No holiday for me.

I'm so glad that tomorrow is a holiday. If I had to work 8 hours tomorrow...I'd cry.

Before Tuesday, I have to read three more Health Assessment (HA) chapters...totaling about 103 pages. The last chapter I will be quizzed on. (It's been a REALLY long time since I've had to read that much in a day!). I've already read and taken notes on 3 chapters (over 50 pages). Not sure how I can manage 100 pages in a few hours. Need to learn to speed-read/memorize overnight tonight. ha! Plus I have 2 partial and 1 full system assessment to complete (and at least one write up)--I think I'll be heading to my parents house for those.

And then I have a 2 page rough draft (plus references) due at midnight tomorrow night for my Intro to Nursing course. I'm pretty sure it's going to be REALLY rough--I haven't even decided what ethics situation I want to write about. And I'm possibly not very clear on the assignment. Just need to dig in and do it.

So no trips to beach, no picnicking or barbecuing for me this Memorial Day. I may not even make it out of my pajamas tomorrow. Well, okay, maybe I will since I have to go to my parents house and do those assessments.

25 May 2010

Today it begins in earnest. No more talk. It's real. It's GO time.

Today I attended my first nursing classes, met a few of my cohort and it was a good day over all. This semester I'm taking:

NUR 100: Introduction to Nursing. This is a 1.0 credit hour class that lasts for only five weeks--which means it will be over before I know it! We will only meet for class a total of 3x. We sit in a lecture hall. Today we went over syllabus, learned basics of the nursing curriculum for the next two years) and then went to campus library for a presentation on how to use library resources for the paper we have to write about ethics and nursing (rough draft is due next Tuesday). At first I thought, "Really? A visit to the library? Um, I graduated from highschool and college, I think I know how to use the library".  But afterwards, I was totally grateful for the virtual tour of the online resources that are available to us for research. Helpful for more than just this class...helpful for the coming two years!  Times certainly have changed for library sciences. And a lot of the online library resources will save us money in the long run (so we aren't required to get PDAs with special software). The class is designed to give us an overview of the nursing program. We'll be taking some learning assessment tests (to understand our strengths and weaknesses) which I'm also looking forward to. We'll have online discussion requirements about textbook readings and have to write a short paper about ethics/nursing.

NUR 226: Health Assessment. This is a 2.0 credit hour class that lasts for the full 10 weeks of the summer semester. Our instructor told us that at other schools this is sometimes a 5.0 credit hour class! Oh my. This meets in the nursing lab (beds, dummies, etc) and we sit at round tables for lecture portion. The classroom is freezing...and apparently the temperature is constant at 66 degrees. So I'll be packing my fleece jacket all summer. LOL. Today we reviewed the syllabi and due dates for assignments. We asked a few questions and then were dismissed early. She's cancelled class on Thursday, so we have a load of stuff to due for next Tuesday. This class is going to be fun because we are learning something new and applying it each week, every week building on skills. By the end of the semester we'll be able to take a history and do a physical assessment and do write-ups! I must say that I am very grateful to have been a standardized patient/mock patient for first year medical students at UVA and get to observe (as the patient) this assessement. I learned so much about it from the patient side of things (and being asked to give feedback)...and now I can incorporate the patient and nurse side of things. I'm really looking forward to this class.

I'll be taking a Dosage Calc class (1.0 credit hour) for the 2nd five weeks of the summer semester (after NUR 100 is finished). Not required, but recommended if math skills are rusty.

Now I'm going to go watch a Neflix movie and relax. Never fear, on June 6th I'll be putting my Netflix subscription "on vacation" for the semester. There's always Redbox.com and Hulu.com for when I need some diversions...but Netflix is too expensive if I'm not going to use it.

Consulting with those who have gone before...

Hard to believe, but a week from today I will be starting my first nursing courses. In preparation, I am reading a couple books about being successful in nursing school that were mentioned online at various websites. 

Saunders Student Nurse Planner: A Guide to Success in Nursing School by Susan C. deWit

How to Survive & Maybe Even Love Nursing School: A Guide for Students by Students by Kelli S. Dunham

This one is more for fun--

Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not by Florence Nightingale

I also have emailed a guy friend who graduated from the same program a few years ago, asking what to expect, any advice for a first year student, anything you wish you'd known before starting, etc...

What I've gathered is that the nursing instructors will not try to be your friends. I think this especially helpful to note. If you are a person that needs constant positive feedback...realize that it probably won't be coming from your instructors. One friend wrote: "There is a saying 'Nurses eat their young.' This seems to be true when you're in nursing school. It seems that they do not want you to pass but [in actuality] they are trying to get you to think on your own and you end up sinking or swimming in the process. They are helpful and do want you to succeed, though for the most part it may not seem like it...."

"Nursing is not just information but a thought process and prioritizing care. There are a few different methods for prioritization of care that you will learn as you go through nursing school. It is not important to know whether you got a question wrong or not but why. The rationales will help a lot with learning what you need to focus on and why you would do one thing instead of another..."

"The big thing is to learn how to speed read. In the first year of nursing school we had to go to the Learning Center and take a test on how we learn best and this was a huge help because it tells you your learning strengths and weaknesses and they also gave us help with learning how to speed read. This is a huge help when you have to read a few hundred pages overnight."

The hope for this blog is to share my experiences, but also to provide tips, suggestions, things to think about...books, what nursing school is like (from my perspective). Something that I can pass along to the next newbie group.

Talking with those who have gone before (or reading their books), in my opinion, is just plan smart. Know what to expect and go in with eyes and ears open, ready to go, fully resourced and organized, with proven strategies--BUT NOT COCKY. Um...there's a reason they call it nursing SCHOOL.  My goal is to go in humility, yet confident in my ability to be successful. To be positive, hopeful and encouraging to my fellow students (I do not want to join the "Complain Train").  I do want to have good relationships with my instructors and advisors. I'm not sure how to do that or if it's even possible. But I definitely don't want them to dislike me or be annoyed by me. I really want to hear on graduation day that they noticed I worked hard and was determined to be successful (even when struggling). That they appreciated that I did not join the Complain Train but realized the value of my training...all of it. I want them (and my peers) to see Christ in me (gulp). I want my instructors to see that I take seriously my role as student nurse and that I am practicing what I will eventually teach my patients (including losing weight, being more intentional about exercising and eating right).

Apparently there are a number of Nursing School video blogs on YouTube. My only complaint is that they don't say much...there's a lot of wasted time while they think about what to say.

Oh, just ordered a digital voice recorder to record  class lectures to mp3 format so that I can listen to them when I am in the car or reviewing my notes.

So much to do before school starts next Tuesday... car into shop, cook up Tomato-Basil soup (yum!), return a few things to various stores, clean/vacuum car, plant Basil plants and flowers, get haircut...wish I wasn't working too...LOL.

Spring Semester Completed!

So Microbiology is known for being tough. Which is why I am delighted, surprised and downright PROUD that I earned a 103%.  I did work my tail off.

So A for Microbiology and an A for Developmental Psych. Another 4.0 semester! Woot.

Working the List

Letter accepting offer.  Check.
Dr. visit / physical.       Check.
TB Test.                       Check.
MMR Booster.                Check.
Drug-Screen.                 Check.
Background Check.        Check.     Can't you tell I love lists?
Upload Records.            Check.
Enrolled in CPR.            Check.
Registered for Classes.  Check.        See below.
Buy uniform patches.     Check.
Buy textbooks.              Check.


So I've been screened, immunized, poked, prodded, evaluated, & registered. The only things remaining on my Nursing School check-list: take CPR class in June; buy uniforms (sew on school patches), stethoscope, pen light, 24 hour watch with second hand; research medical insurance; and write thank you's for my scholarship.


I'm also getting closer to selecting a departure date for leaving work. May not know exactly until I see my course syllabi at the end of this month...but it's looking like second week of August. My only question is when will final exams for each class happen? Nothing like trying to train someone to do your job while your brain is really focused on wanting to study for exams! I could leave earlier...but I do want a paycheck and insurance for as long as possible.


Here are the classes that I am registered for this summer: 

• NUR 226 Health Assessment (2.0): Teaches the systematic approach to obtaining a health history and performing a physical assessment. (10 weeks) 
• NUR 100 Introduction to Nursing and Health (1.0): Introduces concepts of nursing and health. Includes historical and cultural aspects, legal, and ethical responsibilities and an overview of health and the health care delivery system. (First 5 weeks) 
• NUR 135 Drug Dosage Calculations (1.0): Focuses on apothecary, metric, household conversion in medication dosage calculation for adult and pediatric clients. Provides a practical approach to learning to calculate and prepare medications and solutions. Includes calculating intravenous flow rates. (Second 5 weeks)

_____________________________________

Expenses To Date:
$    820.90  Actual nursing school exp.
$ 2,171.97  Expenses for 4 pre-nursing classes
________________
$ 3,042.87  TOTAL


I may later decide that it's easier to upload this to a Google doc and link it...but I'm not there yet.

Humbled : Grateful : Inspired

I am extremely excited and yet very humbled to have been awarded a very generous scholarship for the 2010-2011 school year. So excited because quitting work for two years makes for some serious financial uncertainty! When I calculate all my basic expenses (tuition, fees, books) for fall, spring and summer semesters, I'm pretty sure it will all be covered. Woot! God is good!  The humbling part is that this is a memorial scholarship for Jessica Lester, a 25-year-old wife and daughter who died in 2007. While I am soooo grateful to be awarded this nursing scholarship, I realize her family has lost so much.

Jessica was a 2003 graduate from PVCC's nursing program and was working as a nurse and continuing her nursing education at UVA when she died of severe brain trauma. From what I can gather, a cement truck, that was going to fast around a curve in the road, flipped over onto her car (her husband was with her but had only minor injuries). She was in UVA's ICU for 8 days before she died. Her accident occurred about a month after I left for Liberia. I had not heard this story until now.

Her husband and her family set up this scholarship to provide for "promising nursing students" in her honor. It seems so very wrong to be excited about receiving this scholarship, when I realize that it is through their loss that I am blessed. Not only am I motivated and inspired to work hard in honor of Jessica...but it is also a reality check. None of us is promised tomorrow. It's a reminder that even in the midst of my stressful nursing studies, I cannot isolate myself--but need to find a way to remain actively involved with my friends and family. They need me. I need them. I don't want to look back and wish I had loved them better.

I am so grateful for the Lord's provision, and pray that I might be a good steward of this gift bestowed on me.

You can read more about this young woman on the site they set up for the scholarship: http://jessicalestermemorialfund.wordpress.com/.  One interesting discovery, when Jessica was young she lived in Rock Hill, SC for a while. That is where I went to college (Winthrop)! I think we were both living in Rock Hill at the same time--although she was about 8 years younger than me.

Time Change

I have set my digital watch to display military time (24 hours).

Wish me luck. 

...and I suppose that if you see me in person, you can ask...

"Hey, Joy, if it's 9 pm, what is that in military time??"