Giving Thanks

The first semester of nursing school is winding down, and I couldn't be more ready for Thanksgiving break.  In fact, this year I'll be giving thanks for making it through the boring abyss that is this first semester. I'm not sure if my mid-semester slump just came late, or the effects of burnout from the previous degree took awhile to kick back in, but I am bored with the material and reluctant to study it.  

I am really looking forward to next semester, because I will study Maternal and Child Health.  I have wanted to work in obstetrics and/or neonatology ever since I can remember.   A little birdie told me that I'll be working Saturday clinicals for OB.  This is very good news because I will be placed at a "city" hospital, with higher birth rates and a NICU.  Knowing that I will work in Labor & Delivery and the NICU in just over two months is what's carrying me through the rest of this semester.

I Hate Med-Surg.

It has come to my attention that I would rather not be a nurse at all than be a med-surg nurse.  


Watching the RN's in action, I see an endless cycle of: vitals, meds, vitals, meds, procedure (if you're lucky), vitals, documentation, more meds.  It would be enough to make me puke.  No excitement, no stretching your brain, and rarely anything innovative or medically fascinating.  
Just meds, pee, poop, wounds, and moving people [who are probably obese...], all the live long day. 


I have all the respect in the world for med-surg nurses.  I don't know how they do it. 

Sailing Through the Mid-Semester Slump

The past few weeks have been a bleak attempt to avoid a mid-semester slump, something which I fell victim to quite often during my B.S. degree.  

This semester, I have managed to avoid an academic slump (yay), but my nutrition, exercise/dog walking, and blogging have suffered.  However, I think that I'm back on track now; my fridge and dog thank me, I'm sure. 

Review of the past few weeks: 

1) I've had a several tests in my classes over the past few weeks - I'm happy with my scores, so my motivation is at an all time high. 

2) I've recently finished my Psych clinical.  This is bittersweet.  While it will be really great not to have to drive the distance each week, I'll miss being in the hospital setting on a weekly basis.  I much prefer that to the classroom setting.  

I've also grown to love working there, and have "made friends with" some of the patients.  I have seen some at their worst, and watched them progress to discharge.  I feel their frustrations as they battle their illness, and I am proud of them when they leave.  I get very involved with my patients, and I tend to wonder about them once I get home.  I know that this is detrimental to my own emotional wellbeing, so I'm working on it.  I need to find a balance.  Growing up in the North, I learned not to wear my heart on my sleeve - which is why Southerners may have thought of me as cold, uncaring, and bitchy.  So, when I made my trek below the Mason-Dixon line, I had to modify the way I carry myself, and seriously tone down the sarcasm.  Now, I'm thinking that I've gone soft!  It's time to even the scales so that I'm not an emotional wreck by the fifth year of my nursing career!

3)  I've started a Nursing Therapeutics clinical in a Medical Care Unit.  I feel at home in a hospital.  

I feel like the act of putting on a pair of scrubs is part of my own process of self-actualization.  

In short, I LOVE it.  

I have taken it upon myself to dive right in.  I offer my service to virtually every nurse on the floor, and when there's nothing left for me to do, I observe an NP or MD.  Spending time with advanced care practitioners makes me realize how much more I want out of nursing.  I like the mystery of medical diagnosis; I like to dig around for clues in diagnostic tests.  I like the idea of tackling symptoms and systems, rather than focusing entirely on the human response.  I would like to think that in becoming a nurse practitioner, no matter which specialty I choose, I will be able to find the balance between treating the patient and treating the disease. 

4)  I am in love with my clinical group. They are the best. The end. 

S

A Brief Comparison

Words from one of my most recent patients:
"I am a ninja jedi ... George Jetson invented electricity ... I can count colors on my fingers"


This week, I've been thinking a lot about how this degree, the BSN, is different from my previously earned degree, the B.S. (letters which comprise my favorite double entendre).

1. My test grades are significantly better.  That's always a plus.  I think this is because of the style, modeled after the NCLEX.  It's much easier for me to choose the "best possible answer" or "top nursing priority" than it is for me to remember the mechanism of an organic chemical reaction.   
2. I really like my schedule.  I have lecture on Mondays and Fridays, clinical on Tuesdays,  and labs on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Sure, most people don't like to sit in one classroom for six hours, but I'd personally rather just get it out of the way for the rest of the week.  
3. The nursing program is significantly less cut-throat than the biology program is.  I have made more friends in four weeks of nursing than I did in four years of biology. 

So far, so good!

The only downside I've found up to this point, is that I am not used to having all of these group projects. This would be fine in a group of four or five.  But, these projects are in groups of ten (my clinical group).  It's really hard to get everyone's input, and I am a bit of a control freak.  But, what can I say? When it's for a grade, someone has to be the one to keep the assignment organized and the group on track!  

I also need to keep in mind that since I have already taken two years of upper level classes, my pace is a little fast with some of the assignments.  Note to self*:  the people in your clinical are juniors in college.  Take a breath, and slow down.  

Overall, I am really enjoying the BSN program!  I am looking forward to the upcoming semesters, when the topics are more focused and the material is a little more challenging (I'm sure I'll want to kick myself later for wishing that upon myself...oh well!) 

S

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

Getting Into the Swing

Well, it's week three and things have been going pretty well.


The first two weeks of nursing school were pretty uneventful, but that's probably been a good way to ease us in.  Week one was orientation and HIPAA, HIPAA, HIPAA.  Week two was a lot of review and common sense information, with the exception of Nursing Therapeutics lab.  It's amazing how many skills we're learning in so short a time!  






I've also been to two clinicals for psychiatric nursing.  So far, I have done an intake assessment on a male patient with schizoaffective disorder.  This was slightly uncomfortable because I have never dealt with mental illness firsthand.  Asking a stranger extremely personal questions upon first meeting them is uncomfortable (although I should get over that soon, considering my future career), but asking someone who is manic is entirely different!  From your average stranger, you would expect an embarrassed mumble or a blush when they're asked if they've ever experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.  However, with a patient with mental illness, you never know what response you'll get.  For example, my patient was laughing one minute, sobbing the next, and laughing again thirty seconds later.  It's slightly unsettling.  


However, overall, I was lucky because my patient was quite friendly and didn't seem to be bothered by my incessant questioning.  He was really sweet!  He was a great first patient to have, because he reminded me that underneath all the lability and mania, is just a person with a disease.  There is a real stigma attached to those with mental illness.  If someone has heart disease, no one judges them; if someone has an under-active thyroid, no one judges them.  So, why is it that a person diagnosed with "dysfunction of brain chemistry" is deemed an untouchable?  What is it about our culture that creates this prejudice?  I just hope that my attitude toward my patient was enough to put him at ease while I was interviewing him, and was enough to show him that I was there to listen and not judge.  


At lunch, a different male patient brought me a sweet tea, so I must be doing something right :) 


S