Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exams. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The End of an Era
Today, I wrote my final exam. The one that everything else has led up to - my dreams of nursing, the time I wasted believing I could never get into nursing school, the hours and hours and years and tears I've spent upgrading my prerequisites, researching, cramming, and composing term papers in the library. It could all mean nothing if I couldn't deliver the goods on today, of all days.
Many of my readers are American and may not understand the differences between the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam (CRNE) and NCLEX. Ours is a pencil-and-paper exam that focuses a lot more on the "art" of nursing versus specific pathophysiologies and interventions. It is notoriously psychosocial and tricky. Canadian-trained nurses tend to do very well on the exam, with overall pass rates of about 85-95% depending on the year. Foreign-trained nurses have a much lower pass rate and I can understand why. We've spent 4 years getting used to the nursing language used on the exam. If someone has poor English reading comprehension, or they aren't expecting the terminology or technicality, I think it could be very difficult to succeed. And, unlike the NCLEX, those writing the CRNE have only 3 attempts before they must either retake nursing courses or do something else entirely. To make it even more stressful, results arrive by mail after 4-6 weeks. That's a loooooooong wait.
I officially completed all of my degree requirements as of April 30. I finished my final preceptorship in inpatient cancer care. Oncology was a special place to work but I don't think I have the inclination to devote myself to it full-time. Floor nursing is hard, no doubt about it, and exhausting, with insane hours of 5 12's in a row. Then there was the emotionally draining aspect. I gave everything I had to my patients. I would build up a relationship with them and their families, and then they would die. This happened a LOT. There were no happy endings in inpatient care. I didn't see any miracles. I know I did right by my patients and their families, and I gave them the best care I knew how, but all I would do is come home and cry. Everyone tried to help me "reframe" how I felt, but it wasn't that. I know there is a certain honor to being present in someone's final hours. I felt that honor myself. But it doesn't change the fact that you grieve their deaths. In a lot of ways, health care is about the cure, the rehabilitation, the moving forward, and I really needed to see that at least once in my experience, but I didn't. I know some nurses embrace the palliative part of the lifespan. Maybe I will, one day, but not now.
As far as employment, I was hired about 2 months before graduation. I now have a permanent position in the Emergency Department where I worked as a student (undergraduate nursing employee) and could not be happier! I have a GREAT team with an awesome culture and support from a nurse educator who actually knows her stuff and still picks up shifts as a flight nurse.
Back to the CRNE. I've been dreading today for weeks. I simultaneously couldn't wait to get this exam behind me, and couldn't bear the thought of EVERYTHING riding on it.
Although I registered for the exam back when I applied for my temporary practice permit in February, it wasn't really "real" until a couple of days ago when a couple of my nursing pals and I went to the convention center where we would be tested. It is a formidable place with cinder block walls and an eerie/horrible hum from the fluorescent lights. Then my heart shriveled up and ran away.
I studied for the exam, but not intensively - more of an overall refresher for myself about the "usual suspects" in chronic diseases (COPD, DM, CHF, cancer), as well as things outside of my usual practice such as obstetrics and mental health. I found it helpful to just read over powerpoints from my nursing classes. Luckily I still have all of them on my computer :) I did the CNA readiness tests and scored 81-87%. In fact I never scored below a 76%, even on the Mosby practice exams which are much more specific. I sat down the other day and was determined to learn how to interpret ABGs. And I did, even passing a pop quiz from the respiratory therapist working with me the other night! Good thing, too, because I needed that skill :)
Yesterday I just did tons of practice tests and made myself nauseated with anxiety. I finally made myself get down to the barn for a nice, technical dressage lesson and I felt a million times better. Riding has been an important distraction for me for the last couple of years. It's hard to worry about school when you're concentrating on your heels, legs, seat, hands, and everything in between, as well as trying to get that nice round frame on the bit from your otherwise-stroppy schoolhorse, know what I mean? ;)
After I got home, I puttered around and got ready for this morning. I was in bed by 2130 and had some broken sleep until 0530 this morning when I just couldn't sleep anymore. I picked up one of my nursing buddies and we headed down to the convention centre. We arrived for 0700, half an hour early. There was assigned seating, so we were in no panic about that. I'd gotten a heads up about the testing center being a little cold, so I was wearing not one but two wool sweaters, the outer one being an approximation of a wooly mammoth, and I'm glad I did because I was really cozy throughout the test.
It was a very long and grueling (length-wise) test. There are 200 multiple-choice questions and 4 hours to complete them in. Time management is notoriously an issue for test-takers. Many people do not finish within the allotted time.
I found the test to be more than fair, and certainly less difficult than some of the practice tests I did. In the first 50 questions, I was laughing to myself, thinking "this is it? What was I so worried about?" There were definitely a couple of really tricky questions with 4 right answers but only one right priority. On the whole, though, I think my experience in Emergency prepared me for this test extraordinarily well and I flew through it, finishing in just under 3 hours including review.
Not everyone felt this way, of course. Many of my classmates (including my carpooling friend) were in until the time was up, even guessing on the last 5-10 questions. A lot of people thought the test was very hard.
Only time will tell how I really did, and I look forward to being a Registered Nurse by my birthday in mid-July!
Many of my readers are American and may not understand the differences between the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam (CRNE) and NCLEX. Ours is a pencil-and-paper exam that focuses a lot more on the "art" of nursing versus specific pathophysiologies and interventions. It is notoriously psychosocial and tricky. Canadian-trained nurses tend to do very well on the exam, with overall pass rates of about 85-95% depending on the year. Foreign-trained nurses have a much lower pass rate and I can understand why. We've spent 4 years getting used to the nursing language used on the exam. If someone has poor English reading comprehension, or they aren't expecting the terminology or technicality, I think it could be very difficult to succeed. And, unlike the NCLEX, those writing the CRNE have only 3 attempts before they must either retake nursing courses or do something else entirely. To make it even more stressful, results arrive by mail after 4-6 weeks. That's a loooooooong wait.
I officially completed all of my degree requirements as of April 30. I finished my final preceptorship in inpatient cancer care. Oncology was a special place to work but I don't think I have the inclination to devote myself to it full-time. Floor nursing is hard, no doubt about it, and exhausting, with insane hours of 5 12's in a row. Then there was the emotionally draining aspect. I gave everything I had to my patients. I would build up a relationship with them and their families, and then they would die. This happened a LOT. There were no happy endings in inpatient care. I didn't see any miracles. I know I did right by my patients and their families, and I gave them the best care I knew how, but all I would do is come home and cry. Everyone tried to help me "reframe" how I felt, but it wasn't that. I know there is a certain honor to being present in someone's final hours. I felt that honor myself. But it doesn't change the fact that you grieve their deaths. In a lot of ways, health care is about the cure, the rehabilitation, the moving forward, and I really needed to see that at least once in my experience, but I didn't. I know some nurses embrace the palliative part of the lifespan. Maybe I will, one day, but not now.
As far as employment, I was hired about 2 months before graduation. I now have a permanent position in the Emergency Department where I worked as a student (undergraduate nursing employee) and could not be happier! I have a GREAT team with an awesome culture and support from a nurse educator who actually knows her stuff and still picks up shifts as a flight nurse.
Back to the CRNE. I've been dreading today for weeks. I simultaneously couldn't wait to get this exam behind me, and couldn't bear the thought of EVERYTHING riding on it.
Although I registered for the exam back when I applied for my temporary practice permit in February, it wasn't really "real" until a couple of days ago when a couple of my nursing pals and I went to the convention center where we would be tested. It is a formidable place with cinder block walls and an eerie/horrible hum from the fluorescent lights. Then my heart shriveled up and ran away.
I studied for the exam, but not intensively - more of an overall refresher for myself about the "usual suspects" in chronic diseases (COPD, DM, CHF, cancer), as well as things outside of my usual practice such as obstetrics and mental health. I found it helpful to just read over powerpoints from my nursing classes. Luckily I still have all of them on my computer :) I did the CNA readiness tests and scored 81-87%. In fact I never scored below a 76%, even on the Mosby practice exams which are much more specific. I sat down the other day and was determined to learn how to interpret ABGs. And I did, even passing a pop quiz from the respiratory therapist working with me the other night! Good thing, too, because I needed that skill :)
Yesterday I just did tons of practice tests and made myself nauseated with anxiety. I finally made myself get down to the barn for a nice, technical dressage lesson and I felt a million times better. Riding has been an important distraction for me for the last couple of years. It's hard to worry about school when you're concentrating on your heels, legs, seat, hands, and everything in between, as well as trying to get that nice round frame on the bit from your otherwise-stroppy schoolhorse, know what I mean? ;)
After I got home, I puttered around and got ready for this morning. I was in bed by 2130 and had some broken sleep until 0530 this morning when I just couldn't sleep anymore. I picked up one of my nursing buddies and we headed down to the convention centre. We arrived for 0700, half an hour early. There was assigned seating, so we were in no panic about that. I'd gotten a heads up about the testing center being a little cold, so I was wearing not one but two wool sweaters, the outer one being an approximation of a wooly mammoth, and I'm glad I did because I was really cozy throughout the test.
It was a very long and grueling (length-wise) test. There are 200 multiple-choice questions and 4 hours to complete them in. Time management is notoriously an issue for test-takers. Many people do not finish within the allotted time.
I found the test to be more than fair, and certainly less difficult than some of the practice tests I did. In the first 50 questions, I was laughing to myself, thinking "this is it? What was I so worried about?" There were definitely a couple of really tricky questions with 4 right answers but only one right priority. On the whole, though, I think my experience in Emergency prepared me for this test extraordinarily well and I flew through it, finishing in just under 3 hours including review.
Not everyone felt this way, of course. Many of my classmates (including my carpooling friend) were in until the time was up, even guessing on the last 5-10 questions. A lot of people thought the test was very hard.
Only time will tell how I really did, and I look forward to being a Registered Nurse by my birthday in mid-July!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Death, taxes, and finals week
3 things the average student can count on.
I am stressed, major stressed, about these finals because this is the first year there aren't any cut and dry answers. Science is cut and dry. Nursing answers are about priorities, and I am never sure if my priorities are the same as my instructor's.
![Rnotes: Nurse's Clinical Pocket Guide [RNOTES 2/E]](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0029PLVV6&tag=under07-20)
My first rotation for clinicals is L&D. Yup, I am going to catch a baby. Just kidding. I am actually planning to be that wallflower student who presses up against the door looking terrified. I actually think childbirth might be scarier than my OR follow-through. Some people know they were born for L&D (nyuk)... I can say, with certainty, that I was not. Pleased to meet you, moms of Alberta!
It's also frustrating because sitting a naughty horse is the first/only time my instructor had anything decent to say about my riding ability. Well, there's something to be said for being a country girl riding greenbroke horses out in open fields, I guess.
Still, dealing with another horseback-related back injury is sooooo not on my To Do List.
Here's hoping that next week they give me the most bored, I-only-canter-for-food geriatric equine they have next week.
If any of you nurse-types are also horse-types, I would LOVE some advice on Mr. Poppin-Fresh.
**This is a bounce, for the uninitiated - the horse does not stride between jumps, instead it lands and immediately jumps again:
I am stressed, major stressed, about these finals because this is the first year there aren't any cut and dry answers. Science is cut and dry. Nursing answers are about priorities, and I am never sure if my priorities are the same as my instructor's.
In that vein I borrowed a bunch of practical knowledge books from the library. You know the ones. Not blue-skying theorizing about pathophysiological processes, but real-world nursing interventions for real-world situations, like RNotes
and Medical-Surgical Nursing Made Incredibly Easy
. I am hoping these will help me... if not for the test than at least for clinicals which are starting in < one month!!
and Medical-Surgical Nursing Made Incredibly Easy. I am hoping these will help me... if not for the test than at least for clinicals which are starting in < one month!!My first rotation for clinicals is L&D. Yup, I am going to catch a baby. Just kidding. I am actually planning to be that wallflower student who presses up against the door looking terrified. I actually think childbirth might be scarier than my OR follow-through. Some people know they were born for L&D (nyuk)... I can say, with certainty, that I was not. Pleased to meet you, moms of Alberta!In other news, and because my brain needs a break from school, I was in my jumping lesson yesterday and rode a (low) crossrail and bounce jump** for the first time. The geriatric schoolmaster I am on, Breezy, is absolutely wonderful at flat work. He is light and responsive and forward, and I get a pretty good feel with him on aids, which is good for me because I am pretty new to formal lessons and proper aids. Anyway, I've been lol-riding him over jumps for about 5 or 6 weeks now and he's been very patient with me, until yesterday. When he decided he ABSOLUTELY LOVES JUMPING ZOMG.
Dear sweet Breezy, while I understand you loooooove jumping because it's fking cold outside and you are fresh as all-get-out, rearing and crowhopping and crazy random rollbacks while I'm trying to set up for the fence is REALLY FRUSTRATING. What's even more frustrating is how my instructor (who really doesn't think much of my riding ability) praised me endlessly for sitting that crazy rollback without getting turfed, and putting you in a tight circle and firm WHOA, without losing my head. It's frustrating because I am not that confident in my riding ability to start with and, while I am not afraid of falling off (lord knows it's happened plenty-o-times), the dirt is frozen and my back does NOT want to be laid up for a month again like last time.
It's also frustrating because sitting a naughty horse is the first/only time my instructor had anything decent to say about my riding ability. Well, there's something to be said for being a country girl riding greenbroke horses out in open fields, I guess.
Still, dealing with another horseback-related back injury is sooooo not on my To Do List.
Here's hoping that next week they give me the most bored, I-only-canter-for-food geriatric equine they have next week.
If any of you nurse-types are also horse-types, I would LOVE some advice on Mr. Poppin-Fresh.
**This is a bounce, for the uninitiated - the horse does not stride between jumps, instead it lands and immediately jumps again:
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Fingers Crossed
Last week was nuts and I got a lot of things done.
I applied for 2 student nurse conferences that my school was sponsoring a student for - one is at the end of the month in Saskatchewan and the other is next June in Texas. The application to the Human Caring conference was tough, I had to write a 5 page academic paper on 'caring' the day after I finished that monstrous paper for my N370 class. I was tired and braindead but hopefully it is a success. Luckily, a lot of the books I had already borrowed for my class paper were also useful for the submission.
I also applied for scholarships from Skyscape and from my school.
Come on, student money! *crosses fingers* I also mentioned on my conference application that I would be interested in sharing the experience "on my blog".... *gasp* I have considered outing myself slightly in the interest of growing my nursing career.
New week, new opportunities? :)
Midterms next week!
I applied for 2 student nurse conferences that my school was sponsoring a student for - one is at the end of the month in Saskatchewan and the other is next June in Texas. The application to the Human Caring conference was tough, I had to write a 5 page academic paper on 'caring' the day after I finished that monstrous paper for my N370 class. I was tired and braindead but hopefully it is a success. Luckily, a lot of the books I had already borrowed for my class paper were also useful for the submission.
I also applied for scholarships from Skyscape and from my school.
Come on, student money! *crosses fingers* I also mentioned on my conference application that I would be interested in sharing the experience "on my blog".... *gasp* I have considered outing myself slightly in the interest of growing my nursing career.
New week, new opportunities? :)
Midterms next week!
Monday, June 14, 2010
I'm pleased to report...
Do you know what this B means?? It's an entrance requirement to the Master's degree. "Must have B in Statistics". So I will NEVER have to take stats AGAIN!!! *promptly forgets about z-scores and regression lines*
I also got a fancy letter in the mail in calligraphy type from the Faculty of Nursing (very professional, thanks) congratulating me on First Class Standing for this past year. Not much to brag about considering all my peers' Facebook statii reading "So-and-so made Dean's List!"...
Oh well. It is a small victory, and mine own.
Now that Stats is over, I am taking a correspondence class (starting July 1, web-based) to cut down some of my lecture time next fall. However summer is officially a break for us and I technically don't HAVE to do any more school work. I just want to. That class appears to be all papers and I'm quite excited to just go at my own pace for a change, however fast or slow that may be. And follow my own schedule. Big party this weekend? Cool, I'll just schedule my final for another time.
Lord help me, I'm a little excited to be cooped up in a musty library surrounded by nursing research, with no deadlines to keep.
I have a big summer planned. It technically already started. I spent a gorgeous sun-soaked weekend with my boyfriend. We went on a beautiful long bike ride through the park trails and splashed in the fountain to cool off. We then headed out to my friend's lake house and had a great party and lots of time with beers in hand, just loving life.
I am leaving on a 3-week trip to Thailand on July 13. We are going to see and do all kinds of things. I just got my updated passport a few weeks ago. Then, when I come back from Thailand, I'm going to be all ready to move into my fabulous new condo. No, I didn't buy a house. I'm renting this one too. But it's at least a million times nicer and better than the one I've been living in since last September. This current one is mousey (REALLY mousey), moldy, gang-infested, and rife with electrical problems. Not to mention the sketchtastic neighborhood. I can hardly wait to move. In fact I just bought a ton of boxes from U-Haul to get started. So on that note... have a great week everybody!
[Photo Credit]
Friday, June 4, 2010
Stats is done!!!
Wow, I can't believe it. I was up until midnight studying last night. I was using some old practice exams and several of my friends called me up in disbelief because the questions were SO TRICKY!! I finally crashed and then woke up at 4 AM in a panic (after dreaming about variables, yippee) and studied some more. Eventually at 6:30 AM I passed out on my notes for an hour, worked through a few more notes, and then went to write the final.
I was SO STRESSED. I was pale and shaky (not helped by my lack of sleep, I'm sure), and just about in tears before I went in to write the exam. I mellowed out to Aqueous Transmission on repeat while en route to school.
Oddity of the week: While I was walking up to the door, I spotted a strange basket thing on the sidewalk. I got closer to it - it was a baby's carseat. With a baby in it.
I looked around and there was NO ONE in sight.
Just... a baby.
This was about 6 minutes until my test.
I zoomed into the school office and told the bewildered girl that she had to go and do something with the orphan on the sidewalk because OMG I had a final to write.
Last I saw of her, she went out to try and figure out where the baby came from.
The sidewalk was parallel to a small parking dropoff for a daycare so my assumption is someone loaded up the car and forgot the baby...... :S
ANYWAY, I went in to write the exam, and to my IMMENSE RELIEF it wasn't impossible. I mean, it sure as hell wasn't easy. It was still one of the hardest tests I've ever written.... but I was able to answer all of the questions (right or wrong, at least they had an answer!) and I finished in time with about 10 minutes to review my work.
Big shoutout to my amazing man who hooked me up with his copy of the textbook, study solutions guide (infinitely useful!!), and even a full-featured calculator that shaved precious minutes off of my calculations and showed the whole entry line so I could easily double check my inputs!! Better yet when he stayed up till midnight to help me study and offered to come over before work this morning too <3
Immediately after handing it in, I burst into song and we went out to relish the gorgeous afternoon with beers and pub food on a restaurant patio. Management was kind enough to give us a free round of "Crispy Crunch" shots. Tasty!
I was SO STRESSED. I was pale and shaky (not helped by my lack of sleep, I'm sure), and just about in tears before I went in to write the exam. I mellowed out to Aqueous Transmission on repeat while en route to school.
Oddity of the week: While I was walking up to the door, I spotted a strange basket thing on the sidewalk. I got closer to it - it was a baby's carseat. With a baby in it.
I looked around and there was NO ONE in sight.
Just... a baby.
This was about 6 minutes until my test.
I zoomed into the school office and told the bewildered girl that she had to go and do something with the orphan on the sidewalk because OMG I had a final to write.
Last I saw of her, she went out to try and figure out where the baby came from.
The sidewalk was parallel to a small parking dropoff for a daycare so my assumption is someone loaded up the car and forgot the baby...... :S
ANYWAY, I went in to write the exam, and to my IMMENSE RELIEF it wasn't impossible. I mean, it sure as hell wasn't easy. It was still one of the hardest tests I've ever written.... but I was able to answer all of the questions (right or wrong, at least they had an answer!) and I finished in time with about 10 minutes to review my work.
Big shoutout to my amazing man who hooked me up with his copy of the textbook, study solutions guide (infinitely useful!!), and even a full-featured calculator that shaved precious minutes off of my calculations and showed the whole entry line so I could easily double check my inputs!! Better yet when he stayed up till midnight to help me study and offered to come over before work this morning too <3
Immediately after handing it in, I burst into song and we went out to relish the gorgeous afternoon with beers and pub food on a restaurant patio. Management was kind enough to give us a free round of "Crispy Crunch" shots. Tasty!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Yay!
Pharmacology final grade: A
Do I feel the mark reflects my actual knowledge of pharmacology? NO!
Will the mark affect my eligibility for scholarships? Yes!
I'll take it.
Do I feel the mark reflects my actual knowledge of pharmacology? NO!
Will the mark affect my eligibility for scholarships? Yes!
I'll take it.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Pharm final imminent
In less than 24 hours, in fact. And yes, we are *still* covering new material....
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Hiatus: clarity ensues!
Well, sometimes.
I really do apologize for the dearth of posts in the last couple of months (wow, has it really been that long?). I was/am still dealing with some personal stuff that I'd rather not air on the interweb but school-wise everything is going very well! We finished off the second semester in mid-April and I did decently, still hopefully in the running for a second year scholarship although I lost my tenuous grip on Dean's list. But I'm okay with that - the semester was intense!
Oh wow, our last class in Physiology was very exciting! Note to future students - do not plan to have a 3 hour class on Friday from 2 to 5. It feels more like a 6 hour class. She was about 6 or 7 months pregnant and I'm sure she was as glad to be done as we were. She was a great prof, really knowledgable, but she had the most unfortunate monotone voice. I ended up being conditioned to fall asleep at the sound of her lecturing :)
The Micro test was the hardest of all the finals. I studied like I'd studied for her previous tests but unfortunately she amped the difficulty like 35% for the final. It was really hard and I came out of there feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. There were short answer questions on there that I didn't see coming and unfortunately a zillion questions on the actions of antimicrobial drugs. Luckily I "diagnosed" the short answer infection correctly as malaria and was able to answer all the related questions semi-correctly. Yup, it was a challenge. Of course, going through the class had me convinced that I either previously or currently was infected with any number of terrible organisms. Like diptheria or rubella! Scarlet fever anyone?
Psych, Communications, and Nursing 175 were just more of the same as last semester. Kind of fluffy, no real hard knowledge required. Nursing was mostly regurgitated factoids from Potter & Perry that anyone who had been awake during clinical should know - what is the proper positioning of the BP cuff? Where can you clamp the Sp02 monitor? Mrs. Brown looks like she's about to keel over, what do you do? And some of the more tricky memorized parts, such as bed positioning and the according names.
I actually enjoyed Communications more than I thought I would. I didn't really learn anything - does anyone actually have moments in those classes where they're like, ohhhh, now I understand human behaviour? The prof was a lot of fun and very spot-on in her statements. She also refused to play politically correct so we got to hear some really good stories about life as a nurse in a hospital and running a nursing home. The best part about that class was that I made some really good friends who have been pretty much awesome in helping me out with my personal life. Heart you guys! To celebrate the (almost) end of the first year, piles of nursing students went out drinking and dancing. We did a lot of fun things together in a week that will forever be known as Nursing Students Gone Wild, Parts 1, 2, and 3. I'd have to recommend that to every student as a way to end the school year! It felt so good, after a month of locked in the library studying for hours, to let go and just be 24 again. Or 19, in most cases :) One night I got a lot of free drinks for a variety of reasons - first, I got socked in the eye by a guy giving his friend a vigorous ILOVEYOUMAN hug, and all my friends ordered him to buy me a drink immediately, and thereafter mostly by guys trying to get with my beautiful, and single, friend Tina from our clinical group. Not that it worked but I appreciated the gesture! ;) We also tried out our nursing student pickup moves. These must be as old as time. We'd tell anyone who would listen that we were first year students and would subsequently impress them with our brachial-pulse-finding skills, and tell them they were experiencing tachycardia. Even if they weren't. More free drinks for Tina and I. There you go, you learned it from UgRN first :)
On May 5th we started our third and final semester of Year 1. It was a condensed Psych 105 class that was the follow up to Psych 104. 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, 3 weeks long. Actually, I just wrote the final exam a week ago.
Boy, do I have a story about this instructor. Maybe it's a requisite that psych instructors need to be batshit crazy - you tell me!
So on the first day I sat in the front because I was kind of late and the class was packed. So I sit within "saliva distance" of this very enunciative man and listened to him regale the class with tales of his residency in gynecology and how NOBODY should go into gynecology as it is clearly the worst field imaginable.
Nursing students present exchange uncomfortable glances.
So, okay. He's a physician who left medicine to pursue psychology. I could see it, and at any rate if he didn't like labia that was his own problem.
Then he proposed that we change the class time from 0900 to 0830 because, and I quote, "the lineup is shorter at Tim Hortons and I'll have a better chance at getting a parking spot." Uh, right. Well I have a problem with that because I work evenings from 2-10 and any half hour in the morning that I get, I'm going to cherish. Also hanging out downtown for yet another half hour before work isn't really appealing. Also I don't drive, I don't give a rip about your parking spot or your coffee, and this just might be the most self-centered thing I've ever heard a prof say.
"Does anyone strongly oppose this change?" (Note use of the words 'STRONGLY oppose'. Because minor opposition will just have to suck it up, princess!)
Nursing students present exchange uncomfortable glances.
Then, suddenly, a hand shoots in the air! A single, stalwart hand that, yes, strongly opposes self-serving suggestions by college professors whom we are paying to listen to!
I look up. OH MY GOD IT'S MY HAND! I turn bright pink but I keep my hand up. He looks at me with contempt and suddenly there's more hands out there. Yes, more evening shift workers who don't want to come in earlier and make their days even longer. Whew!
"Please step outside so we can discuss your excuses, uh, reasons."
We then form in a semicircle of determination while he goes through us, one by one, trying to discredit our reasons for not wanting to change the class time. Because the class time on the roster is the one we signed up for, we say, and because we work late to put ourselves through this class. Not that we should have had to defend ourselves at all. But I was still bright pink from being the Class Dissenter.
"Can't you change your shifts?"
Uh, WHAT? Change our shifts so you can get coffee? The shifts I planned around this class? Can I get a hell no?
Thus was the start to our semester.
More epic tales of Dr. Uncongeniality to follow :)
I really do apologize for the dearth of posts in the last couple of months (wow, has it really been that long?). I was/am still dealing with some personal stuff that I'd rather not air on the interweb but school-wise everything is going very well! We finished off the second semester in mid-April and I did decently, still hopefully in the running for a second year scholarship although I lost my tenuous grip on Dean's list. But I'm okay with that - the semester was intense!
Oh wow, our last class in Physiology was very exciting! Note to future students - do not plan to have a 3 hour class on Friday from 2 to 5. It feels more like a 6 hour class. She was about 6 or 7 months pregnant and I'm sure she was as glad to be done as we were. She was a great prof, really knowledgable, but she had the most unfortunate monotone voice. I ended up being conditioned to fall asleep at the sound of her lecturing :)
The Micro test was the hardest of all the finals. I studied like I'd studied for her previous tests but unfortunately she amped the difficulty like 35% for the final. It was really hard and I came out of there feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. There were short answer questions on there that I didn't see coming and unfortunately a zillion questions on the actions of antimicrobial drugs. Luckily I "diagnosed" the short answer infection correctly as malaria and was able to answer all the related questions semi-correctly. Yup, it was a challenge. Of course, going through the class had me convinced that I either previously or currently was infected with any number of terrible organisms. Like diptheria or rubella! Scarlet fever anyone?
Psych, Communications, and Nursing 175 were just more of the same as last semester. Kind of fluffy, no real hard knowledge required. Nursing was mostly regurgitated factoids from Potter & Perry that anyone who had been awake during clinical should know - what is the proper positioning of the BP cuff? Where can you clamp the Sp02 monitor? Mrs. Brown looks like she's about to keel over, what do you do? And some of the more tricky memorized parts, such as bed positioning and the according names.
I actually enjoyed Communications more than I thought I would. I didn't really learn anything - does anyone actually have moments in those classes where they're like, ohhhh, now I understand human behaviour? The prof was a lot of fun and very spot-on in her statements. She also refused to play politically correct so we got to hear some really good stories about life as a nurse in a hospital and running a nursing home. The best part about that class was that I made some really good friends who have been pretty much awesome in helping me out with my personal life. Heart you guys! To celebrate the (almost) end of the first year, piles of nursing students went out drinking and dancing. We did a lot of fun things together in a week that will forever be known as Nursing Students Gone Wild, Parts 1, 2, and 3. I'd have to recommend that to every student as a way to end the school year! It felt so good, after a month of locked in the library studying for hours, to let go and just be 24 again. Or 19, in most cases :) One night I got a lot of free drinks for a variety of reasons - first, I got socked in the eye by a guy giving his friend a vigorous ILOVEYOUMAN hug, and all my friends ordered him to buy me a drink immediately, and thereafter mostly by guys trying to get with my beautiful, and single, friend Tina from our clinical group. Not that it worked but I appreciated the gesture! ;) We also tried out our nursing student pickup moves. These must be as old as time. We'd tell anyone who would listen that we were first year students and would subsequently impress them with our brachial-pulse-finding skills, and tell them they were experiencing tachycardia. Even if they weren't. More free drinks for Tina and I. There you go, you learned it from UgRN first :)
On May 5th we started our third and final semester of Year 1. It was a condensed Psych 105 class that was the follow up to Psych 104. 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, 3 weeks long. Actually, I just wrote the final exam a week ago.
Boy, do I have a story about this instructor. Maybe it's a requisite that psych instructors need to be batshit crazy - you tell me!
So on the first day I sat in the front because I was kind of late and the class was packed. So I sit within "saliva distance" of this very enunciative man and listened to him regale the class with tales of his residency in gynecology and how NOBODY should go into gynecology as it is clearly the worst field imaginable.
Nursing students present exchange uncomfortable glances.
So, okay. He's a physician who left medicine to pursue psychology. I could see it, and at any rate if he didn't like labia that was his own problem.
Then he proposed that we change the class time from 0900 to 0830 because, and I quote, "the lineup is shorter at Tim Hortons and I'll have a better chance at getting a parking spot." Uh, right. Well I have a problem with that because I work evenings from 2-10 and any half hour in the morning that I get, I'm going to cherish. Also hanging out downtown for yet another half hour before work isn't really appealing. Also I don't drive, I don't give a rip about your parking spot or your coffee, and this just might be the most self-centered thing I've ever heard a prof say.
"Does anyone strongly oppose this change?" (Note use of the words 'STRONGLY oppose'. Because minor opposition will just have to suck it up, princess!)
Nursing students present exchange uncomfortable glances.
Then, suddenly, a hand shoots in the air! A single, stalwart hand that, yes, strongly opposes self-serving suggestions by college professors whom we are paying to listen to!
I look up. OH MY GOD IT'S MY HAND! I turn bright pink but I keep my hand up. He looks at me with contempt and suddenly there's more hands out there. Yes, more evening shift workers who don't want to come in earlier and make their days even longer. Whew!
"Please step outside so we can discuss your excuses, uh, reasons."
We then form in a semicircle of determination while he goes through us, one by one, trying to discredit our reasons for not wanting to change the class time. Because the class time on the roster is the one we signed up for, we say, and because we work late to put ourselves through this class. Not that we should have had to defend ourselves at all. But I was still bright pink from being the Class Dissenter.
"Can't you change your shifts?"
Uh, WHAT? Change our shifts so you can get coffee? The shifts I planned around this class? Can I get a hell no?
Thus was the start to our semester.
More epic tales of Dr. Uncongeniality to follow :)
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Midterms, round 4
Once I'm done this set, I should be done with midterms until September. Good riddance! I actually prefer finals to midterms because even though there's more ground to cover, they usually aren't as gruesomely detailed as midterms are. And you don't have to fit studying around class time. This weekend I've got the table pulled up to the couch again, basking in my Koi scrub pants because they are just so freekin' comfy, spread end to end with Micro and Physiology.
You may remember that I bombed my first clinical reflective journal. I basically rehashed my post about my first day which I thought was adequately reflective. WRONG! I got 2/5, which is 3% off my final grade. I was so pissed about the whole thing that I wasn't open to learning what I did wrong. Actually, it ended up being a really good experience for me to get a bad mark like that. I don't usually bomb on assignments that I even put a partial effort into. Sometimes getting a slap in the face from reality is a good thing!
So I took it seriously on the second journal. The topic was to reflect on our use of therapeutic touch to provide comfort. I think the big problem I had (as did many of my classmates) was looking past the word "journal". It was not a journal so much as a researched paper that wasn't in APA. I referenced Potter & Perry many times and material from my lecture. I actually ended up putting in a couple of hours into it. Happily, the teacher marked it yesterday and I got 5/5! More so, she said it was "the perfect journal" and she wants to use it as an example for future clinical groups. I'm so thrilled. Like I said, I'm actually glad I did so badly because I was able to really focus on how to do it right the next time.
In case you're wondering, here's an excerpt of how my school wants a clinical reflective journal to look (because I couldn't find an example online when I wanted one!) P.S. Please don't plagiarize. That's just not classy.
In Potter and Perry, it was mentioned that students can find touch stressful, but they learn to cope with intimate contact by changing their perceptions. As we were getting Mrs. E into bed, she was so tense that she was lifting her head and shoulders right off the bed. As I started the bed bath for her, it was initially very task-oriented for me: now I dip the washcloth in the basin, now I wring it out, is it too wet, oh, now is it too cold? Now I make the mitt – how does that go again? Now I touch the skin, not too firmly, not too gently. As I started getting the hang of it I realized I had run out of limbs to clean and it was time to do her abdomen. Mrs. E didn’t bat an eye when I undid her gown and she had her most private self exposed to me, but I saw a body that at one time had probably been reserved only for her parents or husband to see. And now, just about anyone wearing a uniform and an ID tag could see it.
I knew then that my perception had changed. She was much, much more than the unlucky recipient of my first bed bath. She was a person all her own and I had the privilege of helping her with her most intimate necessities. After that moment I began cleansing her abdomen knowing I was washing a unique human being. The task of washing became more of an act of caring. No longer did I concentrate so hard on the procedure. My focus was on helping Mrs. E take care of her needs. From there, I was more comfortable handling her body and the washcloth. As I relaxed, so did she! By the end of the bath she was lying flat out, completely relaxed. I could see that my touch had probably helped provide both relief from feeling unclean and, when I relaxed, my touch eased her into finding a position of comfort.
Clinical, as I've said, has been just awesome. I've pretty much had the same patient all along - that is, my friend Mrs. E with that whole catheter thing. I gotta say, she's really grown on me since that first day. I've helped her with her bed bath, cath/peri care, bed changes, transfers, ambulation, and pretty much all of the tasks that I can currently do.
My big breakthrough, though, has been with her roommate who is a large German lady with mild dementia who yells a lot and is often in wrist restraints, with high anxiety and restless legs. I wasn't technically assigned to her but I found myself really drawn to her. I went to check her brief and she locked eyes with me, pleading in perfect English - "Please take these things off me. I hate them!", gesturing to her tied wrists. Of course I couldn't, as she had a tendency of removing her IV and whatever else, but I felt really awful that she was so coherent and tied up like that. Then I peeked in her room around suppertime and I saw that her food tray was on her table, right over her lap, and her arms were still in restraints so all she could do was smell her food. That got me kind of mad, actually. How inappropriate is that?? If she can't eat yet, don't park her freakin dinner right under her nose.
Later the shift, we helped with getting the patients ready for bed. That's where the little story in my reflective paper came from. I also helped get the German lady ready for bed. The change in her was remarkable when we took the time to reposition her onto her side - her legs stopped swinging back and forth across the bed. She was so relaxed and comfortable that my clinical instructor ok'd taking off her restraints. I helped her with her mouth care and brushed her hair and she practically melted under my touch. By the time we left the room both of the ladies were totally unconscious and resting really comfortably. I felt sooooo good being able to do that for them.
Last Monday I was assigned to that room again and continued trying to figure out the German lady. We were on from 0700 to 1500 so I popped in right after report to say hi. She didn't remember me (it had been a week so that's cool). This time they were both in restraints. My friend Mrs. E had pulled out her foley catheter the night before. After hearing her moan every time anyone touched it for the last few shifts, I couldn't BELIEVE that she had done that to herself. I mean, the size of that balloon?? Yeeowch! When Mrs. E woke up and found herself in wrist restraints she really started hollering. Poor woman with dementia waking up from a dead sleep to find herself tied up. She was in quite a panic.
The nurse assigned to my room was nice enough but had a really thick accent and, I think, wasn't able to or didn't want to speak in a soothing manner to either woman. She was, IMO, really patronizing, calling them Grandma or Mama. She watched me take down the covers and said "Careful, she may punch you". All of this in front of a perfectly competent person! The nurse had to do some blood draws and told her those five awful words - 'This Won't Hurt A Bit' which it did and that really set her off! She started calling the nurse a liar: "Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie", and in general being very vocal and upset.
The physicians came in a little while later asking her for some information to which she remained silent. They looked at me questioningly, saying "Is she refusing to speak today?" I just shrugged at that. It was clear that this woman's biggest problem was people were treating her like a problem.
I was pulled from the room for a while but I returned after lunch. She was nodding off and I asked her if she was feeling good, if she had enjoyed lunch, if she was comfortable. She said something distantly and looked away. I suddenly put my hand on her arm and asked her if she would like me to take her tray away. For me to spontaneously touch people is a huge step! She locked eyes with me and said, "Yes, thank you..." and then I asked her if she'd like some more tea. "Yes, please... could I have a cookie too? That would help me feel so much more at home. You know, my husband lives just a few blocks from here. I so wish I could just get up out of this bed and walk home!"
My heart totally went out to her and I said of course you can have some more tea and a cookie. I'll be right back!
So I came back with the tea and 3 cookies and she was totally thrilled. She started talking and talking and it was clear to me that all she wanted was someone to talk to her like she was a person and not a noisy lump in bed 8-1! I crouched down by her bed as she kept talking and she paused, saying "Thank you - thank you for staying to hear my story - no one ever does."
Yep, my big breakthrough so far. The problem in 8-1 is, in fact, a really nice lady who is someone's wife and grandma, and who just wants to be treated like a human being with thoughts and feelings. I'm so sure that one day I'm going to read this post again, when I'm a burned out fulltime nurse somewhere, and I hope I remember what it felt like for me to make such a tiny, significant, difference in someone's life.
That's about my spiel for today. Pearl Harbor's on - is it bad for me to love to watch the Army nurses giddily traipse around Hawaii and then watch them handle the triage and trauma after the attack? I also love to see them in full nursing regalia - knee length skirts, heels, tights, and caps, of course.
I'm thinking about writing a letter to the dean of my program complaining about the biased language that the profs seem to be using in all the classes. Most of the profs are MN or PhD, and yet on the midterms or in examples, the nurses are always she and the physicians are he. Usually the patients are he's, too. I feel so bad for the male students - they must feel so excluded when they see that. The annoying part is that if we ever submitted a paper with biased language like that we'd be taken out for sure. They just don't seem to realize that biased language is perpetuated by everyone who uses it! So, we'll see how that goes.
I also took a picture with the nursing union president for my scholarship. There was soooo much authority in that room I just about crapped my pants. I hate taking pictures! But I'm $1k richer so I can't complain. That is going straight into my ING account and hopefully I can pay for next year out of pocket.
Unfortunately when I saw my pictures from the photo shoot I was like, holy shit, where did all that come from? I'm definitely packing some face fat which makes me look like a whole different person. Someone I'm not especially excited to be. So I joined Weight Watchers a few weeks ago along with the rest of my female family (they've been on it for a while and had really good success), and you can see my progress at the bottom of the page if you're interested. I like it so far. I'm not one to stick with regimented diets so the choices really appeal to me. I'm hoping to drop about 30 lbs and get back to my high school body - wish me luck :) Slow and steady is my plan. Cutting out all the extra noms that I love so much. As long as the scale is going down and not up, I'm happy.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Midst of Midterms
Oy, I am so over this semester. There, I said it. It's not that I dislike any of the courses, I'm just undergoing utter burnout from work/school stress. I just flat out don't care about my marks in Psychology. How bad is that? It's a totally easy course with a class average of 80%+ but I put zero effort into studying for the midterm and got 77%. I'm terribly ashamed but still can't summon the energy to care much one way or another. I've been engaging in a lot of self-talk lately trying to pump myself up for powering through finals. I have a Micro and Phys midterm on the week after next and I seriously need to study. I feel like I don't know anything! So that's my plan for this weekend: around the clock power hours.
I had such a great time at clinical this week! Because we had our hygiene lab the week before Reading Week, we were finally allowed to assist with patient hygiene. Well, everything except perineal care. It was our first full 8-hour shift and lucky for me my new shoes were finally delivered. They're some kind of New Balance walking shoe and because of my high arches I got some fancy inserts for them. I tell you, it was like magic. I was expecting all kinds of joint pain because I'm not really used to standing up for long periods, but I got home and my feet were a little swollen but not tired at all. And the next day I felt great! So far, so good.
I'm heading out of the house for some time well spent with my extended fam (we jokingly called it "Coffee Club" where we meet up at a Second Cup every Saturday and take over half of it for a few hours and catch up with everyone... and the name stuck) and later today I will be posting up the sordid details of my clinical experience as well as the, uh, metabolic-waste-ly fun of lab this week.
TTFN
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
It's that time again
Midterms! Yay...
I wrote a Microbiology midterm yesterday, which went over pretty much like I expected it to. I don't know what was wrong with me. Burnout, perhaps. I just could not Pick Up The Book! I kept looking at it on the table all weekend but I lacked the willpower to do any studying whatsoever. So of course on Monday after clinical I did a power study in the evening and then on Tuesday during my breaks. I had a pretty good grasp of the content because of the way she actually teaches her classes instead of skimming the powerpoint slides and letting us figure it out. So thanks, Micro Lady!
So I think I did decently. Potential was definitely not achieved. Meh!
I write a Physiology midterm on Friday, and I have the same prof as last semester so I know what I need to be studying, and I know that I need to study asap because her exams are notoriously complex. Now apparently the nursing program has requested that she put in some short answer questions to "make it more like the CRNE". Uh, ok...
Other than that, clinical was really pretty uneventful. We were assigned a different patient and were to go and get health histories on them. My patient was an 87 y/o gentleman, bed bound and on NG tube feedings but otherwise mentally spry. I took a deep breath and didn't let myself be nervous this time. I peeked in the door, introduced myself, asked him how he was doing, and started asking him a few health history questions. He didn't really want to talk - he just gave me one-word answers - and I didn't really want to interrogate him! There were some awkward pauses and he said "Why don't you just watch this movie with me?"... so I pulled up a chair and we watched a western comedy together.
Good times, my good man, good times indeed.
However I was quite jealous when I found out that some other students got to transfer patients and help with bed making. I probably shouldn't have hung out with my pt for quite so long. But he seemed to enjoy it, and I'm not going to lie, I kind of enjoyed it too.
Here's what we learned in lab last week:
Yes, I am now certified to make the Best Bed EVER! And with someone in it! I wouldn't have known that was possible. And wow, it's a LOT of work. I was all sweaty by the end of our practice session, and it probably took me like 25 minutes to do. I feel sorry for my first patient to be subjected to that! :)
We also had a 1-hour presentation from OT/PT about their roles in patient care. "Refreshments" were served of delightful juices thickened to nectar and honey consistencies. It was downright nasty, FYI. The honey one just stuck in my throat and made me gag. I feel really bad for people on swallowing precautions...
Anyway, time to get back to Physiology. Good luck to you peeps heading into midterms! I feel your pain!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
What a week!
Alright, so I'll pull out the wayback machine and start at last Friday, in the lab.
We had our infection control lab where we got to practice putting on isolation gowns, hairnets, booties, a variety of masks, and of course gloves in every shape and size. We also got to do that signature experiment where we slathered some UV-responsive cream on our hands, washed it off, and checked it under the black light. Surprisingly, the way I normally wash my hands is pretty effective, except for my cuticles, my wrists, and a circle the size of a loonie on the back of my left hand. Then my "nurse hand-hygiene routine" went very well. Those cuticles, I tell you! Germ trappers!
We had our infection control lab where we got to practice putting on isolation gowns, hairnets, booties, a variety of masks, and of course gloves in every shape and size. We also got to do that signature experiment where we slathered some UV-responsive cream on our hands, washed it off, and checked it under the black light. Surprisingly, the way I normally wash my hands is pretty effective, except for my cuticles, my wrists, and a circle the size of a loonie on the back of my left hand. Then my "nurse hand-hygiene routine" went very well. Those cuticles, I tell you! Germ trappers!
Sunday was fun. Mumsy and I got all excited over the scrubs we found a couple of weeks ago so we went to Mark's again. Now that I know that I'm magically two times smaller in a uniform than I am in any other style of clothing, the shopping wasn't so bad. We pulled some more solid colors (God, I HATE PRINTS as you may recall) and I came home with two more shiny outfits in forest green and light blue. They gave me this little Scrub Club (hehe) punch card and if I buy five I get a top or bottom free. So I need one more and then I'll have a free one. Sweet! It's like I'm in a coffee club for scrubs :)
My aunt was listening to me bemoan the fit of the uniforms that I had tried on that fateful day and she mentioned: "You know, UgRN, you do have to move in these clothes. Be careful with the sizing lest you stoop to do a transfer and your butt seam goes rrrrrrip. Happened to me before - no fun! And don't go commando!"
Pearls of wisdom.
So that brings us to Monday, the day of my second clinical! We met up on the unit at 1500 and we got to look through charts for the first time. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting by charts.... a chart, perhaps. Instead, I find huge heavy binders filled with pages of wonderfully illegible MedSchoolWriting™. Each person had an assigned patient for the day and we looked through their charts to find how the determinants of health may have impacted their lives. My patient (OMG that's fun to say) was an elderly guy who'd been on the unit for quite a while, awaiting a transfer to LTC. Unfortunately before I was really able to get into the health determinants, his real nurse whizzed into the room and stole his chart away. Bummer.
Anyway the big thing that was just so mind-bogglingly-terrifying, and that we all had sweaty palms over, was actually meeting the patients.
What if they want something?
What if they cry or yell at me?
What if they've got 3 heads like a chimaera and eat student nurses for snack?
We all stood around looking like a gaggle of wimps until my clinical instructor was like sooo.... either you meet them now and get it over with, or you sweat all through your dinner break. Oy, it's no fun when someone makes so much sense! So finally I took a deeeep breath, and crept into my patient's room:
HIMYNAMEISUGRNIWILLBEYOURSTUDENTNURSETODAY
Patient: (Looking up from his dinner) Uh, hello...?
Me: (Blushing like I might catch fire) Er, hi.
The conversation went fairly smoothly after that. Heart rate soon returned to normal. First patient contact? Success! So the clinical group went for supper break, hung out for a while, and then came back up the floor when we were fairly certain all of the patients would be done their meals.
I strode back on to the floor, grabbed my clipboard, and confidently headed into my victim's room, all ready to get The Best Health History Ever Gotten On A Human Being.
Except... he was asleep! Snoring away all curled up in fetal position. Temptation flared briefly to poke him until he awoke so that I could still get said TBHHEGOAHB. Haha kidding! Ooookay, so much for that.
Another girl ran into the same problem where her pt was also indulging in a post-meal pre-bedtime nap. So our CI took us around the unit trying to find some unclaimed pts who would (hopefully) appreciate a little noobie nurse company.
We happened upon a very teeny tiny LOL (that's short for little old lady, for those of you new to medbloggery) who was staring off into space and looked lonely. The CI, all pro, swooped in there and started talking to her and it was clear that this lady had dementia to some high degree. CI waved us in and introduced us: me and this other girl standing side by side.
Well that LOL looked from me to the other girl and back to me again, and said NOOOO GOOD, pointing at me and then pointing at her glasses. Apparently she didn't like my specs? She then looked back and forth between us again, looked back at me, and said EEEEYUCK and made the face to match!
Allow me to reiterate: the second patient I ever met said EEEEYUCK and made a face at me.
Uhhh...
CI waved me over and said "Oh, UgRN will come and look over a photo album with you, won't that be nice?" (This just after she made the face. I was mortified.)
No. Please, no. Please.
Yes indeedy. CI told me to sit on the side of her bed*.
*For the record, I'm not totally down with sitting on someone's bed unless I'm expressly invited to. Especially when they say EEEEYUCK when offered the opportunity to meet me.
So I sort of perched precariously on the side of her bed and the LOL lets out a YELP!
I jump up like a shot!
And yes, you heard it here first, the very first time I've ever gotten near a patient's bed with the intention of using therapeutic communication, I sat on her catheter tube.
On her catheter tube.
Fricken FANTASTIC! She's gonna love me now!
Thank God she didn't seem to blame me for her sudden acute cooter pain.
Anyway, her fam had brought in a photo album so I cracked that open and she was able to start pointing out people and stuff. She had trouble picking the right word for what she wanted to say, so it was obviously really frustrating for her to tell the stories she wanted to. She was also highly suggestible (I could have pointed to anyone and been like, oh, is that great-uncle Lenin? and she probably would have agreed) and I sure didn't want to screw with what remaining memories she did have so the conversation was stunted and forced at best. The conversation ran a bit like that one House episode where the dude kept saying words that were kind of like what he wanted to say but the whole conversation was totally random.
Anyway, that 45 minutes passed in a flash and the only regret I have (except for the EEEYUCK and catheter parts of course) is that because talking with her was kind of spontaneous, I never had a chance to find out her name or look at her chart. Next Monday that's the first thing I'm going to do!
Shortly after that we were dismissed for another week. I have 2 midterms next week, one in Micro and one in Physio, so that's what I've been up to this week.
And, in regards to my post below, I did indeed win the first place prize for an essay contest and will be awarded $1000! (Thanks for the encouragement Lou!) It's going straight into my beloved ING Direct tax-free savings account where I will cherish it, and all of its compounding tax contributions, forever... or at least until my student loans come due!
My aunt was listening to me bemoan the fit of the uniforms that I had tried on that fateful day and she mentioned: "You know, UgRN, you do have to move in these clothes. Be careful with the sizing lest you stoop to do a transfer and your butt seam goes rrrrrrip. Happened to me before - no fun! And don't go commando!"
Pearls of wisdom.
So that brings us to Monday, the day of my second clinical! We met up on the unit at 1500 and we got to look through charts for the first time. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting by charts.... a chart, perhaps. Instead, I find huge heavy binders filled with pages of wonderfully illegible MedSchoolWriting™. Each person had an assigned patient for the day and we looked through their charts to find how the determinants of health may have impacted their lives. My patient (OMG that's fun to say) was an elderly guy who'd been on the unit for quite a while, awaiting a transfer to LTC. Unfortunately before I was really able to get into the health determinants, his real nurse whizzed into the room and stole his chart away. Bummer.
Anyway the big thing that was just so mind-bogglingly-terrifying, and that we all had sweaty palms over, was actually meeting the patients.
What if they want something?
What if they cry or yell at me?
What if they've got 3 heads like a chimaera and eat student nurses for snack?
We all stood around looking like a gaggle of wimps until my clinical instructor was like sooo.... either you meet them now and get it over with, or you sweat all through your dinner break. Oy, it's no fun when someone makes so much sense! So finally I took a deeeep breath, and crept into my patient's room:
HIMYNAMEISUGRNIWILLBEYOURSTUDENTNURSETODAY
Patient: (Looking up from his dinner) Uh, hello...?
Me: (Blushing like I might catch fire) Er, hi.
The conversation went fairly smoothly after that. Heart rate soon returned to normal. First patient contact? Success! So the clinical group went for supper break, hung out for a while, and then came back up the floor when we were fairly certain all of the patients would be done their meals.
I strode back on to the floor, grabbed my clipboard, and confidently headed into my victim's room, all ready to get The Best Health History Ever Gotten On A Human Being.
Except... he was asleep! Snoring away all curled up in fetal position. Temptation flared briefly to poke him until he awoke so that I could still get said TBHHEGOAHB. Haha kidding! Ooookay, so much for that.
Another girl ran into the same problem where her pt was also indulging in a post-meal pre-bedtime nap. So our CI took us around the unit trying to find some unclaimed pts who would (hopefully) appreciate a little noobie nurse company.
We happened upon a very teeny tiny LOL (that's short for little old lady, for those of you new to medbloggery) who was staring off into space and looked lonely. The CI, all pro, swooped in there and started talking to her and it was clear that this lady had dementia to some high degree. CI waved us in and introduced us: me and this other girl standing side by side.
Well that LOL looked from me to the other girl and back to me again, and said NOOOO GOOD, pointing at me and then pointing at her glasses. Apparently she didn't like my specs? She then looked back and forth between us again, looked back at me, and said EEEEYUCK and made the face to match!
Allow me to reiterate: the second patient I ever met said EEEEYUCK and made a face at me.
Uhhh...
CI waved me over and said "Oh, UgRN will come and look over a photo album with you, won't that be nice?" (This just after she made the face. I was mortified.)
No. Please, no. Please.
Yes indeedy. CI told me to sit on the side of her bed*.
*For the record, I'm not totally down with sitting on someone's bed unless I'm expressly invited to. Especially when they say EEEEYUCK when offered the opportunity to meet me.
So I sort of perched precariously on the side of her bed and the LOL lets out a YELP!
I jump up like a shot!
And yes, you heard it here first, the very first time I've ever gotten near a patient's bed with the intention of using therapeutic communication, I sat on her catheter tube.
On her catheter tube.
Fricken FANTASTIC! She's gonna love me now!
Thank God she didn't seem to blame me for her sudden acute cooter pain.
Anyway, her fam had brought in a photo album so I cracked that open and she was able to start pointing out people and stuff. She had trouble picking the right word for what she wanted to say, so it was obviously really frustrating for her to tell the stories she wanted to. She was also highly suggestible (I could have pointed to anyone and been like, oh, is that great-uncle Lenin? and she probably would have agreed) and I sure didn't want to screw with what remaining memories she did have so the conversation was stunted and forced at best. The conversation ran a bit like that one House episode where the dude kept saying words that were kind of like what he wanted to say but the whole conversation was totally random.
Anyway, that 45 minutes passed in a flash and the only regret I have (except for the EEEYUCK and catheter parts of course) is that because talking with her was kind of spontaneous, I never had a chance to find out her name or look at her chart. Next Monday that's the first thing I'm going to do!
Shortly after that we were dismissed for another week. I have 2 midterms next week, one in Micro and one in Physio, so that's what I've been up to this week.
And, in regards to my post below, I did indeed win the first place prize for an essay contest and will be awarded $1000! (Thanks for the encouragement Lou!) It's going straight into my beloved ING Direct tax-free savings account where I will cherish it, and all of its compounding tax contributions, forever... or at least until my student loans come due!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Finals are almost over
I had heart palpitations yesterday. You wouldn't even have needed a stethoscope. I think the prof could hear my heart beating from the front of the room.
Anatomy is why.
He was absolutely kind to us by giving us an outline of the exam with the different chapters to study, what kind of figures we could expect, and how long it would be.
Bless his heart, but it was still scary studying for it. There's just SO MUCH!
So Thursday night I started studying a few hours after my Discipline exam and studied all evening and then got to school on the early-early bus to study at the library. I studied yesterday morning from 8 - 12:30. After a while I was like, OMG, I'm not even going to finish all of the material. So I freaked myself out (naturally) and just started skimming the pages... 'cuz you know, skimming is great for retention.
Then I realized that I didn't remember anything that I had just read, so I tried to focus and re-read it all, and that didn't help either. Rinse and repeat until it was time for the exam. I even stood in the line to get in, flipping through notes.
Then we sat down and I was like, okay, fastest exam writing ever....GO! Just because it was a total brain dump and I wanted to get all the answers down before I lost them forever. That's a wonderful way to write a test, no? A lot of what I read over yesterday is already gone. Ask me how the liver produces bile and I'll just stare at you blankly.
Happily for me, I seem to be pretty good at memorizing bone structure, so the labeling portion went well. I don't know why, but when it comes time for me to remember the condoyles and epicondoyles, the fossi and the eminences, and those weird muscle attachment sites, I don't have too much trouble. So I can tell you where your medial malleolus is, or the structure of your tarsals. Just don't ask me about GI tract structure. The basic stuff I get... it's all the million ligaments and stuff that feel completely beyond my reach. Thank God I'll never be a surgeon :)
Anyway, once that was over, my heart palpitations decreased somewhat. I estimate that I got at least 75% on that exam. I'll take it - I was certain of failure before I started.
Then a lot of us went across the street to a cute Irish pub and had a beer or two. I'm not technically done finals yet, there's English on Monday, but it felt really good to not be so stressed over the biology classes! Well, until Micro and the other Physiology, anyway. It was nice to get together with some of the students outside of class. There were even some RPN students there which was fun, 'cuz we never get to see them otherwise.
My boyfriend came back home from residence yesterday.
Life is great right now!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Hi again! ... from the midst of Finals Week
Well, it appears I broke my own rule of 1 post every week. Sorry about that. I've been in a funk the last couple of weeks, wanting the Christmas break to come, exhausted from the work/school treadmill, and freaking out over tests. You know, the usual holiday stuff!
So, where did we leave off... at the end of November? A couple of weeks ago I volunteered for a 'play hospital' at a Christmas festival, where a bunch of student nurses (myself included) guided uber-cute kids through different 'stations'. We were supposed to wear scrubs although I don't actually own any yet. I went to the thrift store and got two of the uuuugliest scrub tops - olive green and a loud fish pattern. Let me just say, here and now, I HATE printed scrubs. I think they look like pajamas. I don't think they make kids or old people like you more. I think they're awful.
I also managed to find the most unflattering cut for me. The perfect square shape must be designed for skinny folk. I was uni-boobin' in the front and riding up in the back. Bad times... but at least I know that before I buy my actual clinical scrubs!
Anyway, at the festival, I was initially at the IV station, where, although never having given an IV or learned about it, I told hordes of children all about the wonders of IV and helped them "give" a giant Elmo his IV so he could get allll better. It was really cute and the little ones were like OMG YAY ELMO and everyone helped give him his IV, which consisted of taping down the tube to Elmo's hand. Some kids got creative in where they taped it... lol :)
I was also at the "surgery" station, where there was a Rudolph version of Operation with a few missing parts. Once you put his kidney, femur, heart, and brain back in, his nose lit up. I made it very involved and would call over little kids saying "Help, doctor! We need a trauma surgeon - Rudolph has been in a terrible accident!" and the little kids would just light up and come over and put all his parts back in. There was a little scrubber so they could 'wash' their hands and I would hand them a pair of toy tweezers. The little girls, especially, were really excited to hear me call them doctor. Or maybe it was their parents who were excited. It was so cute.
The last station I was at was the cast (?) station. We had strips of the stuff you make casts out of - plaster, I suppose - and we'd put a cast on a kid's finger and they'd cover it with glitter. Some of the kids were too afraid so we put casts on their parents first. Then there were the hardass (cough) teens who wanted them too. They weren't so cute. But the kids? OMG!
I really do love talking with kids. I think I'm good at it, and I love their energy. Although, I haven't had to deal with them much when they are screaming, so maybe that remains to be seen.
Anyway, that pretty much brings us to last week, which was the last week of classes and otherwise uneventful. and then to this week which has been finals. I've already written 2 - one Monday and one this morning.
Monday was the dreaded Health. I got my last assignment back after the test. It was a participation mark. I got 50%. Apparently my self-reflection wasn't reflective enough... I did get the grade back already, and I ended up with 85% in the course which is an A- and better than I was expecting, considering how much I was frustrated by that course.
Today I wrote Physiology. I was totally unmotivated to study last week though. Last night and this morning, before the test, I powered through all my notes. Good thing, too! The test was marathon and all over cardiac/muscle physiology. I think I actually did okay, but I've shot myself in the foot on that idea before.
Tomorrow morning I write Discipline of Nursing, Friday is Anatomy, and next Monday is English. Then... I am done. Until January 5th. Huzzah!
I'm looking forward to 'starting fresh' with my new study tactics next semester. I wonder how I'll fare with actually reading over my notes every week!
One last random tidbit. I was thinking back over the last couple of months, and how crazy they were, and OMG I still love it. I still love nursing, and learning everything about it. Really, truly.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Finals
are just around the corner! Man, it's already been 12 weeks since I started nursing school. At the same time, it feels like way more than 12 weeks. Weird. It's a good feeling though because I'm still feeling really positive about my choices and about pretty much everything else.
Yesterday marked the two-week countdown until final exams start. I was studying hardcore all last week for my last Anatomy quiz, which was yesterday. It covered all kinds of things (as usual); this week's test was on the autonomic nervous system, the brain and cranial nerves, the spinal cord, and, um, the pelvic girdle. Seems a little illogical but whatev! It went really well I think, because it was only a few chapters the material was more manageable than the one before it. Plus, I started my new study plan of just sticking to the key concepts and I felt a lot more prepared.
So now a few of us are focusing on the Physiology final, which means I am back on material from the first week of September. It may has well as been last year because it's like I have never seen it before. Yikes!
This weekend I am helping out at a Christmas festival for children, in the "Hospital Room". I'm not exactly sure what will go on but basically kids get to play pretend in a hospital room, where we 'nurses' will help them hear their heartbeats, pretend to give them IV's, and put a little cast on their fingers that they can decorate with glitter and stuff. It sounds cute and kind of geared to helping kids become less afraid of hospital stays.
Other than that, I'm sorry for not posting more. I'm getting a little worn out between all the assignments. I'm really looking forward to the break!
Yesterday marked the two-week countdown until final exams start. I was studying hardcore all last week for my last Anatomy quiz, which was yesterday. It covered all kinds of things (as usual); this week's test was on the autonomic nervous system, the brain and cranial nerves, the spinal cord, and, um, the pelvic girdle. Seems a little illogical but whatev! It went really well I think, because it was only a few chapters the material was more manageable than the one before it. Plus, I started my new study plan of just sticking to the key concepts and I felt a lot more prepared.
So now a few of us are focusing on the Physiology final, which means I am back on material from the first week of September. It may has well as been last year because it's like I have never seen it before. Yikes!
This weekend I am helping out at a Christmas festival for children, in the "Hospital Room". I'm not exactly sure what will go on but basically kids get to play pretend in a hospital room, where we 'nurses' will help them hear their heartbeats, pretend to give them IV's, and put a little cast on their fingers that they can decorate with glitter and stuff. It sounds cute and kind of geared to helping kids become less afraid of hospital stays.
Other than that, I'm sorry for not posting more. I'm getting a little worn out between all the assignments. I'm really looking forward to the break!
Also, the nursing students' union has asked me to do some designs for buttons so I am thinking about that in between studying. Originally I approached them about doing some clothing designs because, honestly, their clothes are boring. But they don't think there's enough interest in clothing (gee, you think?) so they are having me do buttons instead. Still, it's a start!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Am I dreaming?
Somehow I got 88% on the anatomy test that I could swear I failed. OMG.
Also 92% on English midterm that I crammed for 20 minutes before the test.
Horseshoes up my butt? Thinkin' so!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Best week ever!
Because I haven't had class all week, except Monday morning. My school coupled Remembrance Day with 2 professional development days and I don't have class on Friday. Sweet!
What have I done with all this Spare Time, you ask?
Sweet monkey fingers, absolutely nothing. Well, close.
Sunday I power studied for Anatomy. Monday morning I had the test, and it was brutal. My mental tally was in free fall from 90%, down to 80%, down to 70%, down to dear-Lord-I-hope-I-pass. First page on the test was on shit I didn't even look at. There was just so much covered on the exam. It was everything from facial muscles and skull anatomy to lymphatic system to heart to carpals. It was nuts. The stuff I knew, I knew inside out, but the stuff I didn't know, I couldn't even guess.
I, again, shall emphasize that my previous study system SUCKS and I am doing my best to correct it for the final, which is in 3 weeks, or something like that.
So here's hoping that the mark isn't too awful.
Side comment. I took this picture on Sunday, during my power anatomy study. Wouldn't it be weird if this cadaver pic was someone that a student knew? How weird would that be? Some of these cadavers seem recognizable, if you knew the person. Every time you go to study muscles, you see Uncle Joe who's got his larynx ripped out for your viewing pleasure. Super.
The rest of this week I hung out with my boyfriend who came home for the break, and promised myself I would use this time to catch up on stuff. Then inertia set in and I did a whole lot of sleeping. Sleeping's good, right? Like an investment in my future or something? Right?
Today I finally got my ass in gear and went to the University big library to power through my research paper. My topic is euthanasia, and there's plenty of information to go around. The obstacle I'm running into is writing a critique of someone else's essay written on euthanasia and backing up my point of view with other texts. Tricksy. Spent 4 hours today before work at the U, and barely got a summary done and a very, very, rough outline of my paper. Damn. I was hoping to have this done today. It's due Monday.
You might think I'm cutting it a little close by starting my paper a mere 4 days before it is due. For me, this is a huge improvement. I'm normally a night-before kind of girl. I'm proud of myself :)
I'm very excited that my assignments are (almost) over. I'm already planning a study schedule starting Monday to get ready for finals. Another huge improvement, starting almost a month ahead of time.
Honestly, I don't know how people can possibly study more than I'm doing and work at the same time. It just doesn't seem possible! I wish I could quit my job.
Word to future students: Work hard in high school, get a scholarship, and then laugh all the way to the bank.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Recap of this week
Because I haven't yet and I said I would. And because I read over my last post and probably everyone who visted today is wondering what the hell I was smoking. I should make a bumper sticker: "yes, you CAN be this tired!"
So on Sunday I was at the U until about 2200, and I came home and died until Monday morning. My Discipline class is the first one of the week and really interesting as usual, this week we talked about ethics. I love a good debate and there were many... i.e. ethical dilemmas, values, conflicts of interest. The best part of that class is how great my instructor is. She really loves to teach and she's really good at class management. Anytime we get off topic she smoothly brings the conversation back to the point, which I love.
After classes on Monday, I spent the rest of the evening cramming for Physiology.
Tuesday morning more of the same, and then I wrote the midterm at 1100. The questions that I knew, I knew very well, but the stuff I didn't know was awful. Specifically andrenergic and cholinergic receptors and their associated info... nicotinic, muscarinic, alpha, beta... WTF. So I was reasonably sure of 80% of the material and I made educated guesses on the rest (a careful deduction process by evaluating all of the answers, and picking the one that sounds most unlike the others)
I need to revise my revision strategies because I just don't have the time to study like I want to. Normally what I like to do is print off a copy of the slides to bring to class, write notes all over it, and then rewrite all of that into my notebook. Handwriting only, because after years at call centers, I have mastered the art of transcribing speech or notes onto the computer without really registering anything in my brain. Handwriting, I remember. So this strategy worked great for the last couple of years when the notes load wasn't so extreme. However, it's just not realistic anymore. By the time I finish rewriting all of the notes, I have a serious handcramp and I don't have time to actually study... hence my not knowing anything about cholinergic or andregenic receptors.
New plan. I am ONLY rewriting things that are on my "key concepts" list that the instructors hand out on the first day. This goes against my instincts since I like to know everything that was in the course but I think I'm going to have to start being more choosy about what I learn.
So, Wednesday afternoon while studying for Anatomy, I followed this strategy and it is working great. I actually remember where the sphenoid bone is. And what it looks like - yeah, sella turcica!
In regards to the presentation from last Thursday, the one on addiction that we got absolutely roasted for in the previously-unannounced critiquing part of the class, we got our mark back. 9/10! I'll take it. I was expecting way worse, from how the critique went.
We watched a bunch more presentations today (yes, I did go to class after all), and I brought an ice cream bar with me as comfort food because it is so frustrating. The instructor *gasp* changed her mind again: now we accentuate the positives and no more than 5 minutes giving feedback. Compared to my group's 15 minutes. I scanned the submitted feedback from the class: "maybe don't go so long", "no hands in pockets or GUM", "don't say 'um' so much", "maybe you should have handouts!". WTF, people, handouts? Are you going to pay for them? Alright, I'm biased, but everyone else's power points sucked ass in comparsion. Stretched clip art, 1000 fonts, not embedding media...
What I'm getting at here in an angry rant is that people made all kinds of great (ahem) comments on our presentation, but their presentations had the same problems if not more. One girl was so nervous I thought she might cry. 'Um' was the word of the day. I may have hand my hands in my pockets but at least I wasn't hiding behind the podium, you know? And I'm just pissed off about this whole thing because the point of the presentation was to MAKE A PRESENTATION ABOUT A HEALTH TOPIC. She didn't give a shit about our content after all our hard work. Her comments were made solely on our presentation skills. It was completely missing the point.
AND, here is my big point, she is fostering a completely negative attitude in the class. Instead of watching peoples' presentation and learning something about health issues, we are ignoring content and just staring at their flaws. Then she pinpoints someone and says "YOU: What could they improve on?" and all it does is make us pissed off at each other.
She is building the eat-your-young attitude. That is SO WRONG.
So I'm trying to formulate a scathing email to the dean but I can't seem to write coherently because I am so angry about it.
Anyway, quick change of topic, I also got my mark back on that awful paper I wrote for English. My strategy appears to be successful - I got one of the highest marks in the class and special mention! My nose is a whole new shade of brown. Also, I picked my English research topic. I'm going to write on euthanasia. If you have any good sources for further reading, let me know :)
So on Sunday I was at the U until about 2200, and I came home and died until Monday morning. My Discipline class is the first one of the week and really interesting as usual, this week we talked about ethics. I love a good debate and there were many... i.e. ethical dilemmas, values, conflicts of interest. The best part of that class is how great my instructor is. She really loves to teach and she's really good at class management. Anytime we get off topic she smoothly brings the conversation back to the point, which I love.
After classes on Monday, I spent the rest of the evening cramming for Physiology.
Tuesday morning more of the same, and then I wrote the midterm at 1100. The questions that I knew, I knew very well, but the stuff I didn't know was awful. Specifically andrenergic and cholinergic receptors and their associated info... nicotinic, muscarinic, alpha, beta... WTF. So I was reasonably sure of 80% of the material and I made educated guesses on the rest (a careful deduction process by evaluating all of the answers, and picking the one that sounds most unlike the others)
I need to revise my revision strategies because I just don't have the time to study like I want to. Normally what I like to do is print off a copy of the slides to bring to class, write notes all over it, and then rewrite all of that into my notebook. Handwriting only, because after years at call centers, I have mastered the art of transcribing speech or notes onto the computer without really registering anything in my brain. Handwriting, I remember. So this strategy worked great for the last couple of years when the notes load wasn't so extreme. However, it's just not realistic anymore. By the time I finish rewriting all of the notes, I have a serious handcramp and I don't have time to actually study... hence my not knowing anything about cholinergic or andregenic receptors.
New plan. I am ONLY rewriting things that are on my "key concepts" list that the instructors hand out on the first day. This goes against my instincts since I like to know everything that was in the course but I think I'm going to have to start being more choosy about what I learn.
So, Wednesday afternoon while studying for Anatomy, I followed this strategy and it is working great. I actually remember where the sphenoid bone is. And what it looks like - yeah, sella turcica!
In regards to the presentation from last Thursday, the one on addiction that we got absolutely roasted for in the previously-unannounced critiquing part of the class, we got our mark back. 9/10! I'll take it. I was expecting way worse, from how the critique went.
We watched a bunch more presentations today (yes, I did go to class after all), and I brought an ice cream bar with me as comfort food because it is so frustrating. The instructor *gasp* changed her mind again: now we accentuate the positives and no more than 5 minutes giving feedback. Compared to my group's 15 minutes. I scanned the submitted feedback from the class: "maybe don't go so long", "no hands in pockets or GUM", "don't say 'um' so much", "maybe you should have handouts!". WTF, people, handouts? Are you going to pay for them? Alright, I'm biased, but everyone else's power points sucked ass in comparsion. Stretched clip art, 1000 fonts, not embedding media...
What I'm getting at here in an angry rant is that people made all kinds of great (ahem) comments on our presentation, but their presentations had the same problems if not more. One girl was so nervous I thought she might cry. 'Um' was the word of the day. I may have hand my hands in my pockets but at least I wasn't hiding behind the podium, you know? And I'm just pissed off about this whole thing because the point of the presentation was to MAKE A PRESENTATION ABOUT A HEALTH TOPIC. She didn't give a shit about our content after all our hard work. Her comments were made solely on our presentation skills. It was completely missing the point.
AND, here is my big point, she is fostering a completely negative attitude in the class. Instead of watching peoples' presentation and learning something about health issues, we are ignoring content and just staring at their flaws. Then she pinpoints someone and says "YOU: What could they improve on?" and all it does is make us pissed off at each other.
She is building the eat-your-young attitude. That is SO WRONG.
So I'm trying to formulate a scathing email to the dean but I can't seem to write coherently because I am so angry about it.
Anyway, quick change of topic, I also got my mark back on that awful paper I wrote for English. My strategy appears to be successful - I got one of the highest marks in the class and special mention! My nose is a whole new shade of brown. Also, I picked my English research topic. I'm going to write on euthanasia. If you have any good sources for further reading, let me know :)
I love this place
My bed, of course.
I am curled up with my laptop, reading everyone's blogs, and it's quarter past nine on a Thursday. I must say, my bed is hands-down my favorite place to be. We bought a bitchin' new mattress last January for a mere $900, and it is like sleeping on a big, awesome marshmallow.
So I've been thinking about how a mere year ago, I was just going through the painful early-acceptance rejection from my program and sticking it out so that I finished upgrading with top marks. I knew I was kicking ass in school but you never really know. You know?
That part was unpleasant, but I loved going to school each day and essentially redoing my high-school years. All throughout high school, I thought I just wasn't good at academia. No book smarts here. In fact, I had visions of being, like, the only kid in the world without a college education and somehow trying to spin that positively. There were a few people who tried to tell me to straighten up because I could do better, teachers and my parents and so, but my friends were all the same underachievers as me. We definitely know where the power lies for a teenage girl. So when I went back to upgrade high school courses, and the classes actually made sense to me, and I was motivated to take notes and study, and when I wrote an exam it was not how many questions could I fudge the answer to but how to fit my knowledge into the little box to write a short answer, that was probably one of my personal favorite moments. Not an achievement that would get me recognition by anyone else, but for me, very satisfying to shed that label of underachiever.
Anyway, yesterday I was studying Anatomy for 4 hours between classes. We have a test to write on Monday next week, and then because of Remembrance Day, we don't have classes for the rest of the week! Exciting. I really don't know where to start with homework. Since I'm done almost all of my assignments, I guess I'll get myself started on revising for finals.
The test is kind of intense, just in the scope of the information to cover. There's a lot. Axial skeleton, bones of the skull and vertebrae, upper body muscles, facial muscles, blood vessels and nerves, fetal circulation, the heart, lymphatic system, etc. and so forth. I bought a coloring book to help me study and it's been a big help. Yesterday I focused on bones of the skull and it makes it easier to remember where the crista galli is, when you have to find it and color it in.
Sorry if this post is kinda incoherent... I'm still in la-la land. Need to get up in 30 minutes-ish and accomplish something before my Foundations class this afternoon. If I go. There'll be more presentations to day and that professor makes me want to jab highlighters through my eyes out of frustration.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
This message is brought to you by the letters G, B, and E
Grouchy, brain-dead, and exhausted, that is. E may also stand for enthusiastic, because even though I'm all of these things, I still love the fact that I'm in nursing school.
I don't have any more assignments due this semester, which adds to the sense of ahhhhh-relief.
Well, there is a research paper for English, but that's on a topic of my choice and not due for a couple more weeks so it's completely off my radar. I'm pretty lucky in that my group had to go first for both presentations. Some people don't present for another month. I'm glad there's not really anything left on my plate except studying for exams.
Speaking of exams, I have a Physiology midterm on Tuesday that I have spent the past 6 hours studying for. A lot of it is rehashed senior biology, i.e. special senses. Every day I'm in that class I feel deeper gratitude for my high school biology teacher from a year ago. Everything he taught me has stuck like glue, so I'm really confident this year. I'm probably going to send him an e-mail saying how awesome he is. Maybe. If I get around to it... :)
It seems that the only way I can seriously study is if I'm completely removed from distractions. Today, my boyfriend and I went to the big library at the university and brought a picnic, and we've been here since 14:30. I'm not leaving until 21:30, and I've accomplished a lot! I'm only taking a break now because my hand hurts from writing.
Anyway, sorry for the short post, but I should probably get back to studying. You shall hear more from me later this week, once I am all caught up on sleep, readings, and studying! A small point of interest, the fantastic Sue Johanson (warning: NSFW!), RN, senior citizen, talk show host, and all-around sexpert is hosting lectures this week. I'm so excited. I grew up secretly listening to the Sunday Night Sex Show after bedtime when I was 10 through 13.
Here's a little glimpse of my evening so far (sorry about the reverse image... gotta love Photo Booth):
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