Ok, I am midway through Crazy Week, and to be honest it's not that bad. I had clinical on Tuesday, but since I earned "minimal prep" for essentially being a fantastic student on all my other preps, then it wasn't too crazy. I still have to write a DAR note related to something I did on Tuesday and calculate how many pain meds I gave, but that's it!
On Wednesday we had our final check-off for our assessment class. They set it up like Jeopardy, with questions of varying difficulty worth different points. The goal was to get 200 points, which I did in 5 rounds I think...I screwed up one question regarding how to assess for a physiological split of S-2, but I can now say I'll never forget that little gem!
Tomorrow I am turning in a scholarship application, meeting with my study buddy to do case-studies for the Med/Surg final and then going to the hospital to pick out my final two patients. Then it's clinical on Saturday from 0620-1500, and again on Sunday from 0630-1200. Then it's home to almond champagne and a soak in the foot spa. Can't wait.
Gotta run...but remind me to write my general impressions of clinical. I think I have a serious problem in that I tend to fall in love with all my patients and I feel like crying when I think about how sick they are. I guess I'm just an old softy after all. Sigh.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Me and Susan Boyle have so much in common....
...mainly that we have FOLLOWERS! I just noticed I now have 6 followers and it's making me feel all tingly inside. Ok, that's nothing compared to the millions of hits the Susan Boyle youtube videos have garnered, but still...Rome wasn't built in a day!
On the off-chance that my fans (ok, followers) are pre-nursing students, I thought you might find this helpful...I made a website to help other students along their journey (http://web.mac.com/maureenosuna/iWeb/School/Home.html)...it's chock-full of mainly my anal A&P notes, but I hope to add more goods as time goes on. Oh there's a highly entertaining blog of me doing audio notes for some of my classes...great for those nights when you can't fall asleep!
This coming week is the Clinical Week from Hell...which I will now call Hell Week. I've got clinical on Tuesday (1 patient) and then back-to-back Saturday and Sunday with 2 patients. I also have a comprehensive physical assessment check-off on Wednesday and a group presentation Monday morning.
Wish me luck! I'll repot back Sunday night as I enjoy a glass of wine and soak my feet!
On the off-chance that my fans (ok, followers) are pre-nursing students, I thought you might find this helpful...I made a website to help other students along their journey (http://web.mac.com/maureenosuna/iWeb/School/Home.html)...it's chock-full of mainly my anal A&P notes, but I hope to add more goods as time goes on. Oh there's a highly entertaining blog of me doing audio notes for some of my classes...great for those nights when you can't fall asleep!
This coming week is the Clinical Week from Hell...which I will now call Hell Week. I've got clinical on Tuesday (1 patient) and then back-to-back Saturday and Sunday with 2 patients. I also have a comprehensive physical assessment check-off on Wednesday and a group presentation Monday morning.
Wish me luck! I'll repot back Sunday night as I enjoy a glass of wine and soak my feet!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
One class down, five to go...
My skills lab class ended early (it was front-loaded, which is a fancy word for hellish the first few weeks), and I ended up with an A...not an A- as I feared, but an actual, honest-to-goodness real A. Yippeeeee!
So, I only have FIVE more classes to finish off, and they entail 5 final exams, an ATI exam, 3 group presentations, 3 clinical days, 1 surgery day and a handful of quizzes. The countdown is ON!
With summer peaking its head around the corner, I am putting together my plan for those long months. Knowing me, I'll love the freedom for about 2 weeks and then boredom will set in. Not enough boredom to warrent me taking a class (I can't bear the thought of it), but enough to cause restlessness just the same. My plan so far is to:
- try to get some freelance writing work
- help my husband with his business
- get caught up on the bank statements (not a small task considering how many accounts we have and how far behind I am)
- study for the Sac State government exam so I can test out of that class
- meet with a study group once a week to review things we'll need to know for next semester
- go on some backpacking trips (this will necessitate me getting a backpack for my birthday!)
- go on day hikes up in the Desolation Wilderness
- ride my bike
- walk (this is part of my new plan to be more active)
- go to yoga class with my earnings from my freelance work
- work on my bestseller!
- lay around in the grass with a good book
- go to the beach in San Francisco at least 3 times
- cook!
Ok, that should keep me busy!
So, I only have FIVE more classes to finish off, and they entail 5 final exams, an ATI exam, 3 group presentations, 3 clinical days, 1 surgery day and a handful of quizzes. The countdown is ON!
With summer peaking its head around the corner, I am putting together my plan for those long months. Knowing me, I'll love the freedom for about 2 weeks and then boredom will set in. Not enough boredom to warrent me taking a class (I can't bear the thought of it), but enough to cause restlessness just the same. My plan so far is to:
- try to get some freelance writing work
- help my husband with his business
- get caught up on the bank statements (not a small task considering how many accounts we have and how far behind I am)
- study for the Sac State government exam so I can test out of that class
- meet with a study group once a week to review things we'll need to know for next semester
- go on some backpacking trips (this will necessitate me getting a backpack for my birthday!)
- go on day hikes up in the Desolation Wilderness
- ride my bike
- walk (this is part of my new plan to be more active)
- go to yoga class with my earnings from my freelance work
- work on my bestseller!
- lay around in the grass with a good book
- go to the beach in San Francisco at least 3 times
- cook!
Ok, that should keep me busy!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wow, it's already a month later...
...and I have realized I am a terribly inconsistent blogger. Most days I just can't force myself to look at the computer for another minute so that's pretty much why I haven't been updating my blog. On top of that, I'm just so darn tired all the time that it's hard to fathom putting a sentence together. I guess I feel some pressure to be just as awesome at this as some of the other nursing school blogs I've read (namely the brainscramble.org blog...it's fantastic), plus since I've been a writer for so long I feel pressure to write them well. Lucky for you I have a new philosphy that has been born out of necessity...in nursing school you just can't be as anal and obsessive as you'd like to be. I just don't have time. Now when I have a project to do my main goal is to just get it done, and I save the anal/obsessiveness for things like care plans and clinical, where it really matters. Everything else gets about an A- effort and that's fine with me. We're in survival mode here folks.
So, in light of my new attitude, I will post more often, but don't expect it to be super thought-provoking or anything...it will be more of an update with deep thoughts sprinkled prn.
So, without further ado, here is an update from the past few weeks:
-I can no longer spell. If my brain weren't completely frazzled I'd suspect a neurological disorder. Seriously.
-I now have to consciously NOT report the time using the 24-hour clock since my regular friends don't know what the hell 1430 is.
-I find that I am giving report on my cat. When my husband gets home from work I give him a quick rundown of how the cats are doing. Seriously. Today it was that my older cat is being especially needy. Good golly.
-I gave my first injection (insulin, sub q) in clinical last week. I thought I'd be freaking out, but it was so not a big deal. The main issue for me is making sure I am safe, so I was more freaked out about drawing up the right number of units than I was about piercing someone's skin.
-I did an Accucheck without gloves...so this wins bonehead move of the week. Actually, my CI caught it before I came into contact with any blood, but WOW, what a dumb thing to do.
-I saw my first hospital penis. Again, not as weird as I thought it was going to be.
-I get excited about goofy tasks like drawing urine for a U/A...if I get to dc a Foley or NG I am going to be stoked. I'd love to insert either, but those opportunities are few and far between...I guess a girl can dream though.
-I passed all my skills checkoffs on the first try, and that class is OVER so all I have to do for it is take a final this Wednesday. We are all freaked out about it...it's worth like 40% of our grade and it's tricky and full of tiny details...grr.....
-I went to my first CNSA meeting last night and one of my classmates nominated me for something (Class Representative, I think...I have no idea what it entails, but if no one else is nominated I guess it's my slot by default...hmmm...do I really have time for this?)
-My CI wrote on one of my clinical preps that I am an "amazing student". Direct quote! This was, of course, prior to the glove-less Accucheck incident.
-I'm still exhausted, but not quite as shell-shocked. Looking forward to having some more time to study now that Skills Lab is over.
-The rest of the semester mainly involves finals and two big group presentations. Oh, and the ATI. So, I guess I'm still super busy but maybe I'm getting used to it? Just in time for summer break!
Voila...you are pretty much caught up!
-
So, in light of my new attitude, I will post more often, but don't expect it to be super thought-provoking or anything...it will be more of an update with deep thoughts sprinkled prn.
So, without further ado, here is an update from the past few weeks:
-I can no longer spell. If my brain weren't completely frazzled I'd suspect a neurological disorder. Seriously.
-I now have to consciously NOT report the time using the 24-hour clock since my regular friends don't know what the hell 1430 is.
-I find that I am giving report on my cat. When my husband gets home from work I give him a quick rundown of how the cats are doing. Seriously. Today it was that my older cat is being especially needy. Good golly.
-I gave my first injection (insulin, sub q) in clinical last week. I thought I'd be freaking out, but it was so not a big deal. The main issue for me is making sure I am safe, so I was more freaked out about drawing up the right number of units than I was about piercing someone's skin.
-I did an Accucheck without gloves...so this wins bonehead move of the week. Actually, my CI caught it before I came into contact with any blood, but WOW, what a dumb thing to do.
-I saw my first hospital penis. Again, not as weird as I thought it was going to be.
-I get excited about goofy tasks like drawing urine for a U/A...if I get to dc a Foley or NG I am going to be stoked. I'd love to insert either, but those opportunities are few and far between...I guess a girl can dream though.
-I passed all my skills checkoffs on the first try, and that class is OVER so all I have to do for it is take a final this Wednesday. We are all freaked out about it...it's worth like 40% of our grade and it's tricky and full of tiny details...grr.....
-I went to my first CNSA meeting last night and one of my classmates nominated me for something (Class Representative, I think...I have no idea what it entails, but if no one else is nominated I guess it's my slot by default...hmmm...do I really have time for this?)
-My CI wrote on one of my clinical preps that I am an "amazing student". Direct quote! This was, of course, prior to the glove-less Accucheck incident.
-I'm still exhausted, but not quite as shell-shocked. Looking forward to having some more time to study now that Skills Lab is over.
-The rest of the semester mainly involves finals and two big group presentations. Oh, and the ATI. So, I guess I'm still super busy but maybe I'm getting used to it? Just in time for summer break!
Voila...you are pretty much caught up!
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