10 Weeks of Acute Care

Yesterday was my first day of clinical rotations and despite catching a cold, out of control allergies, and psyching myself out so much the night before I felt like I wanted to puke, I made it through the day. All the first day really consisted of was getting acquainted with the hospital, learning the different computer systems they use, and all that fun stuff that comes with a new job. The second half of the day we met with our preceptors and I saw 3 patients in the afternoon. Today I was with my preceptor all day and I saw a total of 6 patients. There is so much to learn and remember that at times I do become overwhelmed but, I figure I'll get the hang of it soon. Each week I will be with a new preceptor in a different part of the hospital. Lucky me, I am the first one to do the critical care rotation that is coming up in TWO weeks which means I will be taking 25% of the work load myself (not to mention in the category I am most nervous about). Theres never been a better time to take the bull by the horns. 

I wish I had some crazy story about something I encountered in the hospital but, these past two days have been more about learning the ropes. I must say though, thankfully I didn't come all this way for nothing because I really am enjoying it all. The hospital setting is definitely something I love but, who knows where the next 9 months will lead me. 

This weeks rotation: General Med/Surg, OBGYN, Pediatrics 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

On Friday we had the opportunity to tour the Rumpke Recycling Center. Since the landfill ended up being a more pleasant experience than I thought, I was pretty excited to see what recycling was all about. To be honest, I was never all gung-ho about recycling but being in a landfill and a recycling center quickly changed my mind. I realized how important and EASY recycling is and I asked myself why in the world am I not doing it? Instead of telling you all about how the machines work and what process the materials go through I am going to give you the steps to recycle properly. 
Here are the top 10 reasons you should recycle:
1. Recycling saves natural resources
2. Recycling saves energy
3.Recycling creates jobs and helps the economy
4. Recycling is easy to do
5. Recycling is one of the easiest ways to help the environment
6. One person can make a huge difference-the average person can recycle over 700 pounds of material each year
7. Recyclables are made into new products
8. Recycling reduces waste going into landfills- 60% of materials that end up in the landfill could have been recycled
9. Recycling reduces pollution caused by manufacturing companies
10. Recycling protects wildlife habitat
...If none of those convince you to throw your plastics, glass, paper, and aluminum in a bin and put it on the curb to be picked up, I don't know what will. 


Something I also found very helpful was: what can I actually recycle? When I was younger I remember that there were only certain numbers of materials you could recycle. This is not the case anymore. Here are acceptable materials:
1. ALL plastic BOTTLES and JUGS
2. Glass jars and bottles of any color
3. Aluminum, steel and empty aersol cans with lids and tips removed
4. Paper bags, envelopes with or without windows, junk mail, computer papers and other mixed office paper, magazines, telephone books and newspapers with inserts
5. Paperboard, such as cereal boxes
6. Pizza boxes with all grease and food reside removed
--Rinse out containers but you do not have to remove the label. 

 


Unacceptable Items (mainly because of different melting points than acceptable items, machines are not meant to handle these items, or contamination):
1. Plastics that are NOT bottles (i.e. Cool Whip containers, butter tub, or food trays)
2. Plastic bags--these are terrible for the machines AND terrible for the landfill. Switch to paper bags or the cute reusable bags.
3. Styrofoam
4. Lids/caps
5. Coat hangers or steel scrap
6. Motor oil jugs, paint cans, or other chemical containers


Rumpke makes it so easy for us to recycle. The machines are the ones that separate the materials so all we have to do it throw everything in one bin and THAT'S IT. Rumpke has a 97% accuracy rate for separating items which is pretty darn good. 


So, add a a recycling bin next to your garbage can and START RECYCLING. 

Landfill

First day back to the internship and the countdown is on until my rotations begin (5 more days!). Today we went to the Rumpke landfill. You may be wondering why? and well...I still can't answer that question for you. Once I find out I'll be sure to fill you in. Even though I was not looking forward to going on this tour I was pleasantly surprised on how interesting it was. Here are some things I learned:


Rumpke began in 1932 but as a hog farm, feeding the edible trash to the hogs. This was soon banned and the Rumpke family made the choice to pursue a waste and recycling business in the 1940s. If I remember correctly our tour guide said they are allowed to take 300,000 tons or 600,000,000 pounds of trash a day. 


As we rode up the landfill there was a giant hole called a 'cell' that has been in the process of being dug since before 2005. One of the pictures shows this cell. The cells go through a specific process and once dug, clayed and correctly layered to protect the earth, trash can then begin to fill it. The parts of the landfill that are drivable were perviously cells and have been filled. The cell that we were driving on had only been filled for 2 years and had already been filled 360 feet. It still had 13 years left before completely full. Going further up the landfill we learned out the specific drainage process they have, the way they pull out gasses that are being released from decomposition and when we finally reached the top it was a gorgeous view of the cincinnati area with the American flag flying high. A beautiful view from the top of a landfill, who knew? 

I never imagined a landfill had to go through so much engineering just to be able to hold all the trash we throw away every day. Makes me think twice about how much waste everyone throws away each day and how important recycling really is. More on the importance of recycling after we tour the recycling center on Friday.