aperry245

I already know I have high anxiety and I am already seeing a therapist and am considering meds. So that's out of the way. I started nursing school because it was my first step toward grad school (midwifery specifically, but also open to a couple other career choices). I know I don't want to be a hospital floor nurse - at least, it would take a field I feel very passionate about for it to be my thing. So, right when I started, I also separated from my spouse. It was a long time coming - I actually dropped school after being accepted the first time a year prior because of marital issues. So now I'm a single mom and trying to push through school. Here is the bulk of my issue. My mother is/was type 1 diabetic. My family is really quite awful and we no longer have a relationship and I have lots of traumatic stress issues related to growing up with her health issues (near car accidents, neglect, being solely responsible for her survival at times, not being allowed to call 9/11, dealing with her being combative, etc). I've had multiple panic attacks through the semester, but with therapy I've been able to keep coming back, manage my bodily responses and deal with the anxiety. I make good grades, I catch on pretty quickly to the concepts....but it's the hospital that is getting to me. Last week was especially bad. I had had a terrible week anyway, so I tried to have all of my coping mechanisms ready, but then my assigned patient was disoriented and unable to communicate well. I came close to a panic attack twice....managed them during the hospital, asked for help from my instructor, etc. But then I fell apart at home. I know I need to be on meds (that's my priority at my next appointment) temporarily to get through, but I'm scared I can't make it through school. I hate being in the hospital. I can't breathe, I feel like I'm on fire. I kept thinking as I learned more about what to do and gained more confidence I might at least be able to manage it better through school. I keep thinking if the goal is worth it, I can push through (because I've done that for a lot in my life - again, I'm used to anxiety!). But it's sucking the life out of me in ways that are really scary for me and I don't know what to do. I feel like I am screwing up my life if I quit. I'm not really sure what I need - maybe to get ideas and responses from people who don't really know me well? A more objective view point? My friends keep encouraging me to push through because they know my life situation...and they aren't wrong. They just keep saying I'm too hard on myself and need to let go of being type A, perfectionist and relax. I do tend to be that way, but I feel like that's all the stuff I can manage much more easily. It's just I honestly feel like I can't survive this and I want to run far far away from the hospital, which is what my education is centered around at this point!

The blood loss was past, not current. The patient was no longer actively bleeding (though certainly still at risk). I was trying to find something to address/assess blood loss specifically, but I couldn't find a rationale w/intervention in our material because we're focusing more on basic stuff and not the disease process yet. I realize I might be overthinking this.

I have a care plan question. I'm still in fundamentals and this is my first care plan for clinical (we've had to do some for fake scenarios to practice). Our instructor has already said multiple times that she wants us to keep it basic (but right, obviously), so I'm not looking for super in depth info, but just a couple of questions. Ok, so my diagnosis is deficient fluid volume r/t blood loss AEB tachycardia, dry mucous membranes and weak pulse pressure. My patient had DIC and was also vomiting and had been prescribed Zofran. So, my etiology is definitely the blood loss from the DIC (they had not yet ordered blood while I was there, but I know it was in the works), but the vomiting was also a problem for further fluid loss. Most of my interventions relate to replenishing fluids, assessing vitals, teaching about symptoms, etc but I currently have two interventions related to the nausea/vomiting and I'm not sure if I'll get docked for it not directly relating? In my mind it does because obviously vomiting is going to make the patient's condition worse (which my short-term goal without details is basically that the patient doesn't get worse), but since the etiology is blood loss and not vomiting, does it directly relate in my care plan, or would that be a separate nursing diagnosis (nausea) and I need to find something more directly related to the blood loss/DIC? Alternately, could I include vomiting in my etiology? related to blood loss and vomiting as evidenced by___” etc? Again, I feel like it goes” because it matches my goals of the patient's condition remaining stable in the short term and resolving in the long term and obviously keeping the patient from vomiting is going to help that. Thanks!

I don't really remember. I think they kind of explained how it would work, but days/dates were not specific at that point.

I got it! I'm in the program!

Nothing today.

I called Friday and she said they had not gone out yet and there was no deadline. I feel sick because I have deadlines approaching for other programs (where I was accepted), but this is the one I really want because I wouldn't have to move or transfer schools. I get that they're really busy and stressed out, but this is agonizing. However, she did say they're working through the weekend on it, so hopefully very soon.

Congrats, LHParrott!

No, that was me! I made it to the first day of classes, but had some major family issues/conflicts, so I had to drop and delay. I didn't withdraw, so I'm just basically reapplying! I emailed yesterday and they said review was being "finalized now" and letters would be sent "very soon". I'm thinking/hoping it'll be his week since apparently some BSN letters were received last week. If I remember the past few terms correctly, the BSN letters usually went out about a week before ASN. Does anyone know if it's true that they changed the ASN program to 18 months? I've heard that two different places now, but the website has no info.

This is the first recent thread I've found on SCF! I've been accepted to the Bradenton campus for spring - anyone else?

Is anyone applying for the ASN or BSN this spring? I've applied to two schools - still waiting to hear back from MGA and they don't seem to have a good track record about timely acceptance letters. I'm getting anxious because I need to make a decision!

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I thought he said around August 1st? I'm mostly hoping they won't bump from classes for that....he said they wouldn't, right?

Not yet! I've been checking every day.

Thanks everyone. I did redo my gram stain and my original hunch of misidentifying the shape was correct, though I had the professor confirm it. I ended up having B. subtilis, though I incorrectly ID it as a couple others before that. She would let us have her "check" our results before officially turning in the work and then would redirect and guide us short of actually giving the answer, which I appreciated. It was super frustrating for me, though. I did write out my thought process and mistakes in IDing and I got some other key points right without help (my streak plate was great and most of my tests have the expected result). I just found it very frustrating that we're supposed to determine an unknown correctly by matching stuff that may actually be variable! How do you know what to focus on unless you actually do this a lot. :-/

If my info is correct (and I mostly got it all from Bergey's), all there are nonmtile, catalse negative, oxidase negative, ferment glucose and lactose, but do not produce gas, do not produce H2S on the TSI test, will not grow on MacConkey's (gram positive), indole negative and gelatinase negative. Citrate and TSI are the only two tests I had some difficulty in tracking down (I'll look again tomorrow in the books she has in class), but she also that if we absolutely could not find a specific result (or it was variable), we were not to use it for IDing the unknown because it probably wouldn't help anyway.

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to see what my test results are tomorrow, probably redo my gram stain and see who else has my results (if anyone) and go from there. If I don't get any further, I'll ask if it's a possibility to actually not be able to ID from these tests alone and see if she gives me an indication. She was pretty clear that she would not give us any help whatsoever after we were handed our unknowns. :-/

E. coli is Escherichia, which is a g- rod. Enterococcus is something else a g+ Cocci. It used to be classified with Strep, as did Lactococcus.

I am running into some frustrations with my unknown. This is a summer class, so we only have this week to work on the unknown. The only info we are given is 16 possibilities (which we had to track down the test results for over the semester) and the tests we must run to gain some of our points (if they give the correct result). I did my gram stain yesterday and at first I thought I lucked out because it automatically narrowed it to three possibilities. Gram positive cocci in pairs or short chains and the only three that meet that description are E. faecalis, S. salivarius and L. lactis. So then I started double checking all of my info on those specific microbes so I could be ready to identify during our next (and last) lab and I'm finding that every single test we are using has the same result for those three. We are NOT using any tests that would actually ID between those three. We are doing motility, catalase, glucose (and gas), lactose (and gas), TSI, citrate, MacConkey's, thioglycollate, indole, gelatinase and then she will give us the oxidase test results since we don't have the test materials. No blood agar, no mannitol salt agar, no other hydrolysis tests that would indicate between Streptococcus, Lactococcus and Enterococcus. I am feeling frustrated and like I must be missing something. I've worked really hard to fill out the charts with these test results. I rented Bergey's (what she recommended using), so I could use that at home (two kids = no library time), I've searched all over online trying to use reputable sources and I still cannot find anything! So my thought is 1. I'm missing something and am going to totally screw up my unknown and that makes me mad because I've worked so hard, 2. maybe I should redo my gram stain Wednesday IF I have time just to double check OR 3. MAYBE the answer is that we cannot ID between those three because all of the tests we are using are better for gram- rod ID, specifically Enterobacteriaceae - something that has shown up time and time again as we've practiced the tests throughout the semester. Any help?? What should I do? We can use any source imaginable at this point (including discussing with others and classmates) outside of asking the professor at this point.

I got my acceptance letter, too!

Awesome! Congrats! I emailed yesterday and was answered today that they letters were sent yesterday. So hopefully I will get a letter today, too.

Is anyone else still waiting on an ASN letter?

All I needed was my username, password and ID.

I have to take Micro over the summer, but I'm ASN.

I thought it was, too. Hmmm.