2nd semester was a bitch. Like a total and complete bitch. I have never in my life been so busy and gotten so completely sick of school! Buuuuuut, the good news is....it's OVER! And, all my obsessive hard work paid off!!! Ended up with a 98% in Mental Health, a 96% in Advanced Med Surge, a ridiculous 100% in Nursing Research (thank gawd for extra credit and a humongo-curve on one of the midterms) and an A in Gero...(don't know the percentage, which is driving the OCD side of my brain crazy!). You can be rest assured I've already emailed the instructor to ask :-)
Like a moron, I went into this semester thinking I was going to be LESS busy than the previous one. HA! It was insane. Not only did we have two clinical days a week, but we had this ridiculous one-to-one mental health assignment that took about 6-8 hours every Friday. Add to that all the classes, clinical prep, huge-ass projects and exams and it was one busy busy semester.
This past two weeks have been back-to-back marathon study sessions for our 6 finals...four exams and two ATIs. When I hit the "submit" button on my Med Surg ATI my heart was about to pound right through my skin...I have never been so tense in an exam! Luckily I passed on the first try because I seriously don't think I could re-study for that test...by far, the hardest test I've ever taken. It's really sad when a score in the 70's puts you in the 98th percentile...now that's a hard test!
Ok, off to go do something decadent and lazy. Like watch a movie!!!!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Mental Health...a little less crazy.
Ok, I promised to pop in with an update. I got a 94% on the exam, but I'm pretty sure she's going to toss out at least one really bad question. VERY happy about this! I have a shot at getting an A, and not the dreaded A-.
Yippeee!
Yippeee!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
No, I'm not dead...
I have just been absolutely freakin' buried. I did the math the other day and realized this semester is about 98 hours a week of work. I am one tired kitty.
So far things are going well...I'm doing great in all my classes (knock on wood), except that I am on the cusp in Mental Health. The school has a new lecturer who is HORRIBLE, so I can't say my enthusiasm for the class has been high. Oh well...I am basically approaching it as a self-taught course at this point, so we'll see how I do on the exam this Friday. How many college professors do you know that not only read the PPT slides word-for-word, but call on students to do the reading for them? And no, I am not making this up.
Anyway, after the exam in MH this Friday then I am looking at a more mellow schedule for the rest of the semester. Not really "mellow", but all of my big projects will be finished and all I'll have to look forward to are exams and two ATIs. Med/Surg clinical ended yesterday with a couple of highlights...I got to see two codes (one successful, one not) and do my first Foley. I realized immediately doing a Foley in the ER isn't quite the same as doing one in the lab with your drill-sergeant professor critiquing your every move. It was actually not stressful at all! Yay!
I also got to go to the MICU and the NSICU this semester, plus spent three weeks on the cardiology floor. I can definitely say I like taking care of ONE patient a whole heck of a lot more than I like taking care of multiple pts...but boy was I nervous when my ICU nurse when on her lunch break, leaving me with a vented and coughing patient. STRESS!
For this next clinical rotation, I go back to Mental Health, and for this segment we focus on community health. I'm pretty sure Ih have to go to a 12-step meeting of some kind and give a presentation about a health topic. That's about it. Mental Health rotation is SO MUCH easier than Med/Surg (but also not nearly as fun!)
I am also now the proud owner of a superbly craptastic 22-page gerontology paper that is the most repetitive pile of poo I have ever written. The grading rubric is such that the repetitive nature of the paper was completely unavoidable so it's not my fault! The really sad thing is, I can sum up the whole idea of the huge pile-of-doo-paper in a few words...oh, I did...it's the title!! Anyway, I am extremely bitter about this project...not only because it is so lame, but because it took about 30-40 hours...and get this...it's a 2-unit class! (Insert scream of despair and frustration here). I swear this class is making me not even like old people. Ok, not true, but I am extremely bitter!
OK, that's enough kvetching...sorry again for the humongous delay...I guess that's what 2nd semester does to you!
I'll try to remember to pop my head back in here to let you know how the Mental Health exam goes!
So far things are going well...I'm doing great in all my classes (knock on wood), except that I am on the cusp in Mental Health. The school has a new lecturer who is HORRIBLE, so I can't say my enthusiasm for the class has been high. Oh well...I am basically approaching it as a self-taught course at this point, so we'll see how I do on the exam this Friday. How many college professors do you know that not only read the PPT slides word-for-word, but call on students to do the reading for them? And no, I am not making this up.
Anyway, after the exam in MH this Friday then I am looking at a more mellow schedule for the rest of the semester. Not really "mellow", but all of my big projects will be finished and all I'll have to look forward to are exams and two ATIs. Med/Surg clinical ended yesterday with a couple of highlights...I got to see two codes (one successful, one not) and do my first Foley. I realized immediately doing a Foley in the ER isn't quite the same as doing one in the lab with your drill-sergeant professor critiquing your every move. It was actually not stressful at all! Yay!
I also got to go to the MICU and the NSICU this semester, plus spent three weeks on the cardiology floor. I can definitely say I like taking care of ONE patient a whole heck of a lot more than I like taking care of multiple pts...but boy was I nervous when my ICU nurse when on her lunch break, leaving me with a vented and coughing patient. STRESS!
For this next clinical rotation, I go back to Mental Health, and for this segment we focus on community health. I'm pretty sure Ih have to go to a 12-step meeting of some kind and give a presentation about a health topic. That's about it. Mental Health rotation is SO MUCH easier than Med/Surg (but also not nearly as fun!)
I am also now the proud owner of a superbly craptastic 22-page gerontology paper that is the most repetitive pile of poo I have ever written. The grading rubric is such that the repetitive nature of the paper was completely unavoidable so it's not my fault! The really sad thing is, I can sum up the whole idea of the huge pile-of-doo-paper in a few words...oh, I did...it's the title!! Anyway, I am extremely bitter about this project...not only because it is so lame, but because it took about 30-40 hours...and get this...it's a 2-unit class! (Insert scream of despair and frustration here). I swear this class is making me not even like old people. Ok, not true, but I am extremely bitter!
OK, that's enough kvetching...sorry again for the humongous delay...I guess that's what 2nd semester does to you!
I'll try to remember to pop my head back in here to let you know how the Mental Health exam goes!
Friday, September 18, 2009
My butt has been kicked and handed to me in so many new and innovative ways...
I have come to the realization that nursing school administrators believe students operate in a dimension where time stands still. The amount of work that I have had to do in the past few weeks (and namely this week and the weeks to come) is mind boggling. After spending two weeks on "frontloading" which is a nice way of saying "cramming as much information down your throat as we possibly can, clinical started this week. Some folks are starting in Mental Health where they get to go sit and chat with a mentally ill person for 2 days a week (did I mention the no-prep-work part of the mental health rotation? I am soooo looking forward to that!), and other folks (like yours truly) started in Med/Surg. Among that group some lucky ducks got to start in the ICU where they got to take care of one really sick patient and do all that super cool, super OCD ICU nursey type stuff, and others (like yours truly) got to start on the Med-Surge floor. Insert heavy sigh here.
Our professors were nice and apparently realized we hadn't taken care of two patients except for one weekend last semester, so they let us ease into it by taking care of one pt on Tuesday and then picking up another one to take care of on Wednesday, so that we'd end up with 2 on Wednesday. Can I just say that the evil part of this plan was the TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW of doing my clinical prep. OMG.
For starters, I'm at a new hospital this semester and know next to nothing about the electronic charting system. So, it took me almost 4 HOURS to get all the pt info I needed to even start my prep. Don't ask my how it took that long, but I think I just spent a lot of time searching for stuff on the EMR, getting all paranoid that I was going to miss something! Oh, did I mention my first patient had 39 meds??
Clinical the first day wasn't bad, except I'm pretty sure I was charting my assessments in the wrong place all day (oops), but the RN I worked with figured it out and all is good. I did better by the end of the day, thanks to the aforementioned awesome RN I was working with.....but still...a more thorough and detailed training on how to use the EMR is definitely in order.
So, after taking care of one pretty demanding pt all day, I had to pick a second pt, then go home and write that patient up. I do not do well on 4-5 hours of sleep...I just DON'T. By the time end of day Wednesday rolled around, I felt like I'd been abducted and probed by aliens for the past three days. I logged 42 hours of work for ONE class in those three days. ONE CLASS! I have three other classes, and one more starting this week. WTF and I going to do???? Clone myself????
Anyway, that's enough bitching and moaning...now on to the good stuff....clinical was awesome! I definitely got into more of a rhythm on the second day, and was able to "almost" keep up on all of my work. I got to do my first suppository (ok, maybe "got to" isn't the proper way of putting it), hung two piggybacks (my CI had to help a lot for the first, and only a little for the second, so I'm hoping to get checked off on that completely next week). I learned I am a really slow bed-bath giver and how to say 'thank you' in Russian. I learned that some patients SLEEP WITH THEIR FREAKING EYES OPEN, and that some people just want to be heard. All in all, a good week.
Our professors were nice and apparently realized we hadn't taken care of two patients except for one weekend last semester, so they let us ease into it by taking care of one pt on Tuesday and then picking up another one to take care of on Wednesday, so that we'd end up with 2 on Wednesday. Can I just say that the evil part of this plan was the TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW of doing my clinical prep. OMG.
For starters, I'm at a new hospital this semester and know next to nothing about the electronic charting system. So, it took me almost 4 HOURS to get all the pt info I needed to even start my prep. Don't ask my how it took that long, but I think I just spent a lot of time searching for stuff on the EMR, getting all paranoid that I was going to miss something! Oh, did I mention my first patient had 39 meds??
Clinical the first day wasn't bad, except I'm pretty sure I was charting my assessments in the wrong place all day (oops), but the RN I worked with figured it out and all is good. I did better by the end of the day, thanks to the aforementioned awesome RN I was working with.....but still...a more thorough and detailed training on how to use the EMR is definitely in order.
So, after taking care of one pretty demanding pt all day, I had to pick a second pt, then go home and write that patient up. I do not do well on 4-5 hours of sleep...I just DON'T. By the time end of day Wednesday rolled around, I felt like I'd been abducted and probed by aliens for the past three days. I logged 42 hours of work for ONE class in those three days. ONE CLASS! I have three other classes, and one more starting this week. WTF and I going to do???? Clone myself????
Anyway, that's enough bitching and moaning...now on to the good stuff....clinical was awesome! I definitely got into more of a rhythm on the second day, and was able to "almost" keep up on all of my work. I got to do my first suppository (ok, maybe "got to" isn't the proper way of putting it), hung two piggybacks (my CI had to help a lot for the first, and only a little for the second, so I'm hoping to get checked off on that completely next week). I learned I am a really slow bed-bath giver and how to say 'thank you' in Russian. I learned that some patients SLEEP WITH THEIR FREAKING EYES OPEN, and that some people just want to be heard. All in all, a good week.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Math Test? Nailed it!
Ok, so maybe I should study with wine more often. Got 100% on the math test!!!! Yippee skippy!
After the test we had 4 lectures back-to-back...talk about a looong day. We had two lectures on respiratory disorders, one on mechanical ventilation and one on the communication needs of the ICU patient. Lots of info really really fast. So tonight I am typing up my respiratory notes...we'll see how much of that I can get through. Tomorrow is ABG lecture along with central lines and drains...and that's the end of the "frontloading" lectures for M/S. Whew!
Next hurdle: soft check-off on 7 skills this Thursday, then mental health exam in three weeks.
More wine anyone?
After the test we had 4 lectures back-to-back...talk about a looong day. We had two lectures on respiratory disorders, one on mechanical ventilation and one on the communication needs of the ICU patient. Lots of info really really fast. So tonight I am typing up my respiratory notes...we'll see how much of that I can get through. Tomorrow is ABG lecture along with central lines and drains...and that's the end of the "frontloading" lectures for M/S. Whew!
Next hurdle: soft check-off on 7 skills this Thursday, then mental health exam in three weeks.
More wine anyone?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Drinking wine and studying....what a difference a semester makes!
How do you know you're no longer a first-semester nursing student? When you start drinking wine while studying! Ok....this probably won't happen every night, but we had a pretty light first-day of classes and now I'm just reviewing for my dosage calc test (tomorrow A.M.) and maybe doing a couple of other small-ish homework-type things later. Nothing too major and my hubby just brought me a glass of Crane Lake Chardonnay (yummy and cheap and Trader Joe's!), so I can't just let it sit here on my desk looking all golden and delicious...this wine must be drunk!
So, we're back in it. For the most part, people seemed pretty bummed about it overall. I guess now we know what we're in for, and it's hard to get all pumped like we did last semester. In general, I think I'm ready to be back...it's just a matter of getting back in the swing of things...back into my groove. Someone today told me I was a "legend" of our class, which makes me feel like a) these people need better role models, and b) I have to live up to my own high expectations. I guess I have a reputation for being super organized and on top of things...not sure that's entirely true, but I guess that's the image that I project. It's interesting to hear how other people see you, because I have a different impression entirely...the words stressed, exhausted, worried and unsure all come to mind. Anyway...we shall see how things shake out!
As for the first day of 2nd Semester...we had Advanced Med Surg orientation and a lecture on blood administration. Next we had Mental Health orientation and lecture and ended up getting out at around 3:30-ish. For some reason, this first-day feels a whole heck of a lot different from our first day last semester...not sure if it's because we know what to expect or if it really is less overwhelming. Check back in with me at the end of the week though...things may get dicey. Tomorrow is our dosage calculations exam (90% to pass, which isn't too horrible...keep your fingers crossed for me), and then we've got respiratory disorders lecture for 6 HOURS!!! Wednesday is another 6-hour lecture day and then Thursday is skills lab...so that will be a nice break. Friday is another mental health lecture and then orientation. Clinical doesn't start until week 3 and I believe I start out in the cardiology unit...should be fun!
Now you are officially caught up!
So, we're back in it. For the most part, people seemed pretty bummed about it overall. I guess now we know what we're in for, and it's hard to get all pumped like we did last semester. In general, I think I'm ready to be back...it's just a matter of getting back in the swing of things...back into my groove. Someone today told me I was a "legend" of our class, which makes me feel like a) these people need better role models, and b) I have to live up to my own high expectations. I guess I have a reputation for being super organized and on top of things...not sure that's entirely true, but I guess that's the image that I project. It's interesting to hear how other people see you, because I have a different impression entirely...the words stressed, exhausted, worried and unsure all come to mind. Anyway...we shall see how things shake out!
As for the first day of 2nd Semester...we had Advanced Med Surg orientation and a lecture on blood administration. Next we had Mental Health orientation and lecture and ended up getting out at around 3:30-ish. For some reason, this first-day feels a whole heck of a lot different from our first day last semester...not sure if it's because we know what to expect or if it really is less overwhelming. Check back in with me at the end of the week though...things may get dicey. Tomorrow is our dosage calculations exam (90% to pass, which isn't too horrible...keep your fingers crossed for me), and then we've got respiratory disorders lecture for 6 HOURS!!! Wednesday is another 6-hour lecture day and then Thursday is skills lab...so that will be a nice break. Friday is another mental health lecture and then orientation. Clinical doesn't start until week 3 and I believe I start out in the cardiology unit...should be fun!
Now you are officially caught up!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
I was tagged...I feel so special!!!
Wow, welcome to the Blogosphere!!! I have been tagged with "The Honest Scrap" award and I now must do the following:
1. “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!
2. First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.
3. Second, the recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.
4. Third, those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given this award.
5. Those 10 bloggers that receive this award should link back to the blog that awarded them “The Honest Scrap’ award. (i'm not sure I know how to do that, but I'll give it a whirl)
So....my ten things are:
1) I took pictures of myself in my underwear today (trying to log my weight loss progress without getting on the scale)
2) Sometimes I get french fries at McDo and then hide the wrappers so no one knows my dirty little secret
3) I am painfully shy and self conscious
4) I hate advertising and think it's the stupidest endeavor ever and can't believe I wasted so much of my life doing it
5) Every now and then I feel maternal...but then I make a full recovery
6) I have an unhealthy obsession with pens
7) I used to drink way too much but now I don't
8) I absolutely love how quiet my house is
9) I called a pet psychic after my cat died. Twice.
10) I realize #5 makes me sound bitchy...it's not the kids I don't like, it's the parenting, watching, babysitting, constantly-making-sure-they-don't-kill-themselves-ing, the cajoling, the negotiating, the disciplining, the repeating, the diaper changing, the potty training, the cleaning, the burping and the noise that do not appeal to me. This is why I am better suited for Aunt-hood.
Ok, so I guess I have to do some linking now...I guess I'll just tag the people whose blogs I read...
http://livingdeadnursepsychoward.blogspot.com/
http://nzstudentnurse.blogspot.com/
http://wardbunny.blogspot.com/
http://nursinganatomy.blogspot.com/
Ok, that's enough linking for someone who doesn't know how to do it very well or efficiently. In fact, I'm not really sure what I do now? Blog Newbie here! I do know that I really need to get on the big stick and blog more so I can win one of those cool blogger awards!!! Nothing like setting your sights high, I say!
1. “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!
2. First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.
3. Second, the recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.
4. Third, those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given this award.
5. Those 10 bloggers that receive this award should link back to the blog that awarded them “The Honest Scrap’ award. (i'm not sure I know how to do that, but I'll give it a whirl)
So....my ten things are:
1) I took pictures of myself in my underwear today (trying to log my weight loss progress without getting on the scale)
2) Sometimes I get french fries at McDo and then hide the wrappers so no one knows my dirty little secret
3) I am painfully shy and self conscious
4) I hate advertising and think it's the stupidest endeavor ever and can't believe I wasted so much of my life doing it
5) Every now and then I feel maternal...but then I make a full recovery
6) I have an unhealthy obsession with pens
7) I used to drink way too much but now I don't
8) I absolutely love how quiet my house is
9) I called a pet psychic after my cat died. Twice.
10) I realize #5 makes me sound bitchy...it's not the kids I don't like, it's the parenting, watching, babysitting, constantly-making-sure-they-don't-kill-themselves-ing, the cajoling, the negotiating, the disciplining, the repeating, the diaper changing, the potty training, the cleaning, the burping and the noise that do not appeal to me. This is why I am better suited for Aunt-hood.
Ok, so I guess I have to do some linking now...I guess I'll just tag the people whose blogs I read...
http://livingdeadnursepsychoward.blogspot.com/
http://nzstudentnurse.blogspot.com/
http://wardbunny.blogspot.com/
http://nursinganatomy.blogspot.com/
Ok, that's enough linking for someone who doesn't know how to do it very well or efficiently. In fact, I'm not really sure what I do now? Blog Newbie here! I do know that I really need to get on the big stick and blog more so I can win one of those cool blogger awards!!! Nothing like setting your sights high, I say!
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