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 16, 2008
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!!!
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!!!
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