Finally!

Today was my first day of classes for the fall semester. We finally get to do some hands-on work - with real people! We are only doing about 25 hours of clinical time this fall, and it will all be at a nursing facility, but we'll spend a lot of time in the skills lab learning assessment skills and procedural techniques on the dummies (and often on each other). Today we started with bedmaking. I thought that sounded silly, since I make my bed every day. But it turns out we were learning how to make the bed with someone still in it. I'd never thought about it, but it makes sense to know how - some clients won't be able to get up, but the bedding has to be changed to maintain a clean environment. After making the beds we learned range of motion exercises to help maintain flexibility for immobile clients, how to reposition people in beds, and how to prevent decubitus (pressure) ulcers from forming. I'm glad they broke us in with easy stuff, but I can't wait to learn dressing changes and catheter placement. Yay!