2. ORIENTATION WEEK
We got a tour of both Via Christi St. Francis and St.
Joseph Hospitals.
Ruth came and talked to us about O.R.
procedures.
Security and Volunteer Services came and talked
to us.
We got our TB shots so that we could participate in
the clinical rotations
A Newman representative came and enrolled us in
the college credit. Susan Orsborn distributed the
course syllabus for Medical Terminology.
All of the speakers that were from the hospitals
emphasized the rules of HIPA.
6. ROTATION 1 OR
I really liked observing in the O.R. It was so interesting. I got
to see a lot different procedures and learned a lot too. One of
the surgeries I got to watch was a hysterectomy done with the
surgeon controlling a robot, which was really cool. The tools
the robot uses are very tiny and are incredible how they work
so precisely. The surgeon showed me the machine he uses to
control the robot and when I looked through it the camera
inside the patient made everything look 3D. It was so neat. I
felt like I could have reached down and touched it. Some of
the other surgeries I got to see were hernia repairs, the
removal of a kidney stone, and another hysterectomy, but the
patient had to have an incision down her stomach. The
surgeon removed a large tumor that was wrapped around her
fallopian tube. It was very interesting to watch. I loved
watching all of the different procedures and learning some
new things. I loved the O.R.
7. ROTATION 5 CARDIAC
I really enjoyed this unit a lot!!! The night before I went on this
rotation, I had a class at Newman and we literally learned a
ton about the heart. So when I got there I was all excited
because I knew what the lady I was following was talking
about. Mostly we went around and just did EKGs on patients.
That stands for Electrocardiogram which displays the electric
activity of the heart. I learned what the different things on the
EKG stood for so I kind of understood the different things on
the patients EKGs. I really liked this rotation because I find
this topic really interesting and the lady I followed was super
nice.
8. ROTATION 11 MICU
My 11th rotation was pretty good. Nothing really big happened
though. I did get to see the nurse change a man's wound
dressing. He had a really big incision down the length of his
stomach and it looked like it was tearing apart and there were
some staples holding it together. I also got to see a man get a
sonogram of his heart and a man receive dialysis for 3 hours.
The woman administering they dialysis was really nice and
talked to me about everything. The staff was really nice to me
and was happy to answer any questions that I had. I even
stayed an extra hour on the second day because the woman
giving dialysis was talking and explaining things to me. It was
a pretty good rotation, it just seemed like there wasn't much to
see.
9. ROTATION 12 EMERGENCY ROOM
My 12th rotation was at the Emergency Room at St. Joseph Hospital.
The first day was pretty good. It was really sad to see how many people
came in who were a threat to themselves. While I was there on the first
day there were probably 7-8 cases of people wanting to or trying to
commit suicide. It was sad. Then, some of the people who came in made
me mad. Like a 15 year old kid. He was rude and acted like a jerk to the
nurses. I just want to say to him, "Hey punk, these ladies are trying to
help you! They don't have to, they could let continue to hurt and do
nothing to help you, but they want to help you. So treat them with some
respect!" But I could not do this. I also got to see a doctor cut into an
abscess on a guy's leg near the groin. It looked really painful for the
man. The doctor cleaned it out and put some medicated gauze inside it.,
so it would heal from the inside out. The second day was kind of scary. A
15 year old black kid came in and said he was going to commit suicide
by overdosing on morphine or Ibeprophen or hang himself because he
got in a fight with his girlfriend. When they told him that he was going to
have to change into a gown, he flipped out. He started yelling at
everyone. They had to get like 5 policemen to surround him. He kept
cussing and told the policeman to go f* himself and became very irate. It
was kind of scary and the E.R. was an eye-opener for me. Some people
came in and were homeless, drunk, suicidal, did not have doctors, and
ungrateful.
10. ROTATION 15 5SE
My 15th rotation was interesting, to say the least. I followed
the same nurse both days. She was nice and was answered
all my questions. The main kind of patients that are in this
department were orthopedic patients. One patient was a man
with severe back pain. One man had had his foot run over by
a train and the surgeons had to amputate part of his foot. One
other patient was in an accident. He said he was hunting with
his brother, when their truck rolled and the gun in the truck
went off. It hit the driver in the leg. His leg has a large piece of
skin missing, but thankfully the bullet just grazed his leg. They
were going to have to perform a skin graft, but realized that a
tendon was showing at the surface. So they decide that they
were going to have to make surgical repairs before they did a
skin graft. It was very interesting. The nurses were afraid that I
was going to be sick, but let me see everything they were
doing to the man's leg wound. This was one of my better
rotations.
13. COVER LETTER
11401 Springwater Dr.
Clearwater, KS 67026
October 3, 2011
Krista Thacker, Talent Sourcing Manager
Via Christi Health, Inc.
8200 E. Thorn
Wichita, KS 67226
Dear Krista Thacker:
I understand from the Via Christi web page that you are looking for someone to fill a Certified Nursing Assistant position at
St. Francis Hospital and I am interested in the job.
I am currently a senior at Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School where I am involved in many different activities. I am a
member of National Honor Society, Student Council, and Pep Club. I have been enrolled in the Cum Laude Program for four
years and I am also currently enrolled in different college course through Newman University. At Kapaun, I also participate in
Cross Country and Track and Field. Being involved in these different extraciriculars, I have to be able to manage my time well
and multitask. Aside from being involved in school, I volunteer in different places in the community. Some of the things I do
are play with the children at Little Elemetary School and help operate the Catholic School Athletic League Track meets. I
enjoy helping with these programs because I get to work with younger children. My plans as of now are to become a neonatal
nurse, so I think this job would be a good place for me to start. I work well in both groups and individually. I am a quick learner
and well organized. I am excited and open to improve my weaker areas.
If I posses some of the qualities required for this position, I would appreciate an interview at your convenience. I can be
contacted at dk.huntergirl@gmail.com or (620)-545-7010. If I am not available, please leave a message and I will get back to
you as soon as possible.
God Bless,
Danielle Komp
15. REFERENCE PAGE
Amy and AJ Buhrman
Neighbors
11401 Springwater Dr.
Clearwater, KS 67026
(620)-545-7068
Pat and Cletus Rausch
Family friends
2515 Glacier Dr.
Wichita, KS 67215-1501
(316)-721-2618
Fr. Orr
Family friend and previous pastor
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
645 N. 119th St. W.
Wichita, KS 67235
(316)-721-1686
16. CAREER LIST PAPER
One profession I am interested in is Registered Nursing. RNs
specialize by population and provide preventive and acute
care in all healthcare settings to the segment of the population
in which they specialize.
I am really interested in becoming a neonatal
nurse, specializing in newborn babies. I love
children, especially babies. Sometimes the babies will be
extremely premature and other times they will be full term, but
too sick to go home right away.
Pediatric nursing is something else I think that I would really
be interested in. I think I would be good at something like
this, again, because I like to work with young children.
Pediatric nurses often assist doctors by providing medical
care and information about diseases and treatment plans to
their young patients.
17. CAREER LIST PAPER
Certified Nursing Assistants work under Licensed Practical
Nurses and Registered Nurses helping to perform basic
patient care functions such as feeding, bathing, and dressing.
I think this would be a good entry level, temporary job on the
way to a more permanent job.
Certified Medical assistants get to perform a wide variety of
tasks, from checking in patients to taking vital signs and
preparing patients for examinations. Being exposed to all the
different elements of patient care, medical assistants can take
their careers in almost any direction. I feel that this would be a
good starter job to get some experience before moving on.
18. LECTURE SUMMARIES
Shelly Steadman is a forensic biologist and DNA
analyst and did a very good job of presenting her
information to us. I thought the information she had to
share with us was really interesting. This field is
extremely unique, but it is not affiliated with the crime lab
even though they operate out of the same building. The
coroner, autopsy, child death, suicide, and accidents
also take place in the same building.
There is a lot of pathology in her field of work. In
this field of work it is considered, forensic pathology. The
pathology assistant is usually the one to perform the
autopsies. While the medical investigators report the
death at the scene, and are considered the eyes and
ears of the coroner. There are quite a few different
things one has to study in the field of forensic science.
Some include toxicology, drug identification, trace
evidence, firearms, tool marks, DNA, and biology.
19. LECTURE SUMMARIES
Dr. Greg Reichenberger is a veterinarian and runs
his own pet clinic in west Wichita. He seems to be a very
interesting person and enjoy his job. He graduated from
Newman University in 1987 with a Bachelors of Science
in Chemistry and a Bachelors of Arts in Biology. Then,
he attended Kansas State University and graduated
from the college of veterinarian medicine in 1992.
He presented some interesting information. The
information included that those students who graduate
with degrees in veterinarian medicine might struggle
when it comes to finding a job. The field of veterinarian
medicine is become over saturated and too many vets
are graduating. The fact that the economy is tough does
not help. People are not as willing to spend money on
their pets today.
20. LECTURE SUMMARIES
After listening to different dental speakers, I liked
Dr. Mark Trolio the best. He was very personal when he
gave his lecture. From his lecture I learned, not just the
dental side of the occupation, but also the personal
side. He also gave some information on what to think
about if one wanted to become a dentist.
Some good points about becoming a dentist is that
one gets to make his own hours, is his own boss, and
makes his own rules. He also gets to spend more time
with the family too. He said that the pay dentists are
receiving is decreasing because of government
involvement and the healthcare reform. Some
information about dentistry today are that there are
4000 graduate dentists, but 10% of that number are
foreign and end up going back home to practice. He
also said that the biggest area of dentistry today is
cosmetic dentistry.
21. LECTURE SUMMARIES
I am very glad that she was a speaker I had the opportunity
to listen to. I am very interested in going into the nursing field and
am happy with the information that she presented to us. She gave
us a lot of information of the basics of nursing and what it
requires. Even if I do not attend Newman University, this
presentation was quite helpful to me.
Firstly, Theresa told us where nurses most commonly work.
Places such as in communities, clinics, hospitals, and house
visits. There is a large range of jobs and skills in this field and
almost all include looking at individuals, groups, and assessing. In
nursing, one is constantly thinking and evaluating. What makes a
good nurse? The sciences, people, lifelong learning, to think on
your feet, to work as a team—all are things that make up a good
nurse.
The U.S. department of labor estimates that we will be short
500,000 to 1,000,000 nurses in the next 20 years. Nurses practice
in a large variety of settings—hospitals, public
health, offices, traveling, military, education, and home health.
Starting salaries for a nurse with a 2 year degree can be $19 per
hour. BSN requires 4 years of college, but in the end offers more
job flexibility, prepares you to enter nursing graduate program for
advanced practice, pay differential in same job settings, and offer
military commission as an officer.
22. LECTURE SUMMARIES
I learned some different and interesting things when
Carissa came to speak to us. I thought it was very
interesting the way she sat down and spoke to us
informally as a group. It made the whole thing seem
more relaxed and laid-back. I thought she was very nice
and informative about the different things that she does
and the different things other psychologists do.
I did not realize that there are positions for
psychologists that do not consist of sitting down and
getting to know a person or patient. I learned that the
nurses working in nursing homes have to treat each
elderly differently, obviously due to different
personalities. She told us of how the old people in the
nursing homes have this thing called “elder talk.” This is
when the old people speak using word like
honey, dear, and darling to everyone, as it was common
in earlier years.
23. FINAL REFLECTION
Overall, I feel that this is a very good program that
has taught me some different things. What I liked
most were the rotations, and how they gave me a
feeling of what it might be like to work in a
hospital, in different environments. Some of the
speakers were enjoyable to listen to, but some
were repetitive. The medical terminology part of the
class was difficult, but I managed alright. If I could
change one thing about the program, it would be
that we could have more hands on experience with
some things, rather than so many speakers.
24. PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL
Attend University of Kansas
Major in Bachelors of Science in Nursing
Masters in Nursing and specialize in Neonatal care.
And of course attend many KU basketball games!!!
