Week 5 ~ Vitamin D

Flu season is starting to come to an end, but there have still been a few people coming in with symptoms. A person can have influenza A or B; these are the types that cause epidemic seasonal infections every year. Influenza A is most common to get during the flu season. Influenza B often develops toward the end of flu season, which is why most people coming in right now have type B.

When a person gets there blood drawn it is very important to have eaten before. One of the patients had there blood drawn by a nurse then she fainted. Crystal rushed to the room to make sure all the patients vitals were good. The reason this patient fainted is because they were very hot and did not eat any breakfast before hand. Crystal gave the patient a cold wet rag to lay on their face, while laying down, until they felt better and would be able to stand. A few minutes later the patient was able to get up and leave.

A patient came in with swollen ankles and an odd rash on their legs. Crystal quickly came to the conclusion that this patient was allergic to the medication they had been taking for their ankles. Because of this, Crystal took the patient off the previous medication and prescribed a new one.

Over-the-counter vitamin D pills

Vitamin D is very important to make sure you have enough of. The best source of it is through sunlight. It is more common in the colder seasons to have vitamin D deficiency. My sister previously found out she was lacking a good amount of vitamin D. She started taking over the counter vitamin D pills; I learned from Crystal that it can take months to regain a good amount of vitamin D through the over the counter pills. She is starting track soon so hopefully the sunlight will add a lot to her vitamin D intake.