I have had such a wonderful experience at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC). In January, I began my senior capstone on the telemetry unit. I was blessed to have a great preceptor to help me learn how to become a great nurse. I soon fell in love with the telemetry unit and working with cardiac patients. I learned so much about how to work with patients with cardiac diagnoses such as heart failure, dysrhythmias, cardiac bypass surgery, cardiac catheterizations, and heart attacks. Not only do these patients require special physical care and teaching, they and their families require compassion and empathy as they go through these stressful situations and diagnoses.
After completing half of the semester in the telemetry unit, I moved to the wound care clinic to learn how to care for patients with complicated wounds. This has always been an interest of mine, as I want to know how to care for these patients no matter what unit I am working on. My experience in wound care has been so rewarding. The wonderful nurses in the wound clinic have helped me learn incredible amounts of information on how to care for various wounds. I have had the privilege of caring for the same patients once or twice a week for six weeks which has allowed me to see the progression of their treatment and the healing of their wounds. Not only has this experience allowed me to care for more common wounds, but it has given me the opportunity to learn how to care for very complicated wounds. I feel more confident with my skills and I am happy I can now take this knowledge to my future job.
My experiences during my capstone at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center have definitely prepared me for going into a job after graduation. I have had the privilege of being trained by some amazing nurses at CRMC who have helped me take the skills that I have learned over the past two years to the next level. During the last 14 weeks, I have felt myself transform from a student nurse into a soon-to-be registered nurse, and am excited to see what wonderful experiences this career has in store for me.
