It is June 30...which means, just under a month to go and I will GRADUATE!!!!! I am counting down the days (29 to be exact) but that includes days off and weekends...I haven't yet figured out exactly how many days I am in class/clinical...yet. Oh, I do know I only have five more days of clinical!!
Today was my last first day of clinical. My last clinical rotation in nursing school! This all feels surreal!! Today was great. I shadowed a nurse practitioner and was able to see prenatal, postpartum and gynecological appointments. It was very different, in my opinion, to be in a doctors office setting, as opposed to a hospital. It felt a lot more personal. I actually really enjoyed it. I do not think I want to look to work in a doctors office, but I think I will enjoy this last clinical.
I start my last new class tomorrow as well. We start Issues and Trends. Our professor seems amazing already. I have only have email interaction, but she is so understanding of where we are in the program and has already given us info about the course. How wonderful, right?! She seems like a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of this semester. We won't have any exams in this course, just participation points (40% of our grade) and a group presentation (60% of our grade). Seems pretty straightforward. I already have my group AND we have our topic for our presentation. We are going to look at the image of nursing and how it has changed over the years. Should be interesting :)
We had out Ethics presentation on Thursday. It went well. I feel like I was the weak link in that group, but the rest of the group did a great job! We had a thorough presentation and I am pretty sure we got an A. Now to just get through the last lectures of that course AND write my 10 page ethics paper. I originally wanted to write on something with fertility, but I am just write about immunizations and public schools. I find vaccines to be a hot topic and I get all fired up about it, so why not do more research about them! Trying to focus on the positives here.
I remember a year ago, this was my first week of my first clinical. What a difference a year makes. I never could have imagined what I would feel a year from that time. I know I still have a lot to learn and more confidence which I am sure will come with time and my first job. I know I have come a long way and I am proud of myself. I didn't think I could make it through...and I know I am not quite done yet, but I have more confidence in myself to know that I can and I WILL finish this program. I will feel accomplished with my diploma AND my notification that I passed NCLEX. Until then, I will partially hold my breath ;)
In other news, I may have the opportunity to be a research assistant to a pediatric nurse practitioner at a children's hospital. I spoke with the PNP last week to get more specifics and it sounds like a fantastic opportunity. I am waiting to hear what my next step would be. More to come!!
Ok, off to shower and get ready for a long day tomorrow. It's also supposed to be in the 90s tomorrow with a heat index of 100! Good thing I will be in air conditioning all day :)
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
Last Day of the Second to Last Clinical
Today was my last day in home health and I have to say I am very glad. I was one of the unfortunate students (my partner and I) who were ALWAYS the last two documenting on our patients. This means we were the last ones at the agency with the professor, not because we were slow, mainly because we had complicated patients with many medication issues and also the other students had the professor check their documentation before us. Oh well, it's all over and done with now! My professor actually said something today that stuck. She observed me in my home visit today, so I rode with her (and another student...not my usual partner). She explained how as student nurses, we only have one short visit to get all we need to get done with our patient. When you are a home health nurse, you have multiple visits and a lot more time to reach goals and educate and provide service to your patient. With all that being said, I am still thrilled to be done with home health!! Maybe it's because it's the second to last clinical I have to do in this program :)
This week already seems a bit less stressful compared to last week. On the other hand, I have one of the worst stiff necks of my life. It started Saturday night, in the middle of the night. I woke up about 75 times with shooting pain starting in my neck and going down my right shoulder and back. I used a heating pad and took ibuprofen and thankfully fell back asleep at 6am until 8am. I took a Motrin 800 later that day and started using an ice pack, which did seem to take the edge off. Today, I still do not have full mobility, but the intense shooting pain has thankfully subsided. The pain is starting to make me nauseous. I went to our chiropractor today, and I am now feeling worse pain. Maybe it has to hurt more before it gets better?!?!
Tomorrow I just have lecture. I really am not looking forward to heading to school. I just want to be DONE!!! I also have an Ethics presentation this Thursday, which seems to be slowly coming together. It's stressing me out.
We finally got our exam grades back from Thursday. I didn't do great, so that is motivating me to pay better attention in lecture and study more before the next exam. Sigh, we have two more exams in this course. Wait, I may only have two exams left in this entire program!! There are no exams in ethics (just a presentation and a long paper), my next course is Trends and there is only a presentation, no exams. Woo hoo!! I can do this!
Ok, back to icing my neck and working on Ethics.
35 days!!!!!!
This week already seems a bit less stressful compared to last week. On the other hand, I have one of the worst stiff necks of my life. It started Saturday night, in the middle of the night. I woke up about 75 times with shooting pain starting in my neck and going down my right shoulder and back. I used a heating pad and took ibuprofen and thankfully fell back asleep at 6am until 8am. I took a Motrin 800 later that day and started using an ice pack, which did seem to take the edge off. Today, I still do not have full mobility, but the intense shooting pain has thankfully subsided. The pain is starting to make me nauseous. I went to our chiropractor today, and I am now feeling worse pain. Maybe it has to hurt more before it gets better?!?!
Tomorrow I just have lecture. I really am not looking forward to heading to school. I just want to be DONE!!! I also have an Ethics presentation this Thursday, which seems to be slowly coming together. It's stressing me out.
We finally got our exam grades back from Thursday. I didn't do great, so that is motivating me to pay better attention in lecture and study more before the next exam. Sigh, we have two more exams in this course. Wait, I may only have two exams left in this entire program!! There are no exams in ethics (just a presentation and a long paper), my next course is Trends and there is only a presentation, no exams. Woo hoo!! I can do this!
Ok, back to icing my neck and working on Ethics.
35 days!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
6 Weeks
I GRADUATE IN 6 WEEKS!!!!
I can get through anything in six weeks, right??
Six weeks from today, I will have completed an accelerated nursing program...I WILL finish. Is it wrong that I am most excited about going out to dinner after said graduation? I need to pick a restaurant and make a reservation :)
I CAN do this...now back to studying for my first exam of this last semester. Sigh.
I can get through anything in six weeks, right??
Six weeks from today, I will have completed an accelerated nursing program...I WILL finish. Is it wrong that I am most excited about going out to dinner after said graduation? I need to pick a restaurant and make a reservation :)
I CAN do this...now back to studying for my first exam of this last semester. Sigh.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
I Want It To All Be OVER!
Why am I so surprised that I am so overwhelmed?? This has been exactly how the last three semesters (or quarters?) have been in this program. I feel like I am buried in school work and have zero motivation to do anything!! Rant over...for now.
So, the disorganization seems to be a theme with this last bit of nursing school (myself included!). A few of the instructors I have experienced have not been my favorite. That's all I will say about that. I also know, I am 99% sure I do not want to pursue a job in home health. If that is all that is available, I of course will take a job, but it would not be in my top five choices. My friend/car pool partner and I have only had one actual home visit so far. We have two days this week and maybe two days next week. It's going so fast!! We might get a day of mom/baby home visits too (fingers crossed!!). Our first (an only) home visit, I ran, meaning I was the main student nurse assessing the patient, taking vital signs and doing the medication reconciliation. My partner documented our findings and interjected when needed. We are a great pair! Tomorrow we should have two patients to visit, so we will each get a chance to lead. We drove out to the patient's home, had a lovely visit with our patient and drove back to the agency. It took about an hour and 45 minutes total. We were at the home for a bit over an hour and then travel time. Well, the one thing we couldn't forget to do, of course we forgot! (Our instructor went out with one of the students and they also forgot to do this too!) We forgot to have the patient sign a paper to prove we were there (and so the agency can submit for payment of the visit). So, I stayed at the agency to begin the daunting process of documenting our visit, while my partner drive with the other student to the patient's home to get said paper signed. I can guarantee we will not make that mistake again! I also had the privilege of calling the primary care doctor to ask about medication differences we found. It took forever to document everything and make the phone calls. I am so hoping that was our most challenging patient!!
In addition to making home visits, I also have my plate full of papers and projects. My clinical group and I are doing our community health project on the service trip we took over spring break. The rest of the class have the option to choose a zip code/city to focus on. I was under the assumption that most of our work was done...well I was completely wrong! We have a lot of info to gather and plug into an excel spreadsheet. My friend came over on Friday to work on this project. We split the material that is due this Thursday up among the eight of us in the group. My friend and I had the same section, which was the largest section. We spent five hours and I feel we barely scratched the surface! Also, this Thursday, we have our first exam. I made the decision to not purchase the textbooks for these courses. I am slightly panicked because I do not have the textbook...but I remind myself that I rarely did the readings anyway! I am going back through power point presentations and reading the chapters the instructors posted online. I also have a research paper due this Friday. Cue stressed out, overwhelmed, panicking Katie! She's back in full force! Don't worry, I am stuffing food in my face to ease my stress. No wonder all my pants are snug!
I cannot wait for next month! I just want to be done!! We had our practice NCLEX proctored exam last Friday. We had to be in school by 9:00am, with our laptops and in one room, all of us (there were 108 students) took a 180 multiple choice exam in 180 minutes. This exam gave us, in a percentage, our odds of passing our boards on the first attempt. I was clearly nervous as I had a dream a few nights before this where I received an 18% chance of passing my boards. Somehow, in the real practice, I received a 96% chance of passing the NCLEX on the first attempt!! Woo hoo!! Now, I just need to keep all that info in my head to make sure I actually pass the real NCLEX in a couple months. What is great about this program, it gives me a breakdown of my score and shows me exactly what areas I need to work on :) I know what the month of August is going to look like for me! We have also had more info given to us about applying for licensure and the NCLEX. It's sort of surreal! I can't believe the time is getting closer!!!
My fabulous family and friends keep reassuring me; "it's just a bit more," and "you can do this, you are at the end!" I panic when I hear that because of all the work that I have to do in that short amount of time!!!!
In other news, the weather has been amazing and I am so thankful to have a working air conditioner in my car. I need to focus on the positives...and keep on going to finish strong!!!
Only 43 days until GRADUATION!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!
So, the disorganization seems to be a theme with this last bit of nursing school (myself included!). A few of the instructors I have experienced have not been my favorite. That's all I will say about that. I also know, I am 99% sure I do not want to pursue a job in home health. If that is all that is available, I of course will take a job, but it would not be in my top five choices. My friend/car pool partner and I have only had one actual home visit so far. We have two days this week and maybe two days next week. It's going so fast!! We might get a day of mom/baby home visits too (fingers crossed!!). Our first (an only) home visit, I ran, meaning I was the main student nurse assessing the patient, taking vital signs and doing the medication reconciliation. My partner documented our findings and interjected when needed. We are a great pair! Tomorrow we should have two patients to visit, so we will each get a chance to lead. We drove out to the patient's home, had a lovely visit with our patient and drove back to the agency. It took about an hour and 45 minutes total. We were at the home for a bit over an hour and then travel time. Well, the one thing we couldn't forget to do, of course we forgot! (Our instructor went out with one of the students and they also forgot to do this too!) We forgot to have the patient sign a paper to prove we were there (and so the agency can submit for payment of the visit). So, I stayed at the agency to begin the daunting process of documenting our visit, while my partner drive with the other student to the patient's home to get said paper signed. I can guarantee we will not make that mistake again! I also had the privilege of calling the primary care doctor to ask about medication differences we found. It took forever to document everything and make the phone calls. I am so hoping that was our most challenging patient!!
In addition to making home visits, I also have my plate full of papers and projects. My clinical group and I are doing our community health project on the service trip we took over spring break. The rest of the class have the option to choose a zip code/city to focus on. I was under the assumption that most of our work was done...well I was completely wrong! We have a lot of info to gather and plug into an excel spreadsheet. My friend came over on Friday to work on this project. We split the material that is due this Thursday up among the eight of us in the group. My friend and I had the same section, which was the largest section. We spent five hours and I feel we barely scratched the surface! Also, this Thursday, we have our first exam. I made the decision to not purchase the textbooks for these courses. I am slightly panicked because I do not have the textbook...but I remind myself that I rarely did the readings anyway! I am going back through power point presentations and reading the chapters the instructors posted online. I also have a research paper due this Friday. Cue stressed out, overwhelmed, panicking Katie! She's back in full force! Don't worry, I am stuffing food in my face to ease my stress. No wonder all my pants are snug!
I cannot wait for next month! I just want to be done!! We had our practice NCLEX proctored exam last Friday. We had to be in school by 9:00am, with our laptops and in one room, all of us (there were 108 students) took a 180 multiple choice exam in 180 minutes. This exam gave us, in a percentage, our odds of passing our boards on the first attempt. I was clearly nervous as I had a dream a few nights before this where I received an 18% chance of passing my boards. Somehow, in the real practice, I received a 96% chance of passing the NCLEX on the first attempt!! Woo hoo!! Now, I just need to keep all that info in my head to make sure I actually pass the real NCLEX in a couple months. What is great about this program, it gives me a breakdown of my score and shows me exactly what areas I need to work on :) I know what the month of August is going to look like for me! We have also had more info given to us about applying for licensure and the NCLEX. It's sort of surreal! I can't believe the time is getting closer!!!
My fabulous family and friends keep reassuring me; "it's just a bit more," and "you can do this, you are at the end!" I panic when I hear that because of all the work that I have to do in that short amount of time!!!!
In other news, the weather has been amazing and I am so thankful to have a working air conditioner in my car. I need to focus on the positives...and keep on going to finish strong!!!
Only 43 days until GRADUATION!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!
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