The two patients I followed, both had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiogram and were advised to be NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight before their surgery was supposed to take place. According to the University of Minnesota Health (2016), the new evidenced-based research suggested that the old standard rule of “NPO after midnight,” is unnecessary and the new evidence-based research suggested allowing patients to drink clear liquids until two hours before their surgery; this is the new guidelines suggested by anesthesiologists. Again, we always have anesthesiologists and surgeons set in their old ways and recommending the old rule of thumb, such as keeping the patient …show more content…
Their vital machine was different than most places and I was unfamiliar with it. My preceptor had to show me had to get to the right screen, how to turn it on and off, and how to effectively select what you wanted to do; sounds silly, but every place is different, and they don’t have the same equipment/technology. Knowing how to run/operate the facilities vital machine is extremely important because it gives an indication of the patient’s physiological state and determines what measures/interventions need to be implemented by the nurses and medical team. According to Castledine, 2013), surgical patients require extensive monitoring of their vital signs to determine if any complications, change in status, if the patient is stable, or is in any pain; the patients will have interval times per protocol of how often they will be needed. I was able to correctly learn how to work their machine, in order to safely obtain an accurate set of vitals on the postoperative patients. This is extremely important, like I said, because it determines the status of the patient; thanks to my preceptor I was able to learn and charted the vital signs in a timely manner in the electronic charting system they use at Saunders Medical Center. Both postoperative patients remained stable throughout their postoperative