Student: Maeve Morris

Hospital: Medstar Georgetown University Hospital

Q: Can you tell us more about the unit you worked on?

Maeve: I worked on a Thoracic Intermediate Care Unit, which was a part of the critical care department. My primary responsibility was to be a nurse tech so I was responsible for my own patients. I took all my patients’ vital signs, helped them perform ADLs, performed phlebotomy, and took EKGs. We also took classes as a part of the externship to learn resume building and interview tips!

Q: What excited you most about your role?

Maeve: For me, the most exciting part of my role was that we were assigned to our own patients. It made me feel like a real nurse, and I was really able to build my time management and prioritization skills. I also always felt very comfortable on the unit, and I learned so much because all of the nurses were so willing to help.

Q: Name a few things you learned from the externship experience.

Maeve: I really learned about how powerful teamwork is in nursing and how much of a difference it can make in patient outcomes. All of the nurses on my unit were always willing to help and it was such a safe space. I also learned a lot about how to prioritize tasks and manage my time, which is such a valuable skill to have in nursing. During some of the externship, we precept with nurses and this is when I really strengthened my critical thinking skills. I was able to dive deep into patients’ charts and really understand their illness and why we performed certain interventions for them.

Overall, I am so happy that I did this externship and feel that everything I learned has really made me into the nurse I am today. It helped me so much during my senior year, and it really prepared me well.