michar

I had a digital watch with seconds and had to get a new one for our program, it was required to be a face watch with a very visible second hand. If we didn't have an appropriate watch we weren't let onto the clinical site.

I kind of am. I know that sounds strange, but it's a 4 semester program but with summers off. If we went through (and I wish we did) we'd be done in 16 months. My biggest piece of advice came from an instructor "never let the things that matter the least get in the way of the things that matter the most" Sometimes that meant I stay at home instead of going for a walk with my kids in the evening to study pharmacology. Sometimes that meant I rushed through med-surg assignments to attend parent teacher conferences. Sometimes that meant I did nothing that needed to be done and I sat and watched tv for an hour for me. There is always something that will need to be done, dishes, homework, ATI exams, careplans, laundry, med cards, and playdates. It was hard for me to put all that aside occasionally and be me. I'm such a perfectionist, its bugged me this semester I got an A- in a class I could have gotten an A in if life wasn't going on at the same time. I know I made the right decisions, it's just a hard pill to swallow sometimes.

Female bullying. It sucks. Report it to the DON, it's not ok you shouldn't have to deal with it on your own. Someone (DON) needs to be aware of what's going on, especially if things get worse.

Our clinical starts at 6 am, at that time of day it's a 5 minute drive for me and I leave the house the second DH gets home to be with the kids (he leaves the car running for me) which is sometime between 5:30 and 6 am. I am kind of floored by 'is it ok to be late?' No, it's not. For anything (my own rules for me) The best you can do if you do everything else perfectly at clinicals is a B+ if you are late, even 30 seconds. I like being somewhere a little early so I have time to sit and relax and collect my thoughts.

My program is very new (this is it's 3rd year) and they have CCNE accrediation, and according to the director they went with CCNE because they hope to get a masters program in the not too far future and NLN doesn't accredit master's programs.

Fluent is a bit of a stretch LOL. I honestly don't know how I do with technical terms like you run into in a medical setting. I can carry on a conversation with someone and make myself understood. I've always thought it was a beautiful language and 'talked with my hands' naturally. I self taught myself a little, and then ASL classes where I've learned more about the grammar and subtlty (sp?) of things like facial expression that you don't get out of reading in a book. I have really been wondering if there is a medical ASL class I could take to make me more skilled. I am also an EMT, and I do have to say the hardest thing I've ever done is tried signing to someone who is on a gurney strapped down to a backboard in headblocks. I felt like strapping myself to the top of the ambulance.

As I understand it, you need to be certified as an interpreter to be paid as an interpreter. That doesn't mean as an RN you can't sign to your deaf patient, or translate for other parts of the team. You just get paid for being a nurse, not an interpreter. My experience is with ASL, I don't know if other languages are the same or not. I also could be wrong, it's been known to happen.

I already do IV's (EMS) and had no clue that there are schools out there that don't teach IV placement.

Mine was in a pre-req class. Pathophys. It was 5 pages of questions like "if you were experiencing a type III hypersensitivity reaction what would you expect to see on a cellular level" All of her tests were like that. Ugh.

One good way to learn critical thinking is to practice. Take your test afterwards and find someone that you can talk to about the ones you missed and critically chat about the tests. It comes with practice now.