Anja Bliss

20MAY2022

Journal 1

Dr. Grossnickle

During the first week of clinicals, I was unable to go into the clinic due to an issue with

Memorial Hermann signing the contract with CMU. Though I couldn’t go in, I was still able to

be productive and gain something from my clinical experience. Heather, my CI, sent me several

links where I could do online Memorial Hermann trainings for pre onboarding certifications, and

some were for additional learning. The pre onboarding certifications were simple but interesting.

The hospital had some rules that were different that I expected and some that made sense. They

also said masks were required, but that information was outdated as the mandate had been lifted.

I learned that in Texas, some hospitals allow weapons, but Memorial Hermann did not. I

was glad to hear that because political tensions have been high in Texas lately. I learned a lot

about the social aspect of the state during my week delay into the clinic. Right now, a lot of

people from Southern California are moving from CA to TX because they are tired of the high

taxes and gas prices. This is causing the traffic in bigger Texan cities to get worse and worse.

Californians are also taking over the housing market in TX by purchasing their cheaper real

estate and then renting it out to the people who live there. This has been really upsetting the

Texans and they have been discriminating against the Californians to try to keep them from

moving over. Some of this showed up in the clinical setting.

The entire situation is interesting from a northern perspective and made me appreciate

our minimal MI traffic.

 Later in the week, I asked Heather for additional protocols that were specific to the

hospital and her teaching. She told me about some post-operative spine protocols but let me

know that the other protocols would come straight from the referring physician. That was nice

and easy because the doctors at Memorial Hermann were specific to what they wanted. I was

able to study the post-op protocols and then be prepared for my first day. Heather scheduled me

to come in during the weekend to get my orientation to the clinic and see what there is to offer

and where everything is. So far I haven’t seen any patients yet, but I have prepared as much as I

can for what I will be doing.