NurseBobbyJack

I have a semester and a half of nursing school left and I have a puppy that I got at 4 months of age (now 6.5 months old). She is house-trained and does all of the commands I have taught her such as "sit", "stay", "go to your place", come", walks on a leash in perfect stride with me, and actually rings a string of bells on the downstairs door handle when she wants to be taken out. I have taught her all of this in less than a month and a half, all while attending nursing school. I spend at least 6 hours a day quality time with her, even though I am going to school. I think you have plenty of time for a dog while you are in nursing school. For example, my weekly schedule looks like this: Mondays - (the only day that she is not lavished with attention) clinical rotation from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m (my wife comes home from work and takes her out on her lunch break on this day). I take her for a walk when I get home and she sits with me while I study, and I take 15-minute breaks every couple of hours and play with her until about 2 a.m. when I go to bed. Tuesday - No school, so my dog gets me ALL DAY. I take her outside about 4-5 times throughout the day, plus an afternoon 30-minute ball-chasing/exercise tiime. I also spend about 30 minutes on this day teaching her tricks , commands and obedience. She gets to sit with me, walk around the house with me from room to room, eat with me, play with me during breaks from studying, etc. Wenesday - I get up around 7:30 and take the dog out and feed her, read a little while she is eating and playing alone. I take her out and play a little with her before going to school at 9:30. I return from school at 2:00 p.m., take her out and I am hers the rest of the day (10-12 more waking hours). Thursday is a repeat of Wednesday. Friday - No school, so she gets me all day again and it is a repeat of Tuesday. Saturday and Sunday are , of course, free days that I spend studying and alternating playing with the dog. On either Saturday or Sunday, she gets to go to the dog park for about 2 hours and she plays really hard with all of the dogs, chasing tennis balls, frisbees, and her favorite pastime, jumping in the water pond and swimming around after tennis balls. She will play tug of war with any and all dogs for hours until I make her leave. She is exhausted and sleeps the rest of the night, and I study. :) She hasn't cut into my studying, and I haven't neglected her AT ALL! I feel that because I have her, my obsessive studying habits have been broken up into the more preferred 2-3 hours at a time, followed by the 15-30 minutes with the dog relaxation time that has allowed me to learn even better. I think I retained more information this semester, in part, because of the forced breaks in studying that allowed my mind a rest and time to process the massive amounts of information that I take in during those intense study periods. I have maintained a very high GPA and got an "A" in my nursing class for the first half of this semester, while spendimg massive amounts of time with my pooch. In fact, BECAUSE I am in nursing school and not working, my dog is getting more of my time than she would if I were a working person. Nursing school has allowed me to spend a lot of qality time with my girl while she is young and she needs strong guidance and consistency so that when I may have to spend more time away after graduation and starting a career as a nurse, she will be able to handle it due to the consistent training and discipline that she is getting now. I say that if you are willling to take out a little time each day to spend with your dog, then your pet gets what they need, and it is a great excuse to take breaks from studying, if nothing else. Dogs are the best pets in the world:anmllvr: and they are ALWAYS thrilled to see you. Just being in the same room with you is the highlight of their day. I say, (if you are not working) get a dog and enjoy it NOW when you are in nursing school and you can spend more quality time with it!

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it. That's funny. The two responses that I received back were the two that my book listed, with the sims listed first and the supine listed as "another" method. I chose Sims for that reason, but my instructor, Dr. Ego, said that it is ALWAYS supine. No lecture to contradict the book, though, and no second option allowed on the test question, either. FRUSTRATING. :angryfire

We have been asked on a test what is the "BEST" position to place the patient in after leaving surgery and entering/recovering in PACU. I know that there are a couple of positions used most frequently, but I chose the one that my book stated for my answer, but was told I was wrong and that the book is wrong and that "we just should have known" which position was best and that "it's the way it is done in the real world." We had no clinical experience at the time and the book wasn't contrdicted in lecture, so I don't know how we were supposed to have "just known." Can anyone tell me the #1 option that is used MOST frequently. I am aware that there are many and that it depends on the type of surgery so, you don't have to list all of them for me, just the one that you know to be the PREFERRED position. Sorry, if I sound upset. Just a little frustrated with an instructor.:argue:

Actually, the doctorate is not required until the year 2025, Chicken Little. :chuckle