Midterms in February?

So this is midterms week! So exciting! NOT!!!!!! I hate comprehensive exams. They are waaaaay to broad. I have the most difficult time studying for them. There is just such a plethora of information that I don't know where to start and don't know how in depth to study it. Fortunately for our Midterm it's 75 questions and 50 of them will come from the two units we are just learning now: Hematology & Immunology/Malignancy.  The other 25 will come from the previous 4 units: Intra-Operative Care, Respiratory, Cardiac & Musculoskeletal. So I know what information to spend the majority of my study time on. As intense as this class is, it is a lot nicer having just a single lecture paired with a Clinical verses three classes and a clinical like I had last semester. So far I'm doing alright (fingers crossed).

• Clinical was quite interesting. On Tuesday I only had one patient and was prepared to receive a fresh surgical patient. Well unfortunately (or fortunately) I never got one. So I had plenty of time to do what I was doing, but got caught up and bored. The reason I didn't get a surgical was a) There was a lack of them and b) Two classmates were on the list first, one because her patient went up to CCU and she had none and another girls patient went home so she didn't have one either. Wednesday I had two patients. The same one from Tuesday and a second one. That went alright. It was an experience in juggling 2 patients and how I wish they would've given us some tips or tricks. Oh no, that'd be too easy so we were just thrown to the sharks. I think I did okay...
• Friday I took my midterm. We took it on the computer over blackboard (the most evilest, stupidest online tool ever) and we got instant feedback. I ended up with an 83%. Not that great but I PASSED! I have adopted the same mantra as many of the ladies in my class have: 80% is Passing. Who gives a shit about grades anymore as long as at the end of the day you have that 80.00% or higher. You did it. You deserve a pat on the back. Way to go!

I really am sucking with keeping up with my entries but I'm a 2nd semester Nursing student in Health Alterations...that's excuse enough!
 5 weeks and 1 semester down, 12 weeks and 2 semesters to go.

Better Late than Never?!?

So this is a late blog post, but to keep it in it's proper week, I changed the date. Yes, I'm cheating!!! This week brought about a lot of crazy stress, busywork and some cool and interesting things.

• The first few weeks of Lecture were nice cuz we didn't have any exams. Now I have one once a week. My second exam was on Friday and it was on the Cardiovascular System and Musculoskeletal Systems. I did surprisingly well with an 88%. So far so good, I have an 89% exam average!
• Clinicals! I had my first day of 2 patients. That did not go so well. Tuesday I just had my one patient and I was able to time manage quite well. On Wednesday I received a 2nd patient, a post-op patient. I was excited for the challenge because one patient just didn't seem to fill up my day and I feel like I'm intruding when I'm in the patients room all day. Well I was getting grilled by my instructor so I missed the bedside report of my new patient coming in. So I basically knew that a) she was female. b) she had a total shoulder arthroplasty and c) her name. So when I went to do my head to toe assessment on her I missed a lot of stuff that I had no idea was supposed to be charted. So I got a big fat 0 on my documentation evaluation. I WAS PISSED! Needless to say, I'm hoping that next week will go better cuz that just sucked!!
• I got to go into the OR with my patient to see him have an ERCP. An ERCP is done post surgically for patients who have had a cholecystectomy (gall bladder removed) to make sure that the bile ducts aren't clogged with bile sludge or gall stones. An endoscope is sent down the patients throat until it gets to the stomach, then to the duodenum. From there you can reach the bile ducts.  Since you are in surgery you have to be as sterile as possible. So I was asked if I wanted to put on scrubs or a marshmallow suit. I was like I guess the suit since it was right there. Uh bad idea! The nurse was like uh take that thing off were gonna get you some scrubs! I like the idea of the OR scrubs. They are provided for you because they are laundered at the hospital. You DO NOT have to purchase uniforms if you work in the OR. However, they are BORING! 
• Unfortunately my patients procedure was delayed due to the doc being tied up in some other surgery so I was allowed to step in and watch a THA (Total Hip Arthroplasty) or in layman's terms a Hip Replacement Surgery. I was a little apprehensive going in cuz the thought of bones being sawed gives me the heeviest of jeevies. Fortunately for me, that part was done already but I was kinda take aback by the fact that after the prosthesis was in place the doc was taking that leg and moving it in all sorts of positions legs aren't supposed to go in. It looked like a contortionist. This is done to make sure that the joint moves properly before they close (stitch them back up). I was happy that I didn't get nauseous or light headed cuz even though it takes a lot to gross me out, there is always that chance you can get sick seeing a surgery for the first time. 
• When that surgery was done I met back up with the nurse that had kinda taken me under his wing and I got a little tour of the Surgical Floor. When it was time for my patient to FINALLY have his ERCP, I got to put on some "lead". Lead is a huge apron thing that is filled with lead to protect you from the X-Rays that are taken during the procedure. My lead was Tye-dyed. Before the surgery began, I got to see my first intubation (where the anesthesiologist places a tube down the patients throat into the trachea and it is used to breathe for the patient while they are on anesthesia)! After he was intubated, his Oxygen Saturation (amount of oxygen that your red blood cells has in them) dropped to 60%. The anesthetist started freaking out but was able to quickly stable the patient and got his stats back up above 90%. Then the procedure began and the doc basically looked like he was playing a video game. I only got to watch about 15 minutes of my guys procedure cuz I had to return to post conference but it is cool seeing all that anatomy on the TV. 

Lots of cool stuff but I'm just way too stressed out lately.

4 weeks and 1 semester completed. 13 weeks and 2 semesters to go!

Distractions

Some weeks when I blog, I'm really on top of it. The week is over, have to blog my week before I forget it! Other weeks it's Thursday and I'm like "I have to blog!" but the week isn't over, then the weekend comes.  Then I usually forget and it's Tuesday and I still need to write up the last weeks entry in which I start to forget little things I'd had wanted to add into it for future reference. Then there are the weekends where I have a butt ton of homework and I want to blog cuz I know I need to. I also know that I don't have time cuz those are usually work weekends. So it's either I blog and waste precious study time, which is a valuable commodity on work weekends, or I ignore it and remember sometime the next week. Then there are days like today where I have lots of time and I remembered I have to blog so I do it before I start homework this way it's done. It's one less distraction on the back of my mind. This blog is one of my many distractions. However it is a welcome distraction, when done at the right time.
Another distraction that I hate is the "I have to clean" distraction. Dusting, vacuuming, organizing, laundry, dishes - it all NEEDS to be done, especially when I HAVE to get my homework done. I can get a little OCD with that kinda stuff. I have learned to ignore it most of the time because I know that homework is more important because it has a due date. The cleaning can wait because it will still be there the next day. The cleaning thing happened a lot when I lived in Steubenville. But if you had a pig for a roommate who "just had to mess things up cuz I can't stand things clean" you'd be pissed when things were filthy all the time from her too. However, she is a different story and I'm glad I never have to see her again *end rant*.
My next biggest distraction is the TV/Internet. The TV isn't so bad anymore, I had cut out shows last semester and with the cancellation of Private Practice, I'm down to watching 3 on a regular basis. I can afford 3 hours of TV a week. I need to in order to not go crazy. Of those 3, only 1 will be on for the rest of the semester, the other two will have their season finales soon. The internet is always a big time waster too. So before I start my homework, I go on facebook and read my notifications, then I make sure I didn't get any emails from school and that there's nothing on blackboard or on my prof's website. Once I know everyone's business on my craputer, I can shut the lid and concentrate on schoolwork with it pushed across my room where I can't reach it from my bed. Unless I need it for something, then it's a little more tempting. I am getting better though.
But! BUT! My hands down biggest distraction is sleep!!!! I don't get enough and I want more. I had just read on my favorite fb group (which I've had since I got my facebook back in 2006) 40 Things College Admissions Forgot to Tell You About that there are three things everyone wants to have in college: Good Grades, A Social Life or Sleep. However, you can only have just one. It's so true!! I have no social life (I'm a Nursing Major!) I barely sleep, so the good grades I guess is my choice. And I did get good grades last semester. Sleep does rear it's welcoming (not ugly) head all the time, so I take advantage of it where I can. Like this morning was the first morning I slept past 0730 in over a week. I did wake up at 1030 but I was refreshed and felt like I got adequate sleep last night for the first time in a long time. Now that I'm almost done blogging I can pound away the homework. Which I need to cuz I have plans to go out for my cousin Kassandra's 21st Birthday next weekend. I also work next weekend so if I can get ahead on my homework, I may have time to get some sleep. I hope so.
So without further ado, I give you a quick recap of my week and then I'm hitting the books!

• Monday I took my first exam in Health Alterations. This was the one where I was super slacker on studying. I was impressed on how much I did know. I thought this would be like my Fundys midterm or worse but surprisingly I actually learned more than I thought. I only had to leave 6 questions blank of the 50 to go back to and answer. Our grades were posted in the afternoon and I was prepared to get a not so good grade. I earned it and deserved it for not studying. I almost fell over when I saw that I had received a 90%! I guess I did know more than I thought. I do also know that I won't be so lucky next time and that I really need to vamp up the studying. I still can't believe I got 45 of those questions right. This just affirms that this HAS to be my correct vocation.
• CLINICAL'S HAVE STARTED!!!!!!!!!  They are scary cuz there's so much to do, but oh the skills I get to do!!! I got to take out an IV on Tuesday for the first time and did great! On Wednesday I got to take out a Foley Catheter for the first time and give two insulin injections with the pen. I kicked butt on those so I know I have conquered the skill I flubbed last semester. Go me!
• Clinical is very intense. This week we had partners but next week I'm on my own which I'm okay with. Then we get 2 patients sometime soon! There is tons of charting and unlike Riverviews charting you don't get choices or check boxes but just open text. This means I have to know what I'm doing and have to really use my head. We also get grilled about our meds and medical diagnosis, so I have to really get my butt prepared cuz I thought I was prepared but I was so far from being prepared. I will do better this coming week!
• Thursday I worked (whoopee) and Friday was class. On Friday we had Birthday Club and it was for me and Aunty Karen. It was a fun time. I love our Birthday eat outs! Then we went out to a bar and it was nice just to hangout and not worry about school for a night.

With that I now have 3 Weeks and 1 Semester completed; 14 Weeks and 2 Semesters to go!

You Threw Off My Groove!

Another successful week of Nursing School is in the grade books. So far I have found a great difference from week 2 of 1st Semester to this 2nd week of 2nd Semester. That great difference is that last semester I was a fresh student, not having taken a class in 2 years. I was rested and eager for knowledge, I had a motivation I've never had in college before. I did well. This time around, I'm tired, I have no motivation and I'm down right lazy. As exciting as 2nd Semester is, my butt has got to be whipped into shape, but it's still not wanting to get moving. The week in review:

•  I have to make a correction from last weeks post. I had said I was taking Clinical Care Across the Lifespan right now. That is indeed a false statement. I will be in that class in the 2nd 8 weeks of the semester. I am actually currently in Introduction to Clinical Care Management. I regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. 
• Monday was a class day and we finished discussing Post-Operative Care and started learning about Alterations in the Respiratory System. Call me a nerd, but it was very interesting, especially since I have Asthma. It was great learning more about the disease process and what to do if there is an attack, how to avoid them and what triggers them.
• After class, I went to the 2nd Semester Tips for Success Seminar (kinda like the one last semester). I mainly went for the pizza and extra credit but walked away with a few tips that I'm going to have to implement. One of them being that when you get your exam, before you read the question, cover up the answers. Answer the question without choices, then uncover the answers to see if your answer is there. This way you aren't being persuaded by the other answers. It's a good idea. We also got to watch the clip from Happy Gilmore of Happy practicing at the mini golf course. Great clip!
• Tuesday was day 1 of clinical which they had titled "Boot Camp". I was a bit nervous cuz Boot Camp is supposed to be hellish. It was quite the opposite, very informative and actually not as bad as I had anticipated. We also got flash cards for the pharmacology exam. They will come in handy!
• Wednesday was my first day at the clinical site which for me is St. Micheal's Hospital.  We did orientation and took a tour. Did a scavenger hunt and practiced charting. The charting system is identical to Riverview's except that instead of choices, you have a lot of free text. This means I really have to think. Oh great, just what I need to do...
• Thursday was nice because I had no school and no work. So I spent a good 4 hours studying for my Monday exam. I feel like I barely got anywhere with my studying. I did however, study at the CCD building and really liked it. It was quiet, I had a copy machine, it was warm, I didn't have to buy food to sit there & study and there were no kids screaming and running around like at the library! All in all a win-win and I think I'll be studying there more often!
• Friday was a class day and we finished up the Respiratory System. I 'studied' some, but got lazy again.
• Saturday and Sunday I worked. Short-staffed. Again. Fortunately it was a very quiet weekend which was strange cuz Saturday was a full moon. Usually something crazy happens like a fall or illness or death when I'm on my short-staffed weekend. It was a nice surprise. I did like not working for 2 weeks better though...
• Because I worked, I got panicky about not having any time to study/do homework and started regretting my laziness and tried to motivate myself to study. For whatever reason I could not concentrate! I FINALLY got into a groove and kicked butt at studying on Sunday. I guess I'm like the Emperor and had my groove thrown off, I think it's back now! Thank God! 

Well, kids! There you have it! Week 2 in all it's glory. My first exam is in the morning and it's snowing. A snow day tomorrow would be nice, I could use another study day! Yea right!

2 weeks and 1 semester down, 15 weeks and 2 semesters to go!

Back in the Game: 2nd Semester

I could have blogged last week, but there wasn't much to say about going to an hours long open lab followed by a trip to my favorite place at Mid-State: The Bookstore!!! (note the sarcasm dripping from that ;). So I chose to just include it in my first official blog posting as a Second Semester Nursing Student!!! (applause and cheers all around!)  So without further ado (is that even spelled right?) my first week back in the game!!

• Or I'll back up a bit. I have just come off of my winter break, which was more like winter work camp.  I counted (excluding Christmas Eve & New Years Day) and I had a total of 6 days off. Yup. That's it. I was told that I'd only get maybe 2-3 days a week at work but it ended up being more like 5 or 6. As much as it sucked and I bitched and moaned about it, I suppose the semester's tuition worth of money I made kinda made up for it. Currently I'm in the middle of a 2 week break from work! Hallelujah!
• Nothing exciting happened over break. I was sleep deprived thanks to work, so that was nothing new. I became a "jack-of-all trades" or so to speak at work due to being short staffed and working multiple shifts at the same time. Which sucked. It was cold, which sucked. I would become paranoid at random times thinking that I forgot to do homework or study, which sucked. I totally slacked on my exercise plan meaning I didn't at all, which sucked. So all in all break sucked.
• Okay, I'll admit there were some positives to break. No school!!!! No homework!!! No studying!!! I received socks for Christmas (yay! Cuz I was in need of them). I had a few shopping sprees (wahoo for clearance racks!). I received my textbook for Christmas! I got new penlights for Christmas! I completed my One Tree Hill DVD collection!!! I cleaned about 1/3 of my room, which is more than I thought I would. And I got to hang out with my cousin Megan and watch One Tree Hill before she moved away to France (which I'd love to go to during Spring Break. Come on flights! Go down!)
• So then it was last week and my semester unofficially began. I went in for an hours worth of open lab to practice for skills fair.  To my surprise there were only 5 skills to learn and they were all fairly easy. The best part: No Trach Cares!!! It was cool getting to see people from last semester and find out that everyone from my lab (minus the girl that dropped out) made it to 2nd Semester! Go us!
• Then my trip to the Bookstore. I wanted to just get the syllabi for my first 8 weeks but then I started being harassed by the bookstore lady. First cuz I was wearing my backpack. Uh excuse me but it doesn't say anywhere that they are forbidden. Then because I was picking out my own books and not letting her do it for me. I think I know how to shop and I just have a HUGE pet peeve about being harassed at a store. I like to browse. If I can't find something I'm looking for I'll come to you. They just drive me crazy. I can get pretty snarky with them too when they don't get the hint that I'm not here to socialize, just get my shit and get out, *end rant*. So I ended up getting all 4 of my syllabi just so I could avoid another trip there until next semester.
• Monday began my first day of classes. I have Health Alterations and Clinical Care across the lifespan for my first 8 weeks of the semester. 2 classes. Yes. It's awesome. But then again, I have to learn an entire class in 8 weeks. No. Not awesome! The second 8 weeks I have Health Promotions and another Clinical class that I don't want to do at all. OB and Peds. Sick, I have no interest in working with kids, babies or vaginas. Nein Danke!
• So I had Health Alterations. It's 2 days a week for 3 hours each class. It's crazy long, and packed full of stuff we have to learn. The plus side is that the profs voice is one that I can listen to for hours on end. She doesn't make me want to poke my tempanic membranes out with icepicks. We learned about pre, intra and post operative nursing this week. It's very interesting. There's so much to learn though so I need to be studying my brains out for this!!
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my Clinical days. This week we did not have clinical due to skills fair, so I had 2 days off this week, yay! Next week it starts with Boot Camp. I guess it's gonna be Hell!
• That leaves me with Thursday! Skills Fair Day! It started at 0945. We had to complete 5 skills. Each was worth 10 points. 10 and 9 points are passing. 8 or less points is failing and you need to go to remediation. So to start I was told to go to room A160: Blood Glucose Testing! On an infant. So I pretty much did the skill flawlessly, except that without thinking I threw the lancet in the trash not sharps. So I lost a point. Dumbass me. Oh well, I still passed it then moved on to the next skill: Catheters! I did fine except my wrist touched the edge of the tray. So I said that I touched the tray with my wrist and then got docked a point. So I got a 9 on that one. Then I administered a med through an NG tube. I had my old clinical prof Lori for that one. I forgot to do an assessment on the stomach until she prompted me but I ended up with a 10 and a comment of "Good Job. Well Prepared." Apparently she gave everyone 10's. I then administered an IV Piggyback med. I was most nervous for that one but I got a 10!!! Finally I waited and waited and did injections.  I got a 9 because I was too high when I pointed out my landmark for the dorsal gluteal injection. Apparently most people did that too. Apparently we all were taught wrong? So I ended up with 47 out of a possible 50 points or a 94%. Works for me cuz I survived and passed Skills Fair!
• Finally we had to take a Math Test to finish out the Skills Fair day. It was at 1400. We needed to pass with a low score of 90% just like last semester. I made 2 really dumb errors, however I still got a 90% and passed. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!! I have made it through 2 of the 4 math tests of the Nursing Program. Half way there!

I'm still not in my disciplined lets study all the time routine yet but I'll be this week cuz I already have my first exam a week from Monday. I hope that I can actually make it through this semester cuz it's gonna be a tough one.

1 week and 1 semester down, 16 weeks and 2 semesters to go!!