Update

I guess I could write a bit of an update since I have a little time. Let's see, I have about two weeks, maybe three left of school. Ohmygoshhhh. It's crazy that this semester has gone by so fast. I mean, I'm not done yet, who knows if I will pass. And I'm not kidding when I say that. The program that I'm in is extremely difficult. A lot of people have already gotten kicked out. :( I'm doing pretty well in Patho right now. I'm getting a B. As for my Nursing 111, I'm getting a C. But a C is passing, so I'm on the right track. I'm doing better in clinical now. My instructor wrote some pretty good comments on my evaluation. I have two more clinicals before I'm done. The thing that I'm scared of the most is the lab class. We have our skills testing next monday. So, a week from now. YIKES! I have been practicing, but I feel like it hasn't been enough. We have a number of things that we could be tested on. G-Tube medication administration, IM injections, Sterile procedure, applying restraints, oropharyngeal suctioning, collecting a urine specimen from a foley catheter, oxygen therapy, dry to moist dressing changes, applying an abdominal binder, administering a cleansing enema, and I think there are more that I don't want to list. Anyway, you get the picture. So, we could be tested on any of those skills. It's pretty scary when an instructor is standing right behind you watching. Very nervewracking. So for next semester, I am going to be preparing over the winter holiday. Reding up on Psych and Med-Surge. I seriously can't wait for school to be over.
Thanks for reading!

Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
I am thankful for my family and all the support they have shown me this past semester. I am thankful for all my friends, new and old. I am thankful for all the experiences I have had ~ What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Happy Thanksgiving.
Namaste

Thank Goodness

Well, it's been a while. I'm going to keep this post short. I know I haven't been writing much, but to be honest I'm exhausted. Gotta reserve my energy for long nights of studying. I am happy to say that I was finally able to pass oral medications as well as administer a subcutaneous injection at clinicals yesterday. I would have to say that clinicals went pretty well for me :). Better than the other days anyway. It's been a long week, but its not over yet. ^^ I have a lot of studying to do this weekend. I've got yet another exam coming up on Monday. I can't wait to get that out of the way. Thanksgiving is coming up soon. I am excited for it :) Have a wonderful holiday all. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I am very thankful to my family for being so supportive of me, I'm thankful for the fact that my clinical instructor is so kind and understanding. I'm thankful that I'm passing my classes!
Namaste

There Are Bright Days!

Well, the world decided to shine a little light my way. I got 100% on my Pathophysiology exam! My spirits have been boosted!!

:)

Mondays are always really hard for me. I get to school around 07:30 and don't leave until about 17:15 (5:30 pm). I was mentally exhausted today. I'm not even sure of what I want to write about. School has been going alright. I'm still passing all my classes, that's a relief. I took my fifth Pathophysiology exam today. It was on musculoskeletal disorders and neurological disorders, so kinda a heavy test. But I think I did alright. There are about four weeks left of school! I am so excited! And I cannot wait for a break. It's been more difficult that I thought it would be. This weekend, I had to work, I had to complete my holistic assessment, my self evaluation and I had to study for my Patho test. Well, I managed it. I don't like doing it this way. If I could go to school and not work, I definitly would. But this is what my life is like right now, and I will get through this. I have a support system, some of that support system wavers sometimes, but I am grateful for their understanding. I know that I may seem to not really care about other people at the moment, I feel bad, I am too self-absorbed right now. I will try harder to communicate with my friends and family. It's important to take care of my relationships as well as my career. Life is tough. But I can still enjoy every moment of it.

I'm Just Tired

This is so tough! The whole school thing, I mean. Who knew that clinical would be so HARD! After my clinical rotation at the hospital today, I went home and talked to my sister online. I burst into tears the moment I saw her. Why? Because right now, I HATE clinical rotation. It's tearing me apart. I have basically lost every bit of confidence I had. I'm always forgetting to do something. So far, in the three clinicals I have had, I've had some sort of difficulty with my patient. 1st patient: basically wasn't on the unit the whole time I was there. I got to see her once. 2nd patient: The family decided to put her on hospice that day, so they were in the room crying for most of the shift. How can I do a holistic assessment when that's happening? I really... can't? 3rd patient: Didn't think that anyone knew how sick she was, refused to talk to me about anything, yelled at me for trying to do my assessment, and yelled at her husband when he tried to talk to me. Is it obvious that I'm a bit overwhelmed??? I have to do a holistic assessment on my third patient. I worked on that for about three hours after I cried my eyes out. I think I MIGHT have enough information for this. But I'm just exhausted right now. I didn't even get to do my Med Pass today. I was supposed to do that. It's bringing me down. I'm going to talk to my clinical instructor, hopefully she can find a nice patient for me for next time. I'm not saying that I don't like the challenge, but I feel like I'm not learning enough, and I'm not doing as much as the rest of the people in my clinical group. I feel unorganized and scared. Does anyone have any pointers for me?

What Do You Do With a Difficult Patient?

What do you do when you get an extremely difficult patient? We all know that there are those people in the world who make people's lives hell. Whether they do it on purpose or not, I'm not too sure. Yesterday I had the oppurtunity (if that's what you can call it), to work with a very difficult pt. whose daughter was just like her, if not worse. When this particular patient saw me walk in, she took her finger and motioned for me to go over to her. Well, of course I did. She commenced on giving out to me, and telling me that when she got her food, I was not to just leave her there to eat it. "Well, of course!", I said, "I will help you set it up and make sure that you're comfortable." She thanked me gratefully. Sometime during the day, this woman's daughter came into the room and decided that there was no phone in the room because she couldn't find it. She looked at me and said, "Nancy, WHY doesn't she have a phone?" because obviously, the fact that she was without a phone was my fault. I smiled politely and looked around the room. I couldn't find it either. I told her that I would go and get her one. I got a bit caught up with something else and saw the daughter of the patient was at the front desk talking with the secretary. She had told the secretary that I had told her to ask the secretary to get the phone (if that makes any sense). Well, of course that wasn't the case. Thankfully the secretary was very kind and went to the room with me and found that in reality, there was a phone. I'm not sure why, but this woman was stressing me out. So much, that I wanted to cry. But, I didn't. The patient then got on my case later because her dinner had come while I was busy (bringing a body down to the morgue). This was after the family had left. She yelled at me, telling me that I had "promised" to come, and that I "never came." Yes, I understand, the hospital is a strange and scary place. But as a Tech, I have at least eight other patients to take care of. I was caring for her roommate and she was yelling my name, telling me that she needed her toothpaste at that MOMENT. No matter how many times I told her I would be there as soon as I was finished caring for her roommate, she would not stop yelling. I got so boiled up that I raised my voice. I showed her that she had a roommate by opening the curtain and told her that I have other people to take care of too. That she needs to wait for a while sometimes. She did calm down and did tell me that she would be nicer, but that was deffinitly the INCORRECT way to handle the situation. What should I have done? I was at a loss yesterday. I had been so patient, I had been calm, but my exhaustion got to the best of me. Being a nurses aid or a Patient Care Tech can help so much in learning how to deal with the everchanging situation of a hospital. What I should have done was to say, "Ok, I'm here now, what can I do for you?" In an ideal world. The patient would say thank you and calmly tell you what they need. But, unfortunately, a hospital's situations are hardly ever ideal. That's the truth. Nurses as well as Tech need to be flexible, need to anticipate, and need to be able to handle sitations. This is a job that is full of surprises. You're lucky if you get an "easy" day.