Category: Uncategorized (Page 163 of 212)

According to webct, with my 95% paper grade (that I think was unfairly docked too many points), my course grade is 92.26. In Regis grades that’s an A-, and is only worth 3.67 for GPA. So I lost my 4.0. On my last class. By 0.24 percentage points.

I am PISSED.

Two gifts from two beloved members of my household after a hard week. Of course, Ben received greater thanks for his gift 🙂

Yeah, it’s been a long hard week. I had a lot of projects due and a whopping final that I never felt fully prepared for. I had a couple meltdowns. Ben lovingly helped me deal with the stress. I wasn’t what you would call “nose to the grindstone” all weekend, but I studied a lot hard than I usually do and felt incredibly guilty every moment that I wasn’t studying. I hate that part of school life – you’re never done. I got through my final with the same grade as always, 89%. I studied differently for every test and never improved my grade. I still don’t know if I’ll pull an A with other contributing class points or if I’ll lose my 4.0. It’s bugging me not to know.

So Tuesday was my last “class.” The last test, the last paper, the last written assignment. Next in Senior Practicum we have mandated online discussions, but none of that other stuff. If only I felt more free, but there are still plenty of things to worry me.

Wednesday, my “day off” I put in four hours (mandated) service doing production line work. Horrible stuff. Gave me back spasms and sore fingers. Then I got to wait in a few small offices arranging paperwork and getting an ID badge for my practicum placement. Fun stuff. This is the same day Ben got hit on his passenger side door, you might have seen it on Shot-a-day. It looks like everything will work out fine with fixing it, but still, not a good thing. I decided the best thing for me to do was grab a cheap bite out, then watch America’s Next Top Model and spin yarn. Blissful mindlessness.

Today was more of the same at MedSurg II clinical. One patient with frostbite and ETOH withdrawal, the other with perforated diverticulitis. I spent the day hanging antibiotics and trying to control their pain. Not too exciting. I tried to put an IV in the first guy but his veins were so scarred from overuse that even the nurse had to try twice after I gave up. Hopefully our last day tomorrow will be both exciting and easy. The mantra that we all have adopted is “I’m done with this.” Once you have your next placement it’s a drag continuing at your current one.

Speaking of my next placement, it’ll be all nights. I start Monday. Class only on Monday, 8-noon at Regis, then go sleep, and start at 7:30 pm going until 4 am. Continue 7:30- 4 am T-F. Wow. The rest of the month will be sporadic blocks of 12 hour nights, 3:30 pm – 4 am. Weird. I’m curious how hard it will be to change my sleep-wake cycle. I hope I get to see Ben once in a while for the next month. I’ll let you know how it goes.

And the event is . . . I put in an IV today!! DA DA DA DUMMMMMM!

This week’s clinical was way way better than last week’s. The main difference was my attitude. I adopted a lassaiz-faire approach to student nursing, since this hospital put so many restrictions on us. Oh, I see that I haven’t talked about this clinical yet. I’m on a general med/surg floor in a busy hospital. Their student policy is that we can’t do anything without our clinical instructor with us. We can’t even pass meds if the patient’s primary nurse is with us, if the instructor isn’t there. Everything is controlled by fingerprint and card access. They won’t give us cards or even a login password to check the computer for orders or lab results. So basically our hands are tied. I also felt that last week our instructor was babying us and not letting us do things ourselves, she kept stepping on our toes. We gave her a lot of feedback on that and this week she has given us a lot more control. It’s still hard to get your patient cares done when you’re on someone else’s schedule – hence my new attitude. If I had an 8 AM med and it’s 9:30 and she’s still busy with another student? Oh well. Not my problem, as long as I let her know I was waiting. If she wants to chat with her fellow nurses when I’m waiting at the desk for her omnicell access? Chat with them instead of sending darts with my eyeballs (oh, but you guys know me, I would NEVER do that 😉

I had two patients Th and F, one stayed the same and one discharged in the morning today. All my patients were Spanish speaking only. I used interpretors, fellow students who spoke spanish, the telephone interpretor, and a lot of charades and sound effects. I learned that they appreciate it when you use their phrases even though you can’t say anything else. I quickly incorporated senora, gracias, lo ciento, delora (for pain), mucho, grande, and counted uno dos tres before giving a shot. I did the admission interview for a patient and had to use the telephone interpretting service. It definitely affects your ability to connect with the patient and it takes twice as long as usual, but we got through it.

I haven’t done too many procedures yet. Lots of IV meds and boy, am I missing the syringe pumps at other hospitals. I had to sit and slowly push a medication over ten minutes! I do check a lot of urine and vomit, take a lot of vitals, do the assessments, and give heparin and insulin shots. I tried to start an IV yesterday but I was afraid to dig around too much, so I let the nurse finish the stick (which worked first attempt). Today though I did all the prep, got the flash, tested patency, and taped it down. The whole shebang. There are so many steps involved. I wish I had more chances to practice so I could remember all the little steps. I should mime it out in my free time.

Umm. I feel like I should summarize other things going on or write a nice conclusion. But I’m hungry and tired of typing, so laters!

I studied a lot for more this test and the material was more familiar to me, but I got the same grade, a high B. It’s bumming me out pretty bad. I really don’t want to lose my 4.0 during my last class. We also had a four hour class on job interviews in the afternoon. Hmm. Seemed like we could have covered it all in 45 minutes. Also, the morning’s guest lecturer on burns only gave us one break and went into our lunch hour 10 minutes. Come on. That’s just rude. She and my regular teachers and the job interview speakers kept saying things like “I know you guys have had a hard day, but let’s go over . . . ” Your apologies are FUTILE if you take up my lunch! Or only give us one break per 4 hour block! And make me come in 30 minutes earlier in the morning to test but don’t let us out early!

Ahem. Sorry. Mondays are rough. Only three more I guess.

Saturday I had fun teaching dance to the Achievement Girls (aged 8-11) at church. I taught them to cha cha, some charleston, then a short jazz routine. It reminded me that I really love to teach dance and choreograph. Maybe someday I can return to them.

Right now Ben is playing a GTA extension with headphones on. Jem is moping at me from across the couch because we are so boooorinnnnng. I have a stack of books to read about skin diseases and shock, which we’ll be lectured on tomorrow. The air smells like bacon because I made crunchy salty BLT’s (minus the T, plus cheese) for dinner. This is how we roll.

Behold: The Pocket Dump
(and not even any alcohol wipes today)

(psst- I do! But I can link two simple loops together too.)

Somebody stop me!

They fixed our water with a temporary patch, and will look into a
permanent fix later. Hallelujah.

I had a great birthday weekend. Ben invited Mavi and Katie to come up from Grand Junction as a surprise. There was much eating and dancing and revelry all weekend. I might put up pictures later, but I haven’t pulled myself together that much yet.

Monday was kind of brutal. I was able to work in study time during the weekend, but still got 88% on my first Adult II exam. I don’t feel like studying more would have gotten me a better grade. Just tricky questions on nursing care, rather than straight-up pathophys. I hope to do better on the next test on Monday, which will cover Cardiac, Neuro, and Endocrine systems (eek!). After the test Monday morning I still had lecture, then a presentation in my other class, followed by a panal of new grads from Regis who did their best to stress us out. Ending the day worried about taking the NCLEX and getting a job is not a good way to go. And then I came home to find the water had been shut off because of a break. Yup, just like it did a year ago.

I came home from classes today to find running water. I might venture to take a shower later, if I think it’ll be staying on. We haven’t received any official word but there are a lot of trucks in the parking lot moving dirt around. Whatever that means. I’m just glad I was able to flush the toilets again.

I can’t wait for Miranda to get back in town, I’m terrible about working out without her! For example, I could be at the gym right now, running and lifting and listening to music. Instead I’m dawdling on the net, with equal parts thinking about homework, napping, and doing dishes. I need someone to kick my butt into gear!

BTW, I seem to be slacking on this blog a bit, now that I post daily pictures on shotaday. I hope not to get too behind, but in the mean time be sure to check us out on that other blog!