Watts School of Nursing - White Cap Yearbook (Durham, NC)

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ee S$ Discontinuing medications is part of Mike Keaton’s job as medication nurse on Ward E. mnie : . Enccamenaicanciad ONCOL NG Pra ne OO i : a8 Reporting off to a tape recorder! Yes, this is one of the new ideas being i a: a ei. oe tried on Ward R as demonstrated by Van Umstead. As team leader Donna Humble checks off new doctor's orders. 27

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Post-clinical Conference — YA WN. Nursing 310 or Leadership is an eleven week course that is taken during the senior year. It involves the learning of team nursing including its advantages and disadvantages. The philosophy of team nursing is that nursing and all its goals are achieved by all the staff working together. The main ob- jective of team nursing is of course, better individualized patient care. In learning to become an efficient and effective leader, the student must accept the responsibility of team leader and of medication nurse. On alternate weeks when the student is team leader she is responsible for assigning staff to patients, taking off doctors orders, making patient rounds and overall working closely with the head nurse’s supervision in assuring better patient care. As medication nurse, the student is surrounded with the task of maintaining all IV's, giving all patient medications for her team as safely as possible, and charting medications as given. The clinical area is challenging for the senior student since she is faced with more responsibility than ever beofre. During the eleven weeks she evolves from a shy and scared student to a responsible and respected leader. Thus, in becoming a professional nurse, this experience is necessary and beneficial to each senior student.

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MEDICAL-SURGICAL NURSING During the senior year of our nursing education we take an eleven week course of medical-surgical nursing. This course includes rotation in the Emergency Room and Intensive Care Units. We found this part of the course very interesting and beneficial. We encountered crucial and life-threatening situations while working in these clinical areas of the hospital. When we were not in the special units we cared for critical and terminal patients on the wards. n this, we learned to deal with death, ourselves, and with our patients. Many times we were faced with critical decisions which affected our patient’s lives. Working in the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Les Chalmers regulates an V as part of his daily activities. In the Surgical Intensive Care Unit Cathye Williams and Lana Collins check over the equipment. 28