I got my practicum assignment today!

I'll be on the cardiac telemetry unit at THE hospital, night shift (7p-7a), weekend option.  Probably starting my first shifts next weekend, depending on my preceptor's schedule.  EEK!

I'm so thankful I got night shift hours, very satisfied with the tele unit, but a little on the fence with the weekend option part.  Granted, I'll get probably 36 hours every week, which will help me get through my required hours quickly...and other than weekends my preceptor has off, I pretty much know my schedule already...and none of my practicum hours will interfere with classes and exams (although it will cut into my Sunday night library-campout studying night).  But I'll be in clinical every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, then sleeping every Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, and most of Monday...no relaxing weekends for awhile...and I'll have to miss weekend activities with my kiddos, and with soccer starting up next weekend...perfect timing!  :-(  But it's temporary...as soon as I get my hours logged, I'm done.

So now that I know my assignment, the next step is waiting until our director gives me permission to contact my preceptor and set up a time to meet n' greet and get schedules coordinated.  Then let's get this thing going...I'm ready to get back to direct patient care!

In other news...it's now the middle of the 2nd week of classes, day 8 of the semester...and I've been to class only 3 days.  I'm really liking this schedule!  All day Wednesday for critical care class, and select Thursdays for Transition to Nursing Practice class...and that's it as far as face-to-face class times for the rest of the semester.  Then with my weekends for practicum hours...I have my weekdays free!  Well, relatively, since I'll have plenty of school work and studying to do.  But still!  I can make this work  :-)

So I passed my med dosage calculation quiz last week (no problem!) and have learned a crap-ton about EKG's.  I'm really looking forward to being on the tele unit so I can see and hear some of these disrhythmias in real patients.  They make sense, mostly, but I think seeing the monitors and strips will really help tie it all together.

Now time to read up on more cardiac stuff and get my weekly journal started.  Off tomorrow, although studying disrhythmias with a classmate for a few hours, then all day Epic training on Friday.  Yay...8 hours of training on a computer system I already know how to use!!

Laters  :-)

One week in...

So I survived the first week.  My overall take on this semester: I'm going to be plenty busy, but it doesn't seem to be the same level of insane busy that last semester was.  4 classes, 2 with clinical rotations...exams and projects and care plans and clinical worksheets.  But still, things seem less intense.  And the clinicals...OB in L&D and Nursery/Mother-Baby...peds in the NICU, a ped's office, on the peds unit in The Hospital, outpatient OR...plus I might get a day of shadowing at Kosair's Children's Hospital NICU or PICU.  Even if I don't get to touch a thing and all I do is just watch, an opportunity at Kosair's will be priceless!

I was reminded of being oh so thankful I'm past Med-Surg.  Tuesday after they'd had their first class, the cohort behind me looked panicked, scared, almost already beaten.  I got caught in the hallway talking to a few of them...not caught in that I didn't want to talk, but caught up by their questions.. "How much did you have to read?  How did you do on the exams?  What was clinical like?  How did you do on ATI?  How much time did you spend on this class?  What was your final grade in the class?"  They were firing questions at me left and right.  Oh those poor souls.  I feel bad for them, I do...but just like we did, they'll have to buck up and get through it if they're serious about it.  Not to say that the classmates we lost weren't serious...hell, I won't get into that whole situation in the event someone were to stumble across my words here and...well, I don't want trouble.

ANYWAY

Getting right into the swing of things this week...Peds and Leadership classes on Tuesday, Peds clinical on Wednesday (0630!! Woohoo!) and OB clinical orientation on Thursday.  Already completed one main assignment for Global Health, got my case studies and reading done for Leadership...have some reading to do for Peds for this week and for OB for next week...seems like I'm getting back into the groove fairly well.

And on that note, the reading beckons.  Good luck to everyone starting classes this week!

Later.

Semester break almost over

Yep, time to head back for yet another fun-filled semester of nursing school.  Monday, 0800.  But I start the with the class I've literally been waiting 2 years for, so maybe that's a good sign that it will be a good semester!  I can hope, anyway...

4 classes this semester -- OB, Peds, Global Health, and Nursing Leadership.  I've got my books (cheapest semester yet!  Woot!), getting information off Blackboard as it's showing up...pretty much nothing left to do except start the readings for Monday.  But on this Thursday night, I'm not really feeling like reading.  I've got 3 more days to get it done, I'll procrastinate a bit more while I still can.

Monday starts with OB in the morning, Global in the afternoon.  As I'm sure I've mentioned ad nauseum, I'm so ready for OB.  Both times I was pregnant I read and read and read some more, plus I'm leaning toward OB nursing after graduation, so I'm hoping my previous experience and my interest will make this class one of those where I do well and really enjoy it.  Global...looking over the syllabus and skimming through the book, it looks like it *might* be kinda-sorta interesting.  Plus it meets only 5 times during the semester..twice in January, then once a month for 3 months.  Not sure why, but who am I to complain, right?  Peds...have been through a lot with both my own personal kiddos, again hoping my experience helps.  Leadership...another typical BSN course that we have to slog through.  Meh.  Interested in 3 out of the 4 isn't bad.

3 more days of freedom.  Going to run some errands, have a girls' night with the girlfriend on Saturday night, try to get 3 good 5+ mile runs in...enjoy the feeling of being stress-free for just a little bit longer.

Then, I'm on.  And probably not here as much.  ;-)

First day...mixed thoughts

So today was my first day of my second semester in nursing school...and as alluded to in the title, I've got some major mixed thoughts on it.

The morning started at 8:30 with Mental Health class, taught by one of our TNI clinical instructors from last year, who is also the same instructor that several of us had for Pharm a year ago.  She's a very kind person, very approachable, someone who wants us to do well and is willing to offer help and suggestions as needed.  I can't remember if I've said it here or on Twitter or on Facebook...but I think the classroom portion of Mental Health will be pretty interesting, with the clinicals being...interesting but also potentially scary/sad/eye-opening.  We will spend some time in the local childrens' psychiatric hospital, as well as the psych floor of THE hospital and out at some community sites.  We'll get those assignments on Thursday.  And it was stressed to us that what happens in psych clinical cannot leave the confines of our classroom when we meet for post-clinical conference.  So yes...I still remember my HIPAA obligations.

Our instructor also told us her very personal reason for being interested in mental health topics...and while I wish I could pass along her moving story, for the sake of her privacy, I just don't feel right doing so.  But I will say I was surprised to hear her story, having had no idea of this part of her life even though she's been a fairly consistent figure in my nursing school life for the past year.  God bless this woman...and now I have an even greater appreciation and respect for her and what she's doing.

We also had a medical dosage calculation quiz after going over the syllabus and course stuff.  Just checked and my grade isn't up on Blackboard yet, but I feel pretty confident about it.  It's pass/fail, so as long as I got a 75% or better, I don't care too much about the actual "grade" on it.  Well, I do...but I've learned to let go of some of that Type A tendency.  I give my best, my all, but I'm not going to worry about getting that 100% as much as I used to...as I learned last semester that nursing school is a whole different ball game on that front.

Anyhoo...

Next up was Adult Health AKA Med-Surg.  I mentioned in my last entry that we have a new instructor for this course.  I'm still debating on how to go about this portion of this entry...getting my point and thoughts across without also getting myself into a big mess o' trouble if this little bloggity-blog were to be discovered by the powers that be at my school.  So I'll opt for the professional route...and say that the jury is still out on my final opinion of the new instructor.  She is...different...than the previous instructor and from what we were expecting to walk into.  Having been a teacher in my past life, I'm hoping she's just employing a few teacher tricks that help her to establish her role early on and then will...settle...a few weeks in.  We shall see.  All I know is I will be working my butt off for this class.  For one thing, Med-Surg is a backbone for the rest of my nursing courses and subsequent career, so what I learn this semester has a huge impact on the rest of my whole nursing gig.  Another thing, is it's an 8 credit hour class...and 8 credits of A will be a huge boost to the GPA, plus it will look good if I can swing an A in such a hardcore class.

We had another medical dosage calculation quiz in this class...I walked out of that one shaking my head and hoping that I had done OK on it.  A couple questions really threw me because they were either really involved with conversions, or had conversions that I was hazy on, or were things we just hadn't yet covered.  But, I ended up with a 15/16, with the one I missed being a really stupid mistake on my part (such and such L of IV meds was to be given over 24 hours, calculate the flow rate in mL/hr...and instead of using the 24 in the equation, I had a 4.  ?!?!  See, stupid mistake.  BLARG.)  But I passed.  Even though the Maths is so not my thing.

Up tomorrow and next week are massive clinical/skills review days for Adult Health...we get to demonstrate to our instructor all the things we've learned (and haven't learned) last semester so she can see where she needs to start (and what to fix).  Yay, sounds like fun.  :-/

So...mixed thoughts/feelings on semester 2.  I'm hoping it's just the 'trauma' of the combination of impending stress, the new instructor, the new courses, not knowing what to expect, etc. and that in a few weeks once things are more familiar, I'll be just stressed and busy, not feeling so discombobulated.

So...to end on a positive note -- Happy First Day to those who are starting or heading back to classes this week!  And for those who still have a few more days/weeks of summer vacay left...enjoy it while you have it!

Later(s) gators,

My last weekend of "freedom"

Until December, anyway.  *sad*

Yep...school resumes Monday.  Course info is starting to show up on Blackboard, e-mails from instructors are starting to come in, my books have arrived.  Oh yeah...and required reading for both Psych and Adult Health in the textbooks, ATI reading, and 2 med dosage calculation quizzes, all on Monday.  I get to spend my last weekend not out with friends or enjoying my last couple of days off...nope, I get to read chapters and review conversions and rounding rules.  Yay nursing school.  :-/

Speaking of books, here's a look at what I will end up hating by the end of the semester.  The Med-Surg, Psych, Nursing Research, and Medical Terminology were new additions, while the others were books used (or at least bought) in previous semesters.  Med-Surg and Psych are still in their plastic wrap, but after the above mentioned reading assignments, I guess I'll have to break down and unwrap them...I guess they're officially mine at that point.  No turning back!

We found out we've got a new-to-our-program instructor for Adult Health this year...and I'm not sure how I feel about this.  The former instructor was our TNI instructor last spring.  She was tough and I wouldn't want to be on her bad side at all, but she was fair and she wanted us to succeed.  Other than our director, she is the most senior on-site staff as well, so she was able to call some shots and such.  The new person...no clue who she is, no clue as to her background, we know nothing.  And I think back to my Pharm class last fall, where we had a new instructor and because we were her guinea pig students, we suffered a bit.  Like to the point of we'll have to learn Pharm between now and taking the NCLEX in December 2012/January 2013 because we didn't really learn it when we took the course.  *sigh*  I know everyone has to start somewhere, everyone has a first semester of teaching or being an RN and all that...just...buh, I don't want another first semester teacher in my nursing school experience.  If that makes me selfish, then I guess I'm a bit selfish.  I'm just hoping all turns out OK.

I guess it's about time to dig my scrubs out from the depths of my closet, get my much loved Danskos out and dusted off, make sure my little Vera Bradley make-up case is stocked with my clinical supplies -- name tag, photo ID, stethoscope, scissors, penlight, pens, etc.  I don't know when we'll start with clinicals and lab, if it will be next week or the week after.  Other than having to write care plans every week, I am really looking forward to clinicals...I so love getting in there and doing real RN tasks.  Although I'm a bit nervous about Psych clinicals... o_O

I suppose I should wrap this up and take advantage of a quiet house (everyone's asleep) and not having to study (it's 0105...I'm not studying right now, not yet) and watch some TV off the DVR or read a non-academic book or something.  I will say a big GOOD LUCK to everyone else who is starting/resuming hell -- I mean nursing school -- in the next couple of weeks.  I hope everyone has an awesome semester!

Until the next time,

2 days in...

...and other than some slight confusion this morning regarding my satellite campus' snow policy (...), things are going well.

I've had lecture for all 4 class in the past 2 days, so I now have a much better idea of what to expect in each class.  We normally have our clinicals on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but those don't start until next week...so I'm off the next 2 days!  But my normal day off, Friday, we have an all-day clinical orientation split between the local health department and the hospital (first chance to wear official clinical uniform...*squee*).  Always a trade-off...

Anyhoo, classes seem like they'll be interesting and I'll learn quite a bit.  I say this now, as a total noob, but I'm looking forward to clinicals and labs.  I like a change of scenery and the chance to do some hands-on learning.  Instructors seem pretty straightforward and human, as opposed to scary drill sergeant robo-nurse-bots.  This is going to be a semester of a lot of busy work, though!  Lots of reading...and watching Tegrity lectures...and skills DVD's...and some papers/written assignments here and there...and clinical journals every week...  BUT, no comprehensive final exams.  Nice.

Still having to buy supplies, though...things that weren't previously mentioned.  Health Assessment requires a tape measure and bandage scissors, probably less than $10 total; TNI requires a pre-made kit of catheter tubing, syringes, gauze, etc., which is another $70.  Ouch.  This whole nursing school gig is one of those nickle-and-dime things...except instead of nickles and dimes, it's more like $50's and $100's. :-/

My plan now is to grab each class schedule and get all assignments, exams, quizzes, journals, and whatever else entered into my handy-dandy planner...and then start getting this week's tasks checked off.  Due to no clinicals and then the Martin Luther King holiday, I've got a week to get stuff done.  Must. Not. Squander. Time.

Alrighty...schoolwork beckons...