2nd day of placement

I had a dry cough and felt a little tired so I rang the placement. They said not to worry as a dry cough meant there is no infection - so I'm not bringing anything nasty onto the ward.

I got to do vital obs today. basically you watch a childs tummy and count how many times per minute their tummy moves with breathing - children will breathe, take a pause and then take a few breaths together, which is different from how adults breath. Then I took their temperature - which should be 36-37o C ideally and blood oxygen levels using an oxymeter - basically that white clip you put on a patients finger. Oxygen levels show how well the child's lungs are working - anything under 95% needs checked out.

I then got to write these up. I did a lot of wiping down surfaces and getting urine and faecal samples - sounds yuck but stuff like that just doesn't bother me.