Last week I got to experience some different things besides being on the floor. It was a nice change of pace. I attended the Diabetes Center classes, both beginner and advanced, and got to work with two different educators in the process. The classes were small- 3 people showed up to the advanced class and 6 were present in the beginner. We sat around a round table in a small room, so the interaction was very individualized and personal. It was a great refresher for me, especially since yesterday we got consulted for EIGHT diet educations. (This is pretty unheard of, we usually get maybe 1-3 per week). Probably what I gained most from the diabetes classes was just picking up on counseling styles. Even though I knew most of the information presented, observing the educators helped me to apply some of their teaching techniques into my experiences speaking with patients. I also watched a couple of cardiac caths last week. Cool! I enjoyed spending some time in a different part of the hospital and meeting new doctors and cardiac technicians. During the first cath I watched, the man's arteries were so wide that we didn't have a big or long enough catheter to get the appropriate images. The doctor performing the procedure just ended up getting too frustrated and stopped the test. The second cath was done on a woman with severe diabetic neuropathy. Her arteries were TINY, and everyone watching the screen in the lab was appalled. The technology and machines were neat to see in action.