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Sep 23, 2009
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| Oops! | | I had my first skills return today: PO med administration, IM, ID, SubQ injections and IV insertions. I managed to pass the IV insertion skill, even though my clinical partner has the smallest, deepest veins I (or my clinical instructor for that matter) have ever seen. I even managed to remember all the correct steps for the procedures, needle gauges, lengths, injection sites, etc. What I forgot - was the fact the I REALLY need new glasses.
The lighting in the room wasn't that great and I found it just about impossible to read the numbers on the syringe. So, I decided to go by the markings - which might have worked if I hadn't gotten it into my head that I was using a 5 mL syringe instead of the 3 mL that I actually had, Needless to say, I drew up substantially LESS "medication" than the 0.5 mL the instructor had indicated. I'll have to make an appointment to return and do my return again (they graciously give you 3 attempts to pass). I think while I'm at it - I'll make an appointment for an eye exam as well. | | Hello Out There | | I remember reading nursing student blogs as I was trying to decide if I had lost my mind or not - thinking about nursing school at 49. I picked up on a common theme pretty quick - nicely summed up by one blogger with something along the lines of: "The week before classes begin, spend as much time with your friends and family as you can. Then the night before your first class, kiss them all goodbye because you won't see them again until you graduate." So - I was prepared for busy - and even intense. I just wasn't prepared enough.
It’s not like I’m unfamiliar with the academic environment. I’ve spent plenty of time on both sides of the lectern over the years and have a nice collection of credit hours and letters to place after my name to show for it. Unfortunately, those hours of classroom experience did nothing to prepare me for the explosion that is the first week of a nursing program.
Not to be melodramatic or anything, but I have spent the last 3 weeks paddling as fast as I can trying to keep the current from sweeping me over the waterfall and into the abyss. Chapters upon chapters of reading (which I never managed to actually get finished before class after the first day), clinical practices, a new assignment in either Pharmacology or Fundamentals every other day and Care Plans and Clinical Calculations and Ethic Modules and Safe Patient Handling and Nursing History essays - and and and - you get the idea. (Actually, I suppose if you're reading this - you may well have endured the idea and lived to tell about it.)
But I have made it through the first 3 weeks relatively unscathed. I survived my first day of clinicals at the hospital without embarrassing myself and even managed to pass my first Pharmacology class with an 88, even though "life" overturned my decision to study. I've finally caught up on the reading in both classes and actually have a handle on the math.
I know I am not the first First Semester Student to feel overwhelmed - and that there are countless numbers of nurses who stand as a testimony to the fact that nursing school IS survivable. I'm just going to have to keep paddling until I find my pace - and who knows? Maybe all the extra exercise will finally help me drop those pesky ten pounds. |
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