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!!!!
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