You never know who's standing right next to you.

As a nursing student, you meet all types of people.  

If you didn't have a chart with patient history, you'd never know that you were standing next to a diabetic, a chain smoker (although you might smell that...), or a sex offender. 

This became apparent to me over the past week.  

While you want to treat each patient with the same level of respect, you must also err on the side of caution to protect yourself and those around you.  This becomes even more pertinent in the mental healthcare setting.  Men and women with dangerous paraphilias, poor impulse control, or a history of violence are everywhere.  It is our job as nurses to look beyond the potential danger to provide the highest level of care.  

On a lighter note, now begins crunch time - the week where the exams begin.  I am interested to see how my scores will pan out, since the format of all of our tests will mimic the NCLEX.  This week, I'll have a psych exam and a math exam.  Next week will include a health assessment lecture exam and a nursing foundations exam.  

To add one more tier to the levels of potential stress, next week will be the last nursing therapeutics lab...which means it's time for therapeutics clinical: bed baths, enemas, catheters, meds, IVs, and more.  The fact that I will have had only five "weeks" of training beforehand is unsettling.  I just keep crossing my fingers that my clinical instructor won't eat her young :) 

S