And half a month later...

I'm neglecting a lot of things this semester, this blog is one of them.  I've just been so busy with practicum and other stuff, and it really doesn't look to get much better any time soon.

Practicum - only 6 more shifts and I am finished with my hours!  I'm still enjoying being on telemetry, although I haven't seen any major cardiac patients yet.  Oddly enough, the most pressing issues I've had with my patients so far was hypoglycemia - 2 different patients were down in the 30's, so they got a little boost of IV D50 - and I've had 3 alcoholics in for chest pain issues.  Not really sure why they got sent to us, none of them had major cardiac issues going on, and they could have easily gone up to the floor that generally handles the detoxers and been on remote telemetry...but not my decision.  But I did start an IV the other night, and was *this* close to starting another one.  And this will sound a little morbid, but I watched a patient die on the tele monitor.  It was a patient on another floor on remote tele, and while I was sitting near the monitors, I heard the alarm ring.  This patient was brady down in the 30's, but would go back up to the 50's, then would alarm back down in the 30's.  Then the monitor showed asystole, but it wasn't actual asystole at that point, it was just a really long break in between impulses.  So I watched awhile longer and the impulses really widened out and were getting fewer and fewer...showing an agonal pattern.  Then asystole again, this time it stayed flat.  So I watched the monitor show NSR to SB to agonal to asystole.  All this happened over the course of maybe 10 minutes?  Kinda sad, knowing that a patient a floor below us had died and there was nothing we could do but watch.

School - Hating it.  Ready to be done.  Frustrated with all the stupid stuff we have to do, the ridiculous guidelines and assignments and such.  OVER IT.  72 more days until graduation and I hope I make it without strangling someone!  I've had my bad days in other semesters, where I feel a little overwhelmed, but it usually passes.  This semester it's not really passing...which sucks!
The good news is I'm getting information for ordering my nursing pin this week, plus we should be getting information on getting our senior pictures taken soon.  I'm excited about getting my pin, even though I won't really get it until December.

Not much else going on...school takes up a disproportionate amount of my life and I'm ready for that to change.  I hope December gets here quickly!

Practicum update

...and I've managed to get 63 hours done already.  I'm just under 1/3 of the way through!

It's been interesting so far.  My preceptor is great, she and I get along well (which is always a good thing, makes it much easier), and she can see that I take this role very seriously and am not just going to be a hot-shot know-it-all type.  I definitely do not know everything, far from it, but I apparently know enough of what I'm doing that she's letting me do some of the patient care activities on my own. Nothing major or invasive...she's front and center for anything like that, I don't even try to go it alone on certain tasks...but she'll have me do admissions, plus assessments, PO med passes, any comfort measures, and I do most of the required charting myself.  Knowing Epic has really helped...thank you again, Externship Hospital!

Other classes are going OK.  Didn't do as well as I had wanted on my cardiac exam, but it was my fault, really.  She told us what to study, and I focused on EKG/dysrhythmias too much and not enough on the drugs and treatments.  The questions I missed were drug questions and if I had paid more attention to that section when studying, I would have gotten a lot higher score.  I'm bummed, but I'm not going to let it ruin my semester.  I know what to do for the next exam, so I hope my score will be better!

Other than that, not much going on. I'm definitely keeping plenty busy with school!  So ready for this semester to be done.  It's really hard to believe that with the end of this semester comes the end of nursing school.  Seriously.  I mean, I start applying for nursing jobs NEXT MONTH.  How insane is that?  I would *love* to have a job lined up by graduation...that would be so awesome.  I would be able to work as an RN-A (A for applicant)...getting RN pay (!!!), doing RN work, just with a preceptor until I get my license.  I've got my fingers crossed that the ideal job opens up!

Before I sign off, I wanted to answer a couple of questions from my last post (and I will admit I am really bad about this...I do read all comments on my posts and I'm thankful for the words of support and encouragement...I just really suck at verbalizing that appreciation in subsequent posts!)

Azmomo2 -- yes, this is the only clinical component we have this semester.  Once we get our 210 hours done - at least 155 have to be direct patient care, the remainder can be direct patient care, observational hours, professional hours (attending unit meetings, conferences, classes, etc. with our preceptors) or other miscellaneous hours - we are finished.  Being WEO and getting 36 hours almost every week, I will probably be one of the first of my class to be finished...right now I'm looking at being done in mid-October.  I'll miss patient care, but it will be nice to be able to really focus on my other classes.  I requested night shift hours, and cardiac was one of my preferences.  Looking at the units my class got placed on, telemetry is definitely my first choice!

Heather -- I would have loved being on NICU, but it wasn't an option.  We do have the option of taking up to 12 shadow/observation hours with a different unit (if it can be worked out), and I requested an observation day with my hospital's Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.  My future career goal is NICU (well, as of right now)...but I know it's tough to get in there, there isn't much of a turnaround, and I want to get some general skills and knowledge built up before I go into a specialty.

Curlygirl -- Welcome!  Glad you've found my journey through nursing school interesting.  :-)

On that note...I have some busywork to get done - have to stay up late tonight, sleep tomorrow, because I have clinical tomorrow night.  I hope it's an interesting night!

Laters  :-)