My first two weeks

Hello there! For those of you who possibly haven't heard, I started nursing school two weeks ago at my local community college. I totally lucked out and got in at the last minute from the alternate list (lucky #7!) and am now dedicating the next two years of my life to becoming a nurse. The schedule is pretty grueling and I've had to make some major cuts in my daily activities, including my beloved email habit. I decided to revamp my old blog and use it as a way to keep in touch with those who care and are interested in how school's going. I learn something new every day and it's difficult to remember "the good stuff" when I do finally connect with people. So here it all is, for your reading pleasure. Hopefully it won't bore you or gross you out too much!

Week 1:
I already had homework due before the first day of class on 9/29 and spent the first week scrambling to keep up. I have a ton of reading each day and am also supposed to watch online lectures called "Breezes" before each class. I usually have to watch 2 or 3 for one class and they range from 20 to 70 minutes each. (Very time consuming!) As for my schedule, I have lecture on Monday and Wednesdays from 8 to 11:20 am, and "guided skills practice" on Tuesdays from 9 am to noon. Thursdays and Fridays are dedicated to clinical experience, which I haven't started yet, and so far we've used those days to learn basic nursing skills. It's nice that my classes are in the morning so that I can spend the rest of each day doing homework.

Week 2:
I had my first skills "check-off" on Tuesday morning where I had to perform a complete head-to-toe assessment on live person in the simulation lab. We got to prepare for this by watching a video a few times - that was it. Luckily my "patient" was a healthy young EMT student and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary to challenge my very rudimentary skills. I'm happy to report that I passed the check-off on the first try, even though I was a nervous wreck. I had practiced assessing Kevin at home over the weekend in preparation, and apparently it worked because the instructor said I was very organized and completed my assessment 5 minutes ahead of schedule!

My first exam (#1 out of 5) was on Wednesday and we were all absolutely dreading it. All the questions are written to match the format of the nursing boards exam (called the NCLEX) and are based on critical thinking. Gone are the days of simply picking the correct definition from a list... I now have to apply every concept to a situation and pick the best answer, the first priority, or select all answers that apply (and you have to get them all for it to count). I used to think I was a good test-taker but not anymore. On all my practice tests the best I could score was a 60%! I definitely have to change my way of thinking if I'm going to succeed in this course. I'm happy to report that I passed the first test though, which the instructors promised would be somewhat easier than the practice tests. They've already warned us that the next test will be harder, so I'm just hoping for a B grade. Don't laugh! This is like NOTHING I've ever done before and it's like I'm completely starting over with a clean educational slate!

On Friday we had our official Clinical Orientation where we got to wear our chocolate-brown scrubs for the first time (I'll have Kevin take a picture of me in them - I look like a big Hershey's Kiss) and learn about our clinical experience. This term we'll be spending 4 days at a long-term care facility (nursing home) and 4 days at the hospital doing very basic skills like taking vital signs, doing patient assessments, and moving, feeding, and bathing (yikes!) patients. Suffice it to say that I absolutely do not feel prepared to work with living, breathing patients yet but am just going to soldier on and pretend that I'm fine. They don't just turn us loose in the facilities and let us jeopardize the patients' health, so at least I'm confident that someone will always be with me to make sure I don't seriously injure anyone. I'm sure I'll have MUCH more to say about clinicals later, so stay tuned!

Week 3:
And here we are - the current week. I should add that right after my test last week I came down with a doozer of a cold and have been a miserable wreck ever since! I had all these grand plans to do yoga and go running in between homework sessions, and all I've been able to do for the last few days is take naps. Yesterday I learned some of the basics about documentation and charting patient info, and wow was that overwhelming. Good thing I'll get lots of practice in clinicals! We followed that up with "therapeutic communication" which is definitely more my speed, having been a Communication major in my former life. The instructor is wonderful and brings in her certified therapy dog, Tanner, to keep our spirits up during all her lectures. (I'm sure Shelly finds this very confusing when I get home from class.)

Today in skills lab we learned how to take a urine sample from a catheter, empty a catheter bag, and discontinue (remove) a catheter. We also discussed enemas but were assured that they are rarely administered by nursing students. Next week we get to give each other intramuscular injections... can't wait!

So now you are officially caught up... I apologize that this was such a long entry! I'll make sure to keep the next ones shorter so you don't fall asleep. Have a good Tuesday! I'm going to go take a nap.