The Results are In!

Warning....own horn tooting about to occur. I got an A on my first Med/Surg exam! Yippee dippee skippee. Of all the questions I missed, only one was due to a true lack of knowledge...the others involved me going back and forth between the two "right" answers and picking the "not quite as right" answer. DAMN! Though, I am embarrassed to say that I had a patient with a systolic BP of 244 use the incentive spirometer in the PACU. What was I thinking? Hydralazine, THEN incentive spirometer...doh! I just kept talking myself out of it thinking the BP was due to a pain of 8/10, but now I know that a BP of 244 is really really really high. This is why we practice on Sim Man and answer hypothetical questions constantly. But still...this is embarrassing and I'm almost too shamed to face my instructor. I shall redeem myself!

Two big tests coming up this week. Skills exam and theory. As a class I would say we are all in agreement that our theory class is a waste of time and effort. Maybe someday I'll appreciate learning about Barton, Nutting and all the rest, but right now I just want to get my hands on some sick people! Our skills exam covers a gazillion topics ranging from ambulation and transfers to PO administration (with catheters and poop in there somewhere). I feel pretty confidet that I am grasping the "big picture" with all this stuff, but where I get stuck is with the details...how often to do things, what sizes of whatever to use, when to expect outcome A vs. outcome B. Ugh!

Wish me luck! I'll report back as soon as I get my grade...maybe as early as Monday night! Theory exam is Thursday and I am sooo not looking forward to it. The instructor thinks she's writing "critical thinking" questions, but so far they're just worded very ambiguously...that's not critical thinking...it's critical mind-reading. Kinda frustrating. Stay tuned.

Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure...nothing fancy b/c who has time for pics?

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