My externship at St. Joseph's

by Nicole Ciongoli

My name is Nicole Ciongoli, I was accepted into the student nurse externship program at St. Josephs Regional Medical Center in Paterson N.J. this past summer. It is difficult to think of putting into words what an incredible learning experience this program gave me. However, I will try my very best to explain how I got to really use my critical thinking and assessment skills that Felican College helped me develop over the past three years.

I vividly remember sitting down during our orientation and reading our binder on the student nurse extern program. I flipped right to the do’s and don’ts section. The don’ts section was 3 pages longer then the do’s section. Irrespective of the do’s and don’ts, I sat, tapping my feet, eagerly anticipating my first day on the High-Risk Antepartum/OBGYN unit.

I met my preceptor and instantly felt at ease and ecstatic to be working alongside her. She asked me what I wanted to get out of this experience. The preceptor offered herself numerous times for questions and explanations, which I definitely utilized. I started off by telling her that it was my hope that the program would help me to see the function of a registered nurse and to transition me into the profession of nursing. I also wanted to make sure that my assessment skills were excellent and on point.

Before I could care for a patient I needed to pass a safety check with my perinatal nursing educator. We went down to the mother baby unit and went in together as she watched me perform a head to toe postpartum assessment. After exiting the room I’ll never forget the words she said to me. She asked me what college I went to again and I replied proudly, Felician College. She went on to say how thrilled she was with my assessment and how I didn’t miss anything. She said she could tell how comfortable I was with patients and assessing them. She looked me in the eye and told me what a great job I did and how great my school was because she could see that they prepared me exceptionally well to be in a clinical setting; I was beaming inside. I thought to myself, wow, I could really do this. Finally, all my hard work, blood, sweat and many tears are starting to pay off.

Getting report was another aspect of my skills that I was able to refine through my rotations within the OBGYN unit. I found it rewarding to be able to sit down with my preceptor at 7am and get report from the night nurse; the big picture supplemented with important details. I would listen and hear about the patients’ condition, what medications they were on and the interventions needed so I could familiarize myself with their situation. It was such an amazing feeling to hear these professionals speak about the patients. Even more amazing was the fact that I could actually speak their language and understand them as they communicated about the patients they were taking care of.

During the externship program I was rotated throughout the OBGYN unit. I spent a week on the mother baby unit, NICU, intermediate care nursery and labor and delivery. During the rotation to labor and delivery, I went to the inpatient psychiatric floor to do a normal stress test on one of the patients. I reported to the nurses’ station to brief myself on the patient’s situation before entering their room. The patient had an extensive psychiatric history and was approximately the same age as I, give or take a few years. The patient had a history of unresponsiveness and did not talk much at all. After reading the patient’s history, and as part of my responsibilities, I took it upon myself to try to engage her in therapeutic communication. Upon entering the patient’s room I introduced myself and explained that I needed to hook up the monitor to assess contractions in addition to monitoring the baby’s heartbeat. Surprisingly, the patient initiated a conversation with me and began by telling me all about the baby; which side he preferred and how he slept. We kept talking for the entire time that I was watching the reactive strip. The patient opened up to me and I could tell that they felt comfortable around me. It was such an amazing feeling to know that this patient could associate with me and was able to talk openly. I got through to them and was so happy to tell the patient’s nurse about the encounter while being afforded the opportunity to chart such positive observations. The nurse was also very happy to hear that the patient was verbally responsive to me.

During the ten weeks of my externship it is an understatement to say that I learned a lot. Every single day I learned something new and it was such an amazing feeling. I can’t wait for my senior year to begin and for my education in nursing to grow even more.