i noticed the thread in the prenursing forum about class of '08 and i did post there but thought maybe i would start a thread specifically for '09 and see who is out there!! (plus it would suck when everyone graduated and left me alone in the post haha) i'm using the same format as that post because it was so good. post your info. here and introduce (or re-introduce) yourself!! it would be great to be able to support one another right to the end!!
name: karen
school: brandon university, canada
program: 4 yr. bachelor of nursing
what area of interest at this time: i am just really open to anything at this point .. so much to learn and i feel that this is just opening up to me and i will figure out where my interest lies.
biggest fear: not sure of that either. i am not sure if i will gag over anything or not. maybe my biggest fear would be looking stupid, but heaven knows i've done enough of that!
what you'd like us to know about you: i'm a mom of 4 (2 boys, 2 girls) and have worked (and still do) as a christian camp director for the past 5 years. i'm really enjoying university again. i graduated back in '85 with a b.ed. the next year i took a stats course and didn't go back until 2005 fall .. so on paper it took me 26 years to complete my pre-reqs haha .. in reality i (mostly) did them all since last fall!
my really neat thing this year is that my oldest daughter is going to be going to university at the same time as me but taking music! that is a very unique opportunity!!
i'm looking forward to talking with you all and helping to encourage you any way i can! :roll
Hi! Are you feeling okay? Hope you never got that cold! My cough is so much better .. amazing what a little medication can do in the system (it's allergy-asthma related). We've had a pop quiz so far but an exam and essay due next week. Hope yours was ok. Now have you been to clinicals at the prison or is that next week? It sounds like your labs are a lot like ours (re health assessment that you were talking about in an earlier post).
Clinicals are going okay -- we have three under our belts now and just kind of jumped right in there! It was difficult last night as there were several people that I knew in hospital that I was caring for -- difficult in the sense that I wanted to talk with them more and wanted to share when I got home but I didn't. With one of them I was kicking myself because I didn't ask if I could share that I saw them with my husband but timing didn't work out that way. Oh well ........
So this weekend I am writing that essay and studying. How fun is that? lol SOOOOOOOOOOOO much reading to do for each course. Fortunately they are so far understanding and aren't acting like each course is the only one that we have ... but that's likely only a matter of time ... obviously it's up to us to prioritize properly and time manage to get everything done and I'm not sure if their patience will or should hold out for too long in that regard, kwim?
Hey guys-
I'm feeling much better. I have allergies/asthma too, so I know what you're talking about. What I'm worried about now is all the preschoolers I saw today. (We're volunteering a total of 10 hours for a class.) Pretty much all of them had runny noses.
I'm personally giving up going out with people from my class tonight. I haven't slept well all week and have a paper plus a clinical write-up to do this weekend. I seem to have every hour during the day scheduled, and this is only the first semester!!
How are things going, guys? I've had quite a few midterms with a few more next week. Today was clinicals (only one day a week) and it was ok but we did have to sit through some boring conferences at the end and I was soo sleepy. It turned out we were at the hospital for 9 hours which was a bit extreme if you ask me (when we are only supposed to be 8 hours LOL! ok maybe not that different). Anyhooo ...... just checking in with the Class '09ers!!
Hi! Wow, it sounds like you're really getting your feet wet! We still haven't started clinicals. We have a break week this week--which would give me time to catch up if I could get a little motivated.
Next week we have our skills test before starting clinicals. The following week we do two days (five hours each) at a nursing home. Don't think we'll actually get to do much, but I'm pretty excited anyway!
So what do you like/dislike about clinicals? I'd love the scoop!
Hi! Wow, it sounds like you're really getting your feet wet! We still haven't started clinicals. We have a break week this week--which would give me time to catch up if I could get a little motivated.
Next week we have our skills test before starting clinicals. The following week we do two days (five hours each) at a nursing home. Don't think we'll actually get to do much, but I'm pretty excited anyway!
So what do you like/dislike about clinicals? I'd love the scoop!
Hi, Lori! Enjoy that break!!! I am at home for the evening and I had intentions to do homework but so far I've been housecleaning (NO my house isn't clean but I do have to break down every so often and do a little bit .. problem is I am procrastinating so not the best of intentions).
GL on your skills test! That's exciting that you start clinicals soon!! We have a nursing applications simulation on Monday and an assessment simulation on Thursday. Yikes! It might not be too bad as long as I don't panic! For our applications (skills) we have to do one of about 6 tasks and don't know which until we get there. For the assessment it has to be verbal and nothing written down which I think is hardly reasonable as that is not the way we would ever do it in practice but ho hum oh well I'm not the teacher. Anyway, we go with our lab partners and each have to do one assessment but we aren't sure which one until we get there. Should be nice and nerve wracking!! ARGH!
Clinicals .... it's going well. We kind of jumped right in and took vitals the first day there. We were all really nervous but I think just the doing it was good because we would be nervous no matter how long we waited. Then the next time we jumped right into giving medications and more vitals. When we switched to days (we do a 3-3 rotation) we started right in on bed baths, etc. We have done parenteral meds for about 3 weeks now but I have yet to do an IM injection. We are helping out at the flu clinic on Nov. 2nd so I guess I will get my fill then! Kind of cool. I do like being on the ward but I don't necessarily like just being there and not having a completely defined role. Some of the nurses are happy to have us (most of them) and some kind of avoid us .. ditto with the nurses aides. I am gung ho to do anything and think I portray that but it's hard to do when there's not much to do ... plus the other people in my group of 6 are half my age and a few of them are a lot more aggressive than I am on getting help/attention/assignments. It's also a struggle to listen to them planning parties and going out, etc. I don't want to go to the bar but I would prefer it if they did their planning behind my back if I am so obviously not included. I do get along with everyone in my classes and have made many new friends of all ages so it's not like I'm just an outcast or feeling like one by any means.
Ok, one other thing ... now that I'm just getting everything off my chest ... yesterday everyone went on a coffee break and didn't bother to come and find me. Our instructor did make an announcement on the intercom but I was behind a closed door and didn't hear her. So one of my classmates told the group that I had said I was going to the coffee shop so not to worry about me. I came down half an hour later (I was working hard at trying to keep busy on the ward). I know that it wasn't intentional but I don't know where they got that I was going to the coffee shop .. ok maybe the coffee sounds like me but the going away from the group does not. It was stupid but it really hurt my feelings even though I tried to make out like it was ok (although I think it would have been kind of obvious if anyone cared to notice).
My instructor came up to the coffee shop where I DID go after that and asked if I was ok and apologized .. but there really wasn't a word from my teammates. They were nice enough for the rest of the shift of course but even that just felt like it was underscoring that I wasn't important. Ah, such a little thing and such a huge gash it can leave on my heart. I know I need to be tougher and that there will be things far worse than that to deal with later on. Part of me wants to stay hurt and angry even though it would cause more harm than good .. and I am annoyed with myself for acting like there was nothing wrong and annoyed with myself that I am feeling a gap beginning in my heart with some of them.
Yesterday we attended a super boring teleconference on hand washing and then had our conferencing with our instructor and then to a safety needle demo with some oily, glib salesmen and then an inservice about the flu clinic. I was SO sleepy by the time we finished that I was seriously ready for the scrap heap. lol!
Anyway, that was a long story .. hope you had a cup of tea for it and put your feet up ... clinicals are good, albeit somewhat confusing at the moment. I think we will be starting more of a care-plan approach in the last half of the term. I have my midterm evaluation on Tuesday .... grrrrreat ... so I'll let you know if the instructor thinks I'm doing ok .. maybe I don't want to know lol.
What other kind of things are you doing in school at the moment? Take care and have a great weekend!
Kayel - Big hug to you. I know how frustrating our fellow students can be.
The last couple of weeks have been exciting. We had our two visits to one of the local prisons. They were the best patients. We could practice all of our physical examination skills on them. This week went saw our first hospital patients. I had the best one. Her daughter was a nurse, so she was totally understanding about us practicing on her.
I've also had a exam in the health assessment class. It went much better than the first one and I got my 94%. I'm still prepping for a group presentation for my other class next week.
In other news, yes I did feel the earthquake this past Sunday. The worst part was how the electricity was out until 2 AM. Ugh.
I'm sorry for your recent bad experience with classmates. It would have left me feeling really bad, too--I'm a little unsure of what some of my classmates will be like when we actually start clinicals. That was really rough, though. I'm glad your instructor made a point of checking up on you, though. She's obviously better than most of the students. Don't you sometimes feel like telling some of the younguns to grow up?
We don't get to do meds this semester at all. Next semester we have pharmacology, pathophysiology, and med-surg, and I'm assuming we start doing meds then. I know we learn shots and all that fun stuff in the first few weeks--I'm looking forward to that! Our skills test is kind of like yours. We all have to do vitals, but then there are fifteen skills and we pull one out of the hat and do it. I met with a couple friends to go over everything the other day and feel pretty ok, but am still not sure about packing wounds and foleys. It'll be better once we actually DO them.
This semester I have Fundamentals, Assessment and Nutrition (most of the class also has micro, but I've already taken it.) Our school is a little different because some of what is considered pre-reqs in other programs are just part of the program. So I'm jealous that you get to do "fun" stuff like meds!
Maybe I'll do a little cleaning, too (emphasis on "little") since I'm great at using that for procrastinating, too!
Thanks, guys. I just got home from my applications lab simulation. I passed but she would have liked to have seen "a little more teaching" (it was a heparin injection) and I didn't show her the vial, just the amount -- I didn't think I had to verify heparin with another nurse, just insulin (or narcotics) and she was right there while I was talking out loud. Oh well ....... I can't quit thinking about it ...... and just feel like an idiot. I know I need to move on and just be thankful I passed and likely did well (we don't know our marks 'til another day) .. can anyone tell me how to not beat myself up so badly after stuff like this??? It's like unless I do perfectly I am not happy. That's nutso.
Well, now I've got to run as we are working on a group project right away, due tomorrow.
Some days I wonder about this back-to-school thing.
Take care, all ... I will write more later! Thanks for listening to me vent!!!
I was accepted for Jan 2007, which actually means I graduate December of 2008. So I guess I'm not class of '09 after all.
LOL! Awwwwwww oh well you can hang out here anyway whenever you want to! I will be a semester behind you but oh well! Congratulations on being accepted! When did you find that out? Awesome!
Welcome, welcome, Kathy! Great to see you!! Have you applied yet or do you have to wait? Looking forward to talking with you more!
Yes I have applied, just waiting I applied for Fall 07 start but they had room for me for Spring 07 and put my packet in for then so I'm not complaining. If I get accepted I can graduate a semester early....but...STILL WAITING AHHH!!!
maliat
257 Posts
Hey guys-
I'm feeling much better. I have allergies/asthma too, so I know what you're talking about. What I'm worried about now is all the preschoolers I saw today. (We're volunteering a total of 10 hours for a class.) Pretty much all of them had runny noses.
I'm personally giving up going out with people from my class tonight. I haven't slept well all week and have a paper plus a clinical write-up to do this weekend. I seem to have every hour during the day scheduled, and this is only the first semester!!
Malia