Summer externship is over

:-(

I worked my final shift last week.  Clocked out, said good-bye to my preceptor and a couple other nurses I'd worked with, and then walked out of Externship Hospital for the last time.  Well, as a student nurse extern, that is.  Who knows...I might be back there as a PRN RN at some point (holding on to that as an option!)

What can I say about my experience as a student nurse extern?  For one thing, I really did enjoy it.  I gained so much more confidence working with and talking to patients.  I feel less awkward doing various assessments, taking vitals, and other tasks.  I've picked up little tips and tricks that I didn't learn in clinicals.  I got used to the flow of a full shift, giving and getting report, and of working with more than one patient at a time.  And I learned the importance of getting charting done ASAP, because you never know when you'll get an admission or one of your patients will require extra time.  I most definitely recommend this kind of experience to any nursing student.  It will prepare you for your senior practicum and for your eventual RN job.  Plus as a nursing student on a unit, you find out you'll get to do a lot of tasks/skills for your skills log because the nurses/techs will gladly pass it on by saying "hey, let the student do it!"  :-)

As for orthopedics, I enjoyed it too.  In Externship Hospital, the ortho unit handles true ortho patients - joint replacement program (JRP) patients and any ortho eval admits from the ER or direct admission - as well as med/surg overflow patients.  I literally did a little bit of everything.  Am I specialized in any one thing after this summer?  No.  But do I feel a lot more knowledgeable about general nursing?  Absolutely!

Up next...semester 4 (!!!  SEMESTER 4!!!) starts in about 2 weeks.  Not sure what to expect since we're not really in class as much this semester.  We did get info on our practicum and got a chance to make our unit and shift preferences known.  I asked for night shift (please, oh please, let me get nights...) and said I was interested in med/surg, cardiac, neuro, and ER.  We'll see what happens.

So I have a couple weeks to enjoy the last little bit of stress-free freedom before classes start.  I have a feeling I'm going to hit the ground running and it's going to be busy right up until the end.  Juggling practicum hours with classwork with kiddo activities with studying with projects..fun fun!  But this is my FINAL semester...I made it through 3 others (4 if you count my Patho/Pharm "pre-nursing" semester), I sure as hell can do this one more time!  Graduation is in sight...NCLEX is coming up (eek!)...the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!

On that note, I am off to watch the late night showing of tonight's prime time Olympics - still on night shift sleep schedule, love having something to watch all night! - and just relax.

Laters  <---shamelessly swiped from "Fifty Shades of Grey", which I will admit to reading over the summer.  Yep, I succumbed.  So sue me.  I needed something to keep me awake when we had cooperative patients who actually slept at night  :-)

In the Year 2012

Of course all kinds of things can happen in the course of a calendar year.  But seeing as how my crystal ball reading skillz aren't all that, I cannot foresee all the various things that will go down In the Year 2012. That said, here are some of the high points I'm expecting for this coming year:


January - I start my 3rd semester of nursing school, known as the OB/Peds semester (I won't mention the more popular nicknames, just because I'm trying to keep things classy here...).  This is the semester I've been waiting for ever since I went back to school.  Bring on the babies!  Realize that a year from now, I'll be preparing for NCLEX...thinking that a year ago I was just getting started.

February - I'm sure something will happen in February...

March - I turn 36 years old.  I have my last spring break as a student (unless I become insane and go to grad school to get another graduate degree...)

April - My 3rd semester winds down.  Take my 2nd-to-last round of finals, of ATI exams.

May - Begin my 3 months of freedom!  Catch up on sleep.  Fix any nutritional imbalances.  Thankful I'll have more time for running.  Hoping I have either a part-time CNA job or a nurse externship to be looking forward to.  And if not, well, just enjoy my final summer where I'm not working.

June - Slow month, unless I'm working or externing.  Will be getting a lot of running done.

July - Another slow month, unless I'm working or externing.  Still getting a lot of running done.

August - I start my 4th semester of nursing school.  This is it, my last semester!  Paying my last round of tuition, buying my last round of textbooks.  My baby, my little kiddo...she starts Kindergarten.  And my big girl...she switches schools to the 4-6 building.  Doesn't seem possible. :-(

September -I'm sure something will happen in September...probably starting my preceptorship..?

October - My final fall break as a student!

November - My final Thanksgiving break as a student!  Final semester winds down.

December - I take my last finals, my last ATI exams...and I GRADUATE!  December 13th, baby, I will be a graduate nurse, will have the BSN portion of my title!

Then In the Year 2013, I get to spend a lot of time preparing for this little thing called the NCLEX.  Study study study, take the darn thing, pass it, and I will be an RN!  Procure a job, and I will finally be Kendra, BSN-RN.  Or Kendra, RN-BSN.  One or the other.

School update: Textbooks all arrived.  OB/Peds book is *huge*.  Just shy of 2000 pages, just shy of 9 pounds.  Seriously...I weighed it.  8.8 pounds.  That's the weight of a young infant!  Gonna be fun hauling that book around...

Happy New Year! 

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,

Ohh. Emm. Gee.

I knew I had a few things going on these last few weeks of school.  But I after meeting with my groups and getting tasks delegated...well, let me just say that I'm going to be pretty worthless from now until April 11th.  Worthless, other than school work.  I've already warned my family that I might be a little preoccupied and checked out while getting all this stuff done.

So what all do I have to do?  Let's take a lookie-see, shall we?

Due April 5th: CHF Genogram group project for Health Assessment class.  Other group members are doing the research, I'm taking their stuff and compiling it into a 12-page paper, with proper APA in-text citations and works cited page.  Group members will have their research to me by Friday.

Due April 7th: Health Fair presentation on Breast Cancer for retired nuns for Community Health class.  Have to put together a 10-15 minute presentation to give 4 different times, complete with basic cancer facts and breast cancer info.  Group meeting next Tuesday night to go over everything.

Due April 11th: Community Assessment paper and presentation for Community Health class.  Our population is the district of one of the local high schools, with a focus on teaching young mothers the importance of prenatal care (pretty high pregnancy rate at this school).  I'm responsible for doing the community survey part -- getting demographics and general information on the population.  Probably will meet with this group the weekend before the paper is due.

Plus a TNI Exam on the 4th...and weekly busywork for 2-3 more weeks --reading, quizzes, nurse notes.

Oh, and after the 11th?  My care plan...and my portfolio...and my mega important video assessment that serves as my final exam for Health Assessment.  And a final Community Exam 2 weeks from today...and another TNI exam 4 weeks from today.  Plus ATI testing.

So a heads up...you might not see much at this location for awhile.  And when I do come back, I hope I'm not sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth, crying and asking "WHY???  WHY???" over and over again.

*I chose to do this....I chose to do this....*