, I'm somewhat of an introverted person, so while I was so glad long term care was over, I was a little worried about this rotation. Most people say will say they are shy until they get to know people, but I really am. I tend to open up once you get to know me, but it can take a little while. Plus, I consider myself more of a listener than a talker, which can make it a little difficult to make conversation with people I don't know.

But, what I found was that I had nothing to be worried about. This rotation was the calm after the storm. Most of the residents were more than happy to talk to you for 30 minutes or so, and many of them had so many stories to tell that I hardly had to think about what topic to talk about next. I found that it was just so easy to talk to most of them, and really it was very interesting and not nearly as awkward as I thought it was going to be.

This rotation was far more relaxing, and somewhat more therapeutic than I thought it would be. I had an EXCELLENT instructor, which I really believes makes all the difference in the world. I just can't get over how much I loved this rotation, and I can't quite decide if it's actually because of everything I learned, or the fact that it wasn't long term care. Either way, it was a great lead into my current rotation, OB.