Passed Practicum!

[Ms Kylee]

I had Practicum today, and as luck would have it, I wound up having to go last. Last night, I was a basket case because we didn't learn all of the stuff we were supposed to know. I kept having nightmares last night (when I did sleep) that I had to cath Capt. Jack Sparrow, and boy, were those clothes a B**** to get off. While I was waiting and pacing in the hall (and wearing out the carpet), I kept wondering if I could just take a zero and be done with it. I walked in for my turn, and my instructor asked how I was and I told him I'd feel better if I could just throw up. Scary thing is, he's a friend of mine and he knows how nervous I get about tests and things. Thought he'd be an easy grader, but no such luck. My "easy" task was positioning a patient in supine and prone positions. The bad thing was, there weren't enough pillows in the lab, so I had to put the pillow where it was supposed to go, then take it away and move it to the next placement. My "difficult" task was wheelchair transfer from bed and back, which I thought I did everything OK, but I got docked because my instructor didn't hear me say I was supporting the leg cast and placing the foot rest up. I said I didn't care what grade I got, so long as I passed, and I did. I'm feeling a lot better about starting clinicals now.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Well good for you! Sooo, just asking, your school, (and probably many others) has you take a test before you ever start clinicals? If you are so inclined please tell me about it. We did not have to do this. :)

[Ms Kylee]

Yes, we were tested. I'm in an LPN program, not RN. I'll go on for my RN once I graduate, since my hospital offers tuition reimbursement for both. My only gripe about the program is that I feel as a part time student, we're not taken seriously and we're not important to the school, and that we don't get enough lab practice. I love my instructors, and I am learning a lot, but I really want to learn more.