blue eyes

You might want to try Clinical psychomotor skills : assessment tools for nursing students by Joanne Tollefson. It has a lot of the nursing skills/clinical skills competency in it. E.g. COMPETENCT: Aseptic technique p1 COMPETENCY: Aseptic technique p2 COMPETENCY: Aseptic technique p3 COMPETENCY: Aseptic technique p4 I know the book has the following competencies: TPR, BP measurement, aseptic technique, resp and cardiovascular assessment, blood glucose measurement, dry dressing technique, assisting w/elimination, hygiene care and mental status assessment. I can’t remember the other competencies, but there is definitely a lot more. Hope this helps.

That's pretty much what our lecturers tell us we're usually told that it's 'all for the patients comfort'. re: Bed baths, showering someone enema suppository and anything else that might be embarrassing/feel awkward- Btw, we're doing enemas/suppositories this Thursday in lab (as well as bladder, bowel, adn specimen collection).

I only use a laptop so I can access the wireless internet at uni (. I could go desktop now that the uni has switched from wireless to cable internet for students living on campus but a laptop is so much more convenient - I can take it over to library, go over to another unit while at uni, sit in the common room, best of all there is more space on my desk so I can spread all my books/notes out.

this is the stethoscope i use; it is a littmann classic ii. depending on your university you'll do a fair bit of vital signs in nursing labs and some physical assessment techniques, so a stethoscope will come in handy. my personal preference was not to bother with the bp cuff/monitor - my mum bought me tympanic thermometer ... 'ear thermometer' from the pharmacy as this was giving me the most hassles (taking tympanic temperature). i'm not sure about other universities, but we had a lot of practice at taking bp (as well as temperature, pulse and respirations) in labs. our school of nursing also lends out vital signs kits, included a portable sphygmomanometer, penlight, mercury thermometer, tongue depressors and alcohol wipes - so we all got plenty of time to practice. (portable sphygmomanometer -- http://www.asianproducts.com/images/psimage/9/a10911708001052s.jpg )

yes! we had to learn how to do indirect percussion - part of our skills assessment for the semester just gone was physical assessment, had to get this signed off before results could be processed. while i seem to have good technique, it's distinguishing sounds that i can't do - you know, tympany, resonant, hyperresonant, dull, flat and booming. our lecturer told us it's all in the wrist; you have to keep your wrist relaxed to elicit the correct/appropriate notes.

I was just wondering what you all thought about doing a 4th year (Grad. Dip. or bachelor of nsg: post registration) after completing the 3 year bachelor of nursing? It's something I've thought about, but not the year after finishing my 3rd year. Does having the extra qualifications improve the chances of being employed or does it not make a difference??

Perineal care. :stone Can handle vomit, urine, sputum, blood etc ... but when I first started I feared perineal care the most! We practiced giving bed baths and mouth care on the models + it is expected that we use the labs outside of class time to practice skills (may be different elsewhere).

i think the term may be "direct contact". from my micro book: "direct contact refers to close of intimate contact b/w the infected person and susceptible individual. exposure to skin and body secretions, such as occurs during kissing and sexual activity, is a major route of transmission of many infectious diseases ..." "skin infections such as herpes, cutaneous fungi infections and bacteria from infected wounds can also be transmitted by direct contact". see you have 1) contact transmission - direct, indirect and droplet transmission. 2) common vehicle transmission - airborne, water-borne, food-borne 3) transmission by vectors, mechanical and biological transmission. but i wouldn't think any of these match the description (except for direct contact).

The digestive process consists of 5 steps: Ingestion, digestion, absorption, metabolism and excretion (though I think this could be disputed, but this is what I have in my lecture notes/slides) Ingestion = transfer of food from outside the mouth to inside it. Digestion = consist of mechanical breakdown that results from chewing, churning and mixing with fluid + chemical reactions by which food is reduced to it's simplest form. Absorption = the process by which nutrients pass across the cellular lining of the GI tract into the bloodstream for transport to various tissues in the body. NB: the small intestine is the primary absorption site for nutrients - they are absorbed by means of passive diffusion, osmosis, active transport and pinocytosis Metabolism = all biochemical reactions within cells of the body. Excretion = process of discharging waste matter from the body, or elimination of undigested products. ......Hope this helps.

So far I have learnt: To conduct symptom analysis: PQRST provokes/palliates, quality/quantity, region/radiates, severity and timing if problems are found after doing the ROS (review of systems). For assessment: FANCAPES - fluid intake, aeration, nutrition, communication, activity, pain, elimination, socialization. Also COLDSPA - character, onset, location, duration, severity, pattern and associated symptoms. Phases of the nursing process, AD PIE - assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation. Physical examination techniques: I PP (double P) AO - inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation & olfaction to thoroughly examine patient. Edit: The general survey (study of the whole person/patient) SOME TEAMS - Symmetry, Old, Mentation, Expression, Trunk, Extremities, Appearance, Movement & Speech.

I have approx. 10 - 15 weeks left. Only started 1st semester last week. :)

i always find with things like this drawing up a table often aids in memorising the info. if you want to check out the tables i already have drawn up on hormones you can view them: here and here unfortunately the notes only provide info on hormones from prenatal stage through to adolescence.

i cook ... 8 minute meals only (pasta) and sometimes garlic bread heated in the microwave, if not 1 minute noodles. my only reason for coming home on the weekends is to either get a decent, nutritious meal at home or have my mum cook something for me to back to uni.:stone

happy australia day hope everyone had a great day, enjoy what's left of it, aussie aussie aussie!

I keep lecture notes for each unit a display folder - which can be printed off WebCT in power point format. For lab reports and essays I use a display folder, again a separate one for each unit and I write all notes taken during tutorials in an exercise book, including handouts.