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!!