The last first day of school.

Forget the shiny new shoes and the smell of a new backpack and sharpened pencils.  When you've been in school this long all you want is a good cup of coffee to start the year.

 My day began with me going to the SON (school of nursing) to find out why my clinical time had been changed.  I had registered to have my psych clinical the first eight weeks of the semester to get it out of the way but due to a lack of instructors and site availability I was moved to the second eight weeks.  I am registered for 11 hours this semester- a substantial decrease from the 15+ I'm used to carrying.  I even met with my advisor for confirmation that I wasn't missing anything.  She assured me that all of my requirements thus far have been completed.  Of course there were all of the other freak-outs regarding tuition, scholarship/loan requirements, who said what, a lot of sighing, and doubting--> all of which are to be expected.

I accomplished everything on my "to do" list for the day.  I am going to try to hold out as long as possible on getting the parking permit...

A sense of "whelm-ness" is hovering over my class of 9 like a storm cloud.  All of us have been put through the ringer and we're like abused puppies anticipating a beat down when instead we have a week to read one chapter or a nice e-mail from a professor that reads, "You all passed the exam with a 90 or above. Way to go!" Throughout the day we exchanged glances with each other as if we were saying "That's it?"

I hope that the drive to do well doesn't diminish over the next 16 weeks.  I also hope that what it is that I'm supposed to do next will be revealed to me.  All of the who, what, when, where, how, and sometimes why questions have yet to be answered and I am getting a little antsy about what to do next.

Jessica's Daily Affirmation

Adult Medicine II- 4 weeks

Daily Schedule: Monday and Tuesday--> Lecture 9am-3pm w/ exams every Monday.
                          Wednesday- Friday--> Clinical 6:30am-3:30pm

Actual Schedule:  On the Med/Surg floor whenever the instructor decided that she was bored and that there wasn't anything else to do or to be learned she would let us go early.

What to wear: Scrubs, comfortable shoes and support socks

What's in my pockets:  patient hand-off report, patient med. list, pens, stethoscope ( I think I used my stethoscope a total of three times on this rotation), change

Patient notes you'll be asked to write: VS, I & O's, safety

What to study:  congestive heart failure, pulmonary embolism, ostomies, hematology/oncology. A lot of what you study will have to do with the population of people that come in.  This particular rotation was in the center of farming/agriculture so there were a lot of older patients who worked until their bodies couldn't keep up anymore.

A few unforgettables along the way:  Discount on food/coffee! A patient of mine who saw the Pearly Gates.  Patient with a GI bleed who is a Jehovah's witness.  Some pretty awesome nurses and assistants who goofed off with us in the hallways.  Having the electricity go out in the hospital. Going to the county fair for a "community assessment."  This really was a time for us to get out of the hospital and eat our way through the fair.

This was a fairly laid back rotation without too much work, which was very much welcomed considering this was the summer from hell.  A word of advice:  Do not enroll in an accelerated nursing program unless you are absolutely, positively certain that you want to go into the nursing profession.  Just sayin'.