One exam at a time

So, in the past 2 weeks I've had 3 tests. Three finals are coming up and then I'm done for this semester. :)

Today was Pharmacology exam 4. I passed with an 85. :) The teachers went over all the questions the students complained about during review and we got 4 questions back. That's 10 points back for horrid exam questions. I only missed 1 of the 4 they gave back to us so I made a 87.5 instead of a 85. I now have an 83 in the class. :) I'm sooooooo freaking happy right now. That's one point from an A you guys. I studied my ass off for that exam and it paid off. :)

The other two tests I made an 86 for Health Assessment and a 92.5 for Professional Clinical. I'm doing great in both of those classes too, so it looks like I've passed everything this semester. Let the good luck keep coming my way.

Now to study for finals. Wish me luck. :)

Ooo, it was time for another Nurstoon. I needed a laugh.

Update on Pharmacology test

So, after class today, which was only 2 hours and 15 minutes, I came home, took a well needed nap and then got up around 2ish. I was exhausted. Big news huh? I hopped on the computer to check my pharm test grade because I knew the staff had a huge meeting today. Instead of a 67.5 or whatever my grade was I got a 70. O_O I know that's not amazing. It's a D, but I'm soooooo happy right now. 70s are love in pharmacolgy. I now have a 81.6 in Pharm which is a B, so I'm doing well. :) I can't complain is all I'm saying. XD

Yay for me. Now to study for HA some more.

Later

Last Day of Clinicals

Today was the last day of clinicals. I'm very relieved though this isn't the last day of clinical for my clinical group. Two professors had to cancel clinical days so we must make those days up. Can't say I'm too happy about that, but it is what it is.

Today I got to do more than I've done all year. I D/C a foley, hemovac and I changed a knee dressing. The thing was wrapped up in so much cotton, gauze and ace bandage it took at least 2 minutes to get it all off without hurting the patient. O_O The hemovac was pretty disgusting. I'm not as comfortable around blood as I thought, especially when it's clotted blood. I've drained hemovacs and JP drains before, but I've never D/C one so that was new.

This clinical I felt like a real nurse. I did head to toe assessments, vitals, assisted with ambulation, passed meds, charted, made beds, assisted RNs. It was truly an experience and I'm sure I'll have tons more before I graduate.

Um, lets see, over the past week I've gotten 100s on papers, but I made a failing grade on a pharmacology exam. A 67.5 or something along those lines. I can't remember, but I know I failed it. I wasn't all that shocked. There was so much material on that test. I thought I knew everything, but it seems I did not. :( Drugs are very hard to memorize and when they're placed in scenarios and you must choose the priority way to treat a patient taking those meds it just makes it ten times more difficult. For me at least. I'm studying cardiovascular now and so far I've memorized 8 pages of slides which is 48 slides altogether. There are 20 pages so that is 120 in all. O_O If you're thinking about going to nursing school THIS is what you'll have to look forward to. LMAO Lots and lots of studying, but it's all worth it when you get to clinicals and actually know WHY you're doing the tasks you're doing.

My clinical instructor says I'm very smart, that I know lots of information and that I have the potential to be a leader one day. I believe her. I can do this if I put my mind to it.

Thanksgiving is next week. I'll be studying for tests, doing modules and writing papers, but the hard part is over. ^_^ Yay for me.

P.S If you're interested in seeing what I'm studying I'm making online flashcards for the next Pharm exam. You can find those notes in the side bar. ----->

Me

First Clinical Rotation

One day left. Yep, that's it. Working in this nursing home has had its ups and downs. I've enjoyed working with my patient, but I feel as if I haven't been able to get through to her or help her in any mind blowing way. Having only worked with her for 3 days I didn't have much time to sit down and get to know her. It sucks, but I guess that is how clinicals work. It doesn't help that when I got to clinicals the CNAs had already done all of my work for me. :( There was no bonding over AM care because baths/grooming etc was already finished.

Also, she was at other facilities half the time I was there so I spent that time helping the people in my group with their patients. Because of this I knew more about their patient than my own and I grew closer to them. O_O It's weird, but that's how it was. The people I met are sooooo nice. This one lady's husband comes to visit her and the way he treats her makes me envious. You can tell they are in love even after all of these years. That's just one of the reasons why going to clinicals every morning has been enjoyable. Other people there are very nice. I've only been there 3 days but I feel like I've learned so much from these people in such a very short time. <3

Well, 2nd rotation starts on Wednesday so I'm off to the hospital to do wound care, etc. Hopefully I'll do better here. Can't say right now if the people within this hospital will be as nice as the residents within the nursing home. I can hope, right? XD

Me

Clinical Orientation and Exhaustion

Today was clinical orientation. I woke up at 5 thinking that I had to be at my clinical site at 7. Hahaha. I checked my planner and realized I had to be there at 8. Oops. I stayed up instead of grabbing another hour of sleep because I was too excited to go to sleep anyway. 6 a.m. rolled around and I started pulling myself together which consisted of a long shower. My scrubs looked nice, my hair looked great so everything was fine with the world.

Umm, lets see. I arrived at my clinical site at 7:35ish. Traffic was horrid, but okay for the most part. I didn't know if I was parked in the right place because I never received an email about parking from my professor. That was my own fault because I emailed the wrong woman three days ago and didn't realize my mistake until this morning. >.<

So I sat around in my car and waited until I saw some classmates. One showed up and I flagged her down. A few more showed up. Around this time I was beginning to feel a bit better about myself. Then we all realized we had parked in the wrong place (another student went and asked) so we had to climb back into our cars and move. We ran into our clinical instructor and she led us inside the nursing home.

The 4 hour orientation was a bit overwhelming. We played a scavenger hunt where we had to find where everything in the place was. This building was huge so it took me a while to find everything even WITH 6 other girls there to help me. He got trained how to use a gait belt and then after a talk with the other clinical instructor about how we'd be graded we got our patient assignments. I got to look at my first chart today. It was amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I never knew a chart could hold that much information about a person. The thing weighed about 8 lbs. LOL. We found out why our patient was there, what meds they were on etc. All in all it was very eye opening. I'll never complain about a mild headache again. These people are very, very sick. It's really sad, but it's my job to take care of them and I will. XD

So, yeah. That's my first day at clinical. It wasn't really eventful. Afterward I had another skills lab to get to, so after lunch at my sister's I went to that. When I finally got home I attempted to study, but instead I slept for 5 hours straight. I've never been so tired in my life. Nursing school is wearing me out. I literally fell asleep with my face pressed against my pharmacology book. I'm about to go study a bit more now so I won't fall behind more than I already am. Tomorrow I don't have class so I'll be catching up on all the web stuff I need to finish and these papers I need to write. This semester is almost over. I can see the light.

ONLY 3 MORE SEMESTERS TO GO!!

Me! XD

It's about to begin. XD

Hmm, playing catch up...

So, I've been passing all of my tests which is awesomely amazing. I passed all of my Professional Clinical Nursing skills test so I'm done with that until the spring. XD Doing the urinary catheter and the enteral feeding wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but that was on a dummy. I'm sure the real thing will be a lot different. >.<

So this Friday I picked up my scrubs, which were $84.96 for 2 by the way. I got my nursing student ID so I'm all set for tomorrow. We have to wear our scrubs to show the professors what we'll look like on Tuesday. That's the day we actually start clinicals. I can't wait. XD

I'm trying not to let the nervousness get to me, but it is. I wonder what my first patient will be like. I'll be responsible for them for the next 3 weeks. Will I be able to take care of them the way I should? I hope so. We'll see.

Well I'm off to straighten my fly away hair. I have to look my best this week.

Me

Cardiovascular and Lung Assessment

I'm not going to say much about this. I did well for the most part, but I didn't cover the top edges of the lungs during auscultation, I was 2 inches from the mitral valve (though I did hear a pulse) and because I'm not a liar and wanted to actually find the pulses in my partner's feet, I have to redo pedal pulses. Everything else I did correctly including:

Overriders
Check wall symmetry
Checking for carotid bruits
Edema
Capillary refill
The Sounds Tutor (I had wheezes)
Exiting Overriders

I heard the aortic, pulmonic, Erbs Point, and Tricuspid valves of the heart, I listened to all areas of the lungs except the top portion along the shoulders. And I correctly located carotid, brachial, radial, and popliteal pulses. I did everything right, except that I didn't include an inch of lung:


The circled part O_O

I was less than 2 inches from the mitral valve and I was honest about not being able to feel a pulse on my partners swollen feet... FROM NOW ON I'M GOING TO LIE. >_> That's what everyone else was doing. I guess I have to suffer for being honest. :(

Oh well. Back to the skills lab to redo what I already know.

Blood Pressure Follow up and Issues

So after failing the BP portion of my vital signs check off I went back at 4 and practiced with three people, got helped by the professors two more times and then retook the test and passed. It wasn't that I didn't know what I was doing, but that I was nervous as hell when I first got in there. So yeah, that's over and done with and I can breathe.

Now I have to focus on the Thorax and Lung Assessment as well as the heart and vascular assessment which shouldn't be that difficult either, but the partner that I have is a pain in the ass and I feel like she's making fun of me more than helping me pass this fucking skills check off. And the thing is that she doesn't know what she's doing either so when I try to help her she says "no, don't tell me how to do it," and I'm sitting there like "but you've fucked this practice lab up five fucking times already. Obviously you don't know what in the hell you're doing or you would have fixed the problem by now!" Urghh, I need to find someone else to work with. There are so many people that I can choose from, but I believe that they all have partners already and I'm stuck with this bimbo who'd rather laugh and joke and kid her way through these assessments than actually practice. Gawd. I'm just tired of these people. I'm so freaking quiet because I don't like the people that I have to work with and the people I would REALLY like to work with are in another lab hour altogether and I can't partner them I don't believe. If I can than I will, but we'll see. I may just have to touch this hairy girl, pass this lab and let her ass fail when she tries to check off.

I'm done trying to help people. When I have questions they laugh like I'm the dumb one here. I understand the material, but I need to find someone to work with that is just as dedicated to passing this class as I am. :( I'm tired. I'm exhausted and I just want these practice labs to be over. I know this isn't the end. I'm only a junior, but lord I can NOT WAIT until senior year. Three more semesters to go!! Please let them pass quickly!!!!!!!!!!!

Me

Blood pressure, blood pressure. Why art thou so hard?

So yeah, I didn't do so hot on the blood pressure portion of my skills test. I thought I was because up until this point I got very close to the correct number for the systolic pressure, but this time I was wayyy off. I was nervous. My pulse was 120 beats per minute and that was lying down ya'll. I felt like I was about to have a heart ache. It was horrible.

I did however get the rest of the skills test right: the overriders, the apical and radial pulses as well as the respiration rate. Because I did so well I don't have to come back up there and test on those as well. ^_^ So at 4 or 5 I'll be off to the labs to study my ass LMAO I can't fail this thing again. I refuse. XD

Later!

First Exam, 22 more to go!

That's what the boards said when I entered lecture hall after our first Professional Clinical Nursing exam. :) The test was pretty difficult. I've never taken a test like that where you can't really rely on what you know, but what you think. It was all pretty much guess work. I went in knowing small facts about how to take care of a patient, but then again I went in knowing nothing...If that makes any sense at all. I didn't know what to expect.

In Human A&P you are given terms, bones, muscles, tissues to remember and you simply regurgitate them onto the test and you're done. On this test you can know values for homeostatis such 60-100 pulse rates is normal, 95% to 100% O2 Saturation is normal, but then you have to apply that to scenario type questions where they don't tell you that the clients O2 stats are low, but that they have labored breathing. You have to put two and two together and figure out what to do for that client. In short, these questions make you think like a nurse which is really scary and exciting at the same time.

The exam is taken on the computer and it's timed. We were given 48 minutes to complete a 40 questions test. Time wasn't an issue, though I did occasionally look at the little ticking bastard every few minutes to see if I had time to linger on a hard question or if I should speed up. The horrible thing about these tests is that you can't go back to a previous question once you've answered it. Once you hit submit that question is in the past, gone, no longer worth second guessing about. That alone was horrifying because you know on those hard questions that once you 'pick' an answer you can't suddenly have a light bub go off in your head and go back to it. They say they are preparing us for NCLEX because that exam is timed as well, but good lord. If you though taken a written exam was hard, they have nothing on this. XD

In the end however I did very well on the exam. I made a 90, only missing 4/40 questions which I was really happy about. You should have seen my face when the score came up. My face looked like --> O_O. I couldn't believe it. Before I left home and while I was in the shower I sang a little song to myself called C's are for losers and A's are for winners. It was really cheesey, but I was dead set on not making a C on this test (which I did on the pre-test :[. I was like, I can do this. It's NOT that freaking difficult. You just have to think like a nurse and you'll do fine. I choose this career because I knew I could do it. People become nurses everyday. Seriously, it's not that hard. >_< Now I'm off to study, study, study! Wish me luck for my PCN skills test!

Me

First day

So today I started nursing school!!! I was a bit anxious last night because I didn't know what to expect. I was wide awake until 12:55ish, but I forced myself to go to sleep because I knew I had to get up at 6:00. After rping with my online friends a bit, I went to bed. Not before setting THREE alarm clocks to wake myself up though. I didn't want to miss this day because it was mandatory that I be there.

So 6 oclock came around at 5 minute intervals. LMAO. All my clocks went off at different times which was funny. I got up and got dressed. I had showered the night before and set out a change of clothes, all of which I put aside for something else when I got up. I wore a yellow collared shirt, dark denim jeans and tennis shoes. I looked like a dork, but whatever. After checking my emails, I got cereal, ate, grabbed my things, which included an umbrella because it was raining out and set off for school.

TRAFFIC IS HECTIC at 7:10 am. Cars where trying to run me off the road. A truck was on my bumper the entire drive up the highway. Because it was foggy and rainy out I was driving relatively slow. Well, actually I was going 55 which is the freaking speed limit, but apparently driving the speed limit in the morning is a no no, because people were in a hurry to race to death. It was nuts. After avoiding getting rammed by trucks, cars and hummers I finally made it to the school around 7:30ish. I was the only car in the parking lot. I had to make sure I was at the right school. It was eerie. I'm never the first person at school, but it was 7:30ish so...yeah, the school doesn't open until 7 so that could be why. I sat in the car listening to Bob and Sherrie. They were talking to an imaginist from Disney World or Land. I don't know. His job sounded cool though. He was part of a team of people who helped create the rides at the theme park. Anyway, after listening to that for 5-7 minutes I finally got out the car and went to class. The room was 318. I had no clue where that was so I followed some girl. I wasn't the first person there. I took a seat toward the back and waited for class to begin.

Orientation in a nutshell. LOTS AND LOTS OF TALKING. That was all the professors did. They talked at us, made us laugh and relax. After five or so breaks I was more comfortable. All the tension in my body began to subside and I actually enjoyed myself. They simply reaffirmed why I was there. This job I'm about to embark on will be the most important and most memorable experience of my life. Taking care of someone in a hospital or clinic never seemed like my dream job until right after my freshman year. Something just clicked and I was hooked. I think it was after seeing my niece and nephew in the hospital after their births and seeing the nurses take care of them. I wanted to be in their position. I wanted to be the nurse patients called when they needed something or simply wanted to talk. Being a nurse just felt right!

After receiving alot of instructions about where to buy uniforms, books, etc we had our first 'lecture' for about 2 hours. At this point it's about 1am. We've been sitting in the same room for five hours. We didn't get released until 3:45ish and tomorrow I have to do the same thing over...just without the general orientation. We start labs and lecture tomorrow. We're doing basic nursing care. Woot. I can't wait! XD

ETA: I didn't mention this, but our school scrubs are adorable. We get to wear a lab coat too. XD I know it's weird that I'm giddy about wearing scrubs, but I love them. For the first time in my life I don't have to worry about what I need to wear to school. I hate dressing up and in this program we all have to dress the same, do our hair the same. Gah. It's like heaven...if only for me. One less thing to worry about, I say. LOL

I feel so calm and relaxed now. Let the studying and hard work begin!!

Hmm, so I wait...again.

Hey, so I turned in all my nursing requirements on Friday. Hopefully they'll reach the college this week and hopefully I won't get an email asking me to bring in more stuff because I forgot something. -knock on wood-

To calm my nerves I've been reading comics and insanely funny stories on fmylife. I need a laugh I think. If I don't laugh I'll probably have a nervous breakdown and that wouldn't be fun.

Here's a comic I found funny on nurstoons. ^_^

Preparing for Nursing School

So, these last few weeks I've been getting in all the nursing requirements I need for nursing school. Here's the list.

• Physical Exam =Free
• Vaccinations (MMR, PPD, Varicella, TDAP etc) =$92
• CPR Certification= $50
• Drug Test/Background Check= $100
• Insurance Information/Notarization=$10

Getting it all done wasn't as difficult as I would have thought. I just had to make sure I had the money for everything. Thus far I've spent $252 dollars. Yeah, that's alot of money and I'm not even officially in the program yet. Well, I have been fully accepted, but until I get these requirements in I'm not officially in just yet. -sigh-

I've gotten so used to getting poked and prodded by needles that when I got blood drawn for my varicella blood titer I barely flinched. I even watched the needed go in. I'm numb to needle pricks now I guess. Getting stabbed 4 times in less than 3 weeks does that to you.

All I have to do now is buy books, nursing equipment (penlight, stethoscope, uniform, shoes, bandage scissors, etc) and I'm all set. I got financial aid today so hopefully I'll have enough money to buy everything. -crosses fingers-

This is what all you future nursing students have to look forward to. I hope you're ready!

First Post. :)

So, this is officially my first post for this journal. I made it because when August comes around I will be starting my first semester of nursing school!!! I can't wait. I know everyone says relax before you start because you'll be studying you're behind off once you begin, but I can't sit back and do nothing for 2 months. While I wait for August to come around I'll be adding helpful links (for fellow students) to the sidebar and sharing bits of information I learn this Summer. When Fall comes around this blog will be completely devoted to things I see, hear, learn, love or hate about nursing school and nursing in general. I'm sure there will be some ups and down, but I'm ready for it. Or at least I hope so. :) We'll see!

I hope to get a nursing-centric skin up for this place as well. Look out for that in the near future.