UumiNurseX

Pharmacology and the Nursing Process is an EXCELLENT book to have along with whatever book your school uses. I Highly, HIGHLY recommend this book! It's great! Take your time with cardiac drugs and try not to get stressed with it as it is intensive. Know the basics: trade name, generic name, mechanism of action, side effects, dosages, therapeutic effect, etc. But the book is very good.

To the bolded.....yeah some of the people here are very silly and have the "above others" attitude. It's a bit sad but it just proves me right, lol and I don't mind it all! People like microtutor really set me straight though. So if I were you I wouldn't be afraid to vent. Yes there are lots of immature and rotten people who respond to vents and take things so personal as if they were the ones being pinpointed but then again there are some really smart and nice people here that will correct you where you're wrong without the extra commenting or destructive criticism. And if you do vent don't make yours long like mine because people don't like to read and will judge your post by half of what they read, lol! But I have thick skin so the negativity is easily ignored and mostly laughed at because it is helpful as far as the people who use a mature approach when responding but at the same time it's entertaining as far as the people who like to add extra nonsense. So it's up to you but there are some mature people here who understand and have been through things. But thank you for your observation and comment :)

Well I guess that's not a valid statement though because it is teaching me to become more assertive. I still have that kind of "stand back and observe" or "just keep quiet" kind of thing going but Im doing better. I told the nurse the other day I would handle her IV meds, she said, are you sure? Normally, I would say Im a bit nervous but this time....I said yes ma'am! So....it is getting better. It won't be a full personality change, but learning how to function with other people even if they don't have the right attitude will be the main thing I will need to learn and to work on. And this week of clinical has been a great week as far as that goes.

Lol, as silly as you sound you have valid points and have also validated some of my points as to how people who claim they have a "nursing" attitude are. You, just like me, have personal issues within yourself that you should work on as well (see the underlined) This post is old though! I've had clinical like twice since then and have addressed my issues with an assertive attitude and it was greatly appreciated. Things are so much better now. But thanks for posting and thanks for your opinion and maybe we can work on our issues together......just a thought.

Wow, I didn't think this thread would still be here, lol. Well, this has got to be the best response! You are right that I need to work on my assertiveness and I did that today and it went really well. The classmate wasn't following me, but she was making the patient a little uncomfortable by lingering around while we were talking; kind of standing over him really. I just asked her if she wanted to sit and she sat and talked to another patient. The classmate and I had an AWESOME day with our patients, oh my gosh it was so great. So....Im learning, lol. As others have said, I need therapy or something, lol. I mean....nice suggestion but I didn't come to nursing school to CHANGE who I am. I came here to learn. And that includes learning things about myself as well. And yes you are right, the assertiveness is something that is very much a work in progress. I saw my posts too and saw that I failed too mention that the reason I called a few of these people prudes is because of the dramatics during clinicals and then outside of class they're cursing because they "had a "stupid" bowel incontinent patient that f***ed up their labcoat when they were cleaning up heaps of s***". I have also heard things like, "I don't even clean up s*** and **** I leave it to the aide that's what they get paid for". That is also the reason I called them fake. They say one thing to seem so overly caring then as soon as we get out of clinical or class, barely out of the parking lot, they're cursing someone. It's confusing. You also said that I have more experience than the other students and that's a great observation. I graduated with BS and BA in computer science and digital graphics and production back in 2007. I have done my years and as someone else mentioned the people Im in school with are undergrad college juniors. So the maturity level is different. When they're interrupting vital information that an instructor is giving with their silly little anecdotes, yes I get upset, but I have to remember they're basically still kids struggling to be adults and I've crossed that bridge and back, lol. So I am working on it and thank you for your observations. Even though I came off so strong and raw and rough in my initial post, I know what I meant and what I was trying to say. It just came off as mumbo jumbo a little. And people can disagree with me....that is fine. I don't care about being judged much because I know that no one is perfect. A nurse's job is not perfect, no perfect nurses exist and no perfect nursing students exist. As we are learning how to care for patient's in diverse settings in clinical and didactic, we are also learning ourselves and each other. I have three more semesters so I still have lots to learn.

What does the patient's lab values look like? You can always come up with a dx from those.

Lmbo, you're funny as well. Your post initially made me chuckle and thanks for that. I appreciate your opinion and nice chatting with you. :)

No the instructor asked what was wrong because I was talking all day and then like I mentioned before I just stopped talking. Nothing else good was going to come out of that mouth that day but that morning I was speaking to everyone and quite cheerful. Im always cheerful before and during clinical but I hate days like that then it just messes it up for me but luckily I had already seen the patient, which was actually the best part of the day for that day, so I wasn't that way while on the unit. But Im in second semester, I agree with you I doubt Im mentally prepared right now as well because when I was working at the mental facility a few years back I only interacted with the patients and never the staff. I don't know why but it was much drama going on with the staff during that time anyway. Anywhere I worked it was always drama with the staff but never the patient's they just need you there with them so I guess I took that over with me in nursing school. As far as friends, in my lifetime oh how I have moved (as an adult). I have lived in several different cities and I have had many friends but as soon as I move it's like life gets in the way and we all lose touch. Before moving out here I was friends with this one lady and she was heavenly, oh man I loved being around her she was like a walking party or something, she was so funny and loved baking. I can't tell you how many recipes I have just because of her. But when I moved her its like we drifted because nursing school at one point had me stressed so badly I didn't talk to anyone. She got married and actually moved to an army base with her husband and we lost touch so I have been moving alot but I have had friends. Right now though besides the one I mentioned I do not because all I do is study, study, study. I go get food and do laundry but most times its just go to school, study, laundry, study, eat, study, sleep, study, lol. Its a trend but no I had no idea about this town prior to moving here so I didn't really get a chance to socialize because as soon as classes started I had to hit the ground running.

Oh no, lol. One thing I do well is sit back quietly, observe, and listen. Oh yeah, and my recorder for lecture picks up so much. I have heard students saying really really awful things about instructors like cursing them out and stuff because of a test question or when we get put into groups its always a the same group of people who say out loud that they would rather work with people with the higher GPA and that comment was made because one of their friends who was once an honor student slipped last semester and they don't speak with her anymore and its like damn that's mean as hell and childish too to do it in front of the class! So no caring hearts don't try to humiliate people. Those are the same people in med surg clinical that swear up and down the nurses want to adopt them or something, lol. And wow La Vida, NO ONE ever said I came off as goody-goody whoa......I always get cold-hearted or something. So that's different but no Im not mad and if you know psych then you know where Im coming from. Prior to coming to nursing school I worked in the psych setting and I loved every minute of it. I wanted to know and learn more about and I just knew the clinicals for psych would be oh so great but.......I never expected it to go the way it but we have like......I think 3 more clinicals and I will try to make the best of it. That is all I can do. But yeah at least you see where Im coming from about talking to the elder like that.....that's just disrespectful but no if you talk to them like a grown adult then it's wrong. I just can't win for losing and sometimes I HAVE to keep my mouth shut because when I say things in a different tone people get offended or hurt or something and I don't want ppl to run to the chair and I haven't quite figured out a way to say things without the irritation but for the umpteenth time, I AM WORKING ON IT, lol. But I do know this, typing about it is helping, lol! I can feel myself simmering over here, lol. Im silly don't mind me but yeah talking about it is bringing me down and some of you guys are really right I need to brush it off and just do my work and worry about my own studies while at school. I guess I just take school really really seriously because this is my last shot and I don't see why anyone else wouldn't take nursing school serious and try to be put their best foot forward, scared or not.

Lol Im telling you Im not mad. The only thing that honestly bothers me is how they act toward the mentally ill patients. THAT truly makes ME want to cry and I hate it so much. I don't understand why people have to perpetuate the stigma surrounding people with mental illnesses. These students go in and do not even greet the patients they just sit down and look like they are fearing for their lives and then they follow me around because I interact with the patient. I do not understand they act as if we were thrown in a lion's den or something. So if anything that's the only thing Im battling now. The way the students act toward mentally ill patients as if they are bad people and the worst people in the world.

Evidently you didn't read my main post so I am going to have to make it clear to you. Follow me: During times in clinical when people are following me around (now this is Psych clinical or mental health clinical), I get highly irritated. If I say what it is I want to say things will not go over well for me because when Im irritated my tone changes. I would rather say nothing AROUND PSYCH PATIENTS

Oh the exact definition, lol. You looked it up that's cool, lol. But yeah I would say that's about right but in their case it's all fake! Are they annoying? Oh hells yes! Im not saying people need to be like me....in class, or lecture, there are plenty of other people who sit quietly and wish others would shut the hell up...oh yes not just me! But in clinical is where the major problem lies. No one needs to be like me, no one can, lol. But if they would just STOP with the goody-goody crap and put to use what we learn in class and stop running in behind people who are prepared to interact with the patients then there wouldn't be a problem and I wouldn't have a real problem with them otherwise. In class, I can do my work and move on, that's not a problem. But clinical.....well, I have already said that the instructors will know after tomorrow how I feel about the clinical group's actions towards the patients in psych clinical.

No I don't have family here in this town and after classes are over I go straight home and I live alone. So on a daily basis, I go to class then go home. Then there's clinical and none of the nurses in my clinical setting have ever said anything to me. I am more than happy to help them :-) and I love their attitudes. The patient's.....never had a complaint, not once. Like I mentioned in the other posts, I love clinical and love to be around the people that I feel need me there or want someone to talk to and help them. So the answer to your question is no, lol. Anyway? Lol, no need for that the answer is simply no.

Never. No one at the school knows me personally. These people judge according to things we learn in didactic and practice in practicum. They are seriously judging other people but yet they do nothing. I keep my social life and school very separate and my social life is very private. I have 3 sisters that say nothing is complete without me because Im the jokester (like my dad), my little brother says things are always fun when Im home, my parents always have a good laugh when Im home and together my dad and I could kill a crowd with laughter because we are jokesters. I have a non-relative friend and he's the best friend I've ever had. My cousins are all great and love including me but since Im here they really can't. But as far as school goes, those people have no idea who I am and NO ONE in school has ever approached me about the way I "come off" to them because I don't speak to them. They wait until we get into clinical when I am with my patient to try to criticize what Im doing or follow me around because they don't want to do anything. I don't see how sitting quietly in a class, listening to lecture and taking notes and not laughing at the class clowns horrible jokes could make one "come off" a certain way. Other than how I am in the class and in clinical these people do not know me.

No, no, no, lol. Im not angry I swear, lol! Im just highly irritated. I am the type of person I do tend to swear, so when I say lines like, "shut the hell up" (which is my go-to line), Im not mad at all. Sometimes I say it so bland and nonchalant. And if Im irritated it NEVER shines through. Not intentionally throwing in psych terms but, I have the flattest affect you've ever seen. Like I mentioned in my original post I am very good at putting on a face and that day in psych clinical when the girl kicked my chair for the things I said to the patient but she refused to interact with them, I was boiling but one could never tell, lol. I am very quiet and very withdrawn when feelings of irritation begin to emerge. It had my instructor concerned but he was sitting right with us on the acute unit the day it happened and he watched the other student's actions as well as mine. After we left the unit, I deemed it best not to say ANYTHING. So I said nothing and my face was as flat as a board. So Im pretty good at keeping my irritation level down while around my instructors out of complete and total respect as well as the patients. I CAN NOT afford to blow up in PSYCH clinical....oh no that would not be good, lol. But again, I wouldn't blow up but I guess because of my tone in my voice like I said, certain people may take it the wrong way. But no I can assure you Im not angry, Im frustrated as hell and the only anger I have is with myself and why Im having a hard time shaking these feelings I have. I know they are not healthy and I wish they'd just leave me! But I am working on it......I truly am.