Monday, November 10, 2008

time perception

T. Bennette, SN
Wow! Time flies by with no consideration! When did October go and why is December so close? Family class has been an adventure with insecure teachers, crazy classmates, sick kids, grumpy parents, screaming women laboring, etc.
Wound care is.... .... ....
This quarter is almost over and the next almost come. Soon to be able to say only 5 quarters left in school! yah! So, exciting! :-)

Sunday, September 28, 2008

8am

S. Berning, SN
And that's pretty much all I have to say about 8am classes.

Vacation is almost almost officially over-in about an hour it will really truly be the start of the fall term of my junior year in nursing school. Although at the moment I'm admittedly being more than slightly neurotic about life in general I generally see starting school again to be a positive step...except for the whole 8am thing which sucks. fact.

Back to it...

T. Bennette, SN
After a VERY short summer vacation (only 4 weeks) we are in anticipation of classes once again beginning tomorrow. All I can say is vacation was WAY too short and classes start WAY too soon!
Junior year here we come!!!! :-)
I am sure we will be FINE...

Freaked Out
Insecure
Neurotic
Emotional

Monday, August 18, 2008

I See A Light---I Think!

T. Bennette, SN

One and a half weeks until freedom, oh beautiful freedom. Oh how nice it will be to wake when I want and sleep when I want! I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, grant it there is also a train heading my way, but hey... Finals (the train) are next week and I am no where near feeling ready for them, but they will come and go as everything else and I am mostly resigned to my fate---especially since four weeks of vacation follow!
Today we got to use our amazing dressing care skills today. My car's automatic window would not roll up and it was raining...so we searched high and low for anything we could use to cover it, to protect my poor car from the wet. We were able to find as our supplies: tin foil, plastic grocery bags, and duct tape. There was only enough tin foil for half the window, so we used that and two grocery bags taping them all together. I was doing to the window care while Sarah (my assistant) provided the strips of tape. As we started she looks at me and asks "so how do you want to do this...like dressing changes?" How weird is that? I was putting a wound dressing on my car! poor thing!
oh, by the way--if you didn't already know--life is awesome! I can hardly wait for vacation and all the fun I plan to have to make up for missing this summer. Travels, friends, hiking, biking, etc here i come! :-)

Drama and Estrogen

Sarah Berning. SN

It's Confession Time. Being in an estrogen dominated environment was the one aspect of nursing school that really scared me before I started. I don't know why it concerned me so much because I've grown up always surrounded by other girls...but on the other hand-maybe that's why I was so scared! I guess I've just always had the feeling that a class full of girls would have waaaay more than it's fair share of drama-and guess what? I was right. It's not all bad and certainly lends itself to some very amusing moments-but sometimes I would give a lot to be an engineering major and bypass all this estrogen! Especially when we're all packed into a tiny classroom...and especially when we're in a tiny classroom right before finals week...and especially when we're packed into one tiny classroom right before finals week and our hormones are all peaking at once!! In fact, it got to the point last week that there was so much drama in class I started really look forward to our end of the week clinicals. For some reason my exam exhausted mind thought clinicals sounded like safe place to retreat and escape from all the gossip. Ha. When I showed up to the hospital on clinical morning I realized (all over again) that the hospital is literally the grand central station of gossip and drama!!

And another comment-why have I never been coached on the correct way to approach doctors? Why do people assume all student nurses are humble, polite and sweet girls with zero attitude? Why has no one ever considered that some of us might have really smart mouths and really bad observational skills? Why has no one considered any scenarios where a doctor comes up to the little student nurse and is totally rude and the student nurse doesn't notice that the doctor is a doctor until its just a leetle too late and she's already totally told him off?!...not that this suggestion has anything to do with personal experience or anything like that...

On a positive note, I officially have my next two years of school completely scheduled out-which is a very secure place to be! It's weird to have my classes all the way through senior year already marked out...I'm not used to this level of organization and planning!! It makes graduation seem so very very far away and yet close at the same time.

On another positive note- I really really like all the aspects of nursing that have to do with patient care. I really like working with my patients and I really like all the medical aspects of caring for them so those are the two major parts of nursing that are absolutely great!

Almost Done!!

Sarah Berning, SN.

It's the week before finals
and all through the class
are red blood shot eyes
and wheezy death gasps.


....not really! :)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

"Normal"

S. Berning, SN


Ok, so the past few weeks have truly been nothing but "drama" and that's getting to be pretty normal. The drama of finishing classes (equals finals), starting classes (equals tests), doing wacky things like making cakes late at night(and i'm going to note right now that mine had waaaay more frosting than hers!) and studying at the river (which, btw was also my idea). I am beginning to feel like nursing school is starting to become the norm-just like being a student nurse hopping around the hospital is starting to feel pretty normal.
I was pretty surprised when I looked at the calender today and saw that we only have three more weeks until we're done with our first term of nursing! I do feel like I've come a long ways from the first couple weeks of school-thank goodness! Giving injections, catheters, assessments and iv's are no longer mysterious or frightening and (to be honest) I really kinda enjoy giving meds-which is totally surprising.
I am getting really tired tho. I haven't really gotten sick yet but I have experienced some really awesome weekend crashes where I literally sleep for almost the whole night and day. Today I only napped for a couple hours;) after we were done with our morning of testing and then I rushed around to do some house keeping. It's amazing how fast a little dorm room can deteriorate! Tomorrow is another clinical day and that's becoming super normal. I can honestly say that I no longer get nervous-I'm not exactly excited but I'm definitely not scared anymore!
So I guess the summary of this post is that I'm getting comfortable-at last!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Thru Sickness & Exhaustion We Shall Survive!

T. Bennette, SN

The past few weeks have been a royal roller coaster ride. Week before last we had the final in the core class (Fundamentals) for that section of the term. Studying for that final pushed us to the point of needing a cake cooking/decorating therapy session. We entered the kitchenette at 10:00ish (right when it officially closed) with a box of cake mix and two boxes of frosting and didn't get out of there until around 11:30. When we left we had two magnificently decorated chocolate cakes (one for each of us) and at least one belly ache--mine. Honestly, i think there was more frosting on those things than cake.... :-) We then spent the next few days eating only our cakes--lunch and dinner--as we studied. It was a great therapy session and served its purpose, but I now have NO desire to see a cake again for a long while ;-)
The midterm for Pharmacology was last Tuesday, so on Monday we were depressed that we had to study (I didn't have to just study, I had to do some serious cramming) on such a beautiful day--it really was beautiful. We decided to make a compromise and go to the river and study there while we watched everyone else having fun. It really was a great idea...I would never have guessed that watching other people have fun would make up for the fact that I was having to memorize stuff like what Thiazolidinediones is, its actions (yes, multiple actions), and a trade drug associated.
Our next core class (Assessments) began last week at the same time as when we had midterms in our other two classes. Great timing, huh? Oh, and then i decided that wasn't enough to fill my week, so I got sick for half the week! Now, I am doomed to make up the clinical hours that I missed in the evenings after being in class all day. Funness!
Well, that brings us up to date today...with few exceptions ;-)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

3rd Week Come and Gone, 4th Not Fast Enough!

T. Bennette, SN
I realize it has been a couple of weeks since our last post and a lot of nothingness and other stuff has happened. The days kind of just fly by without permission and expect us to keep up.
Last week's clinicals were an adventure. Thursday for me was serious drama that I dread reliving this week. Friday was a great improvement which mostly made me forget the Thursday experience---ok, not really---maybe it just made up a little for Thursday. The largest impact that Friday had on me was that a doctor tried to convince me to put a NG Tube (nasogastric tube) in someone! He totally freaked me out with that--I may be a nursing student, but I am SO not ready to be sticking tubes in people! I told him that it would be cruel and unusual punishment for the poor patient, so it probably wasn't a good idea. He then laughed (he must have thought I was kidding---I wasn't!) and walked away. Thank goodness!
Saturday was super nice and relaxing and lasted for what felt like 5 minutes! We went to the river and did absolutely nothing related to school and totally loved it! We were romano tomatoes when we finally decided it was time to head home. The stereotype for healthcare providers is that they are hypersensitive about health issues and always assume the worst case scenario, but we were definitely not showing signs of that--we have obviously resisted brainwashing thus far. Personally, I think that medical peoples assume the worst case scenario just to keep their jobs/lives interesting. How boring would it be to always have the same thing to treat---obstructed bowel, impacted bowel, stoma irrigations, pressure ulcer, etc...BORING!


S. Berning, SN
Clinicals...ahhhh yes...clinicals...how can I describe that divine state of being? Well, for starters I'd tell you to recall every awkward moment you've ever had...now multiply this by ten. Now take yourself back to every moment you've ever felt stupid...multiply by ten. Now remember every moment you've felt useless and multiply this by twenty. By this point you should be experiencing a small part of the emotions I felt on my first clinical morning! I don't want to give the impression that clinicals are a horrible, traumatic and permanently scarring experience. Scarring does eventually heal and therefore it would be more accurate to say that clinicals have the potential to be horrible, traumatic and just scarring!!!
Seriously, I can see how clinicals will be a fantastic place for me to learn what nursing actually is and what it's like to work as a floor nurse. Also, I get real live human clients (i.e human guinea pigs) to practice all my new skills on! -what could be better? Lots actually! Let's start on the importance of me being competent and knowledgeable and actually helpful! I am coming to believe that there are few things more humbling than being a student nurse. fact.
It's hard to believe I've been doing this for a month already...and even harder to believe I only have two years until I graduate! wow! yikes! scary! very very scary!!! :) I just really can't wait until I feel comfortable walking through those hospital doors...

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Eve of a Fateful Day

T. Bennette, SN
Tonight we sit in silent (ok, not really) expectation of tomorrows coming. Attempting to avoid recognition of its arrival we went touring/shopping/coffee shop hopping/people watching (hawthorn and belmont district--says it all!) this afternoon---SO worth it! ;-) yes, if you hadn't guessed...clinicals begin tomorrow and we are feeling completely freaked out and insecure. To some of you, it may seem like no big deal, but for the past two weeks we have been hearing horror stories of people dying and stuff because of medical staff making mistakes... this doesn't instill much confidence in our first day of working in the hospital! Personally, I am very seriously considering hiding in the bathroom the whole day (8 hrs)! --JK! :-)
Oh, on another line of thought...our instructors are test crazy...we seriously have at least one test everyday! For example, today we had two exams, one right after the other...I think they are trying to see how much they can ask of their students before we say enough (not that we ever would). My theory is that they are thinking, "these students are so stupid, we can require anything of them and take their whole life away and they will completely let us--and pay us tens of thousands of dollars at the same time!"

S. Berning, SN
Denial is an excellent state to be in and denial pretty much sums up where I am concerning the prospect of clinicals! ...I actually don't think it's going to be that bad...I mean, really! Zillions of people have survived and so I think that this will be a wonderful educational opportunity in which I will experience personal and professional growth and meet wonderful supportive people who will help me learn in positive ways blah blah blah blah......SO NOT TRUE! Actually, I'm really not sure what to expect and I don't know how I feel about the prospect of acting as a student nurse. I know that technically I've been a SN for a couple weeks now but I think tomorrow is going to be when it really hits home....aaaack!
Now, for the more serious part of this post...my scrubs are just not working for me at all!!!!..and this is probably causing more stress than the actual idea of clinicals!!! Unflattering scrubs are just not good for my confidence levels and I'm sorry if this isn't a logical, rational or mature approach to nursing but hey! some things really are important. So, in the hope that miracles do happen and my scrubs will somehow magically resize over night I'm ending my commentary!!!

Monday, June 23, 2008

First Day Trauma/Drama

S. Berning, SN
We always thought that the first day of nursing school would be something worth remembering and today we found out that it's sooooooooo NOT. Ok, it wasn't that bad. Really it wasn't...but IT WAS BORING. Very very boring. There was paperwork, and financial junk and paperwork and textbooks and uniforms and sitting around and waiting around and getting pictures and getting shots and waiting around...and then there was the first lecture which was....you guessed it! boring...and then there was the second lecture which was-boring!-and not only boring but long too! So, anyways now that the basics of our first day have been covered here's what was mildly interesting: our classmates. Our class is tiny and slightly (very slightly) diverse and the first day showed some very marked personalities. We have not yet referenced the Student Handbook on whether or not throwing textbooks at a fellow student's head is against the rules but woe to a certain someone if we discover that it's within guidelines!
So, right now on the first night of our first day of class what are we doing? Celebrating? Partying like only crazy OCD nursing students can? No. We are studying-studying!

T. Bennette, SN
Although Sarah has pretty much summed up our marvelous day in a descriptive dialogue. She did exclude some details--- Dorm life.
The concept behind dorm life is: partying, fun, independence, all out freedom to knock yourself out. But, as we experienced last night (our first night "moved out") it is REALLY boring! There is only one other person in our dorm giving it that creepy quiet long halled institutional atmosphere. No internet, no TV.....We are predicting dorm life now to be dull, but in the future CRAZY from 50 some odd girls moving into a rather confined space on the second story.
Oh, did we mention that living right next door to a hospital is an adventure? The noises that emit from some such building! Just an hour ago we were trying to figure out this deep low hum that seemed to be coming from that direction... probably Frankenstein awakening!
Well, still have one chapter left to study (yes, already behind on the first day!) before heading to bed... So, gotta go!