Shadowing!

Yesterday I finally got in my first shadowing experience. It has been ridiculously difficult to find a PA to shadow, but yesterday I spent the day with one who works at a rehabilitation/skilled nursing clinic.

The day turned out much better than it started. I was told that it takes 30 minutes to get to the rehab center, so I left 45 minutes to give me a 45 minute buffer. Of course I ended up in traffic and stuck behind big trucks so I missed my turn...needless to say I arrived ten minutes late which put me right on edge. I can't stand being late. The ironic thing is that as I was driving out the driveway, the thought crossed my mind to grab the phone number of the place I was going to in case I was late, but I double guessed myself and said I would be fine. Lesson learned.

The PA I was with was great. A perfect person to follow, and everyone at the center loves her. She would explain everything that she was doing, the medicine behind it, etc. A couple of times one of the nurses dragged me away to show me different things: a bladder ultrasound, the difference between a sacral wound and a back wound, how to take stitches out (which I assisted with!). We spent most of our time on the rehab wing, which mainly consisted of elderly people recovering from falls/hip replacements, etc. There were also three long term care wings, with varying levels of cognitive ability. We spend an hour or two in the locked dementia unit, which was definitely an eye opening experience for me. I'm going back for another one or two half days, so I'm very excited.