Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day

I dunno what's gotten into me, but I'm feeling optimistic today. Even on Valentine's Day--when I typically just wander around annoyed at all the red and pink happiness. So I'm going to chalk it up to 3 things: Sunshine. Oxygen. Social Interaction (outside of nursing school).

Last week I posted my hope/desire/plans to attempt to get out and get some exercise on Sunday afternoons. My friend Elizabeth, who I've only recently gotten to know through my Bible study group, responded to my blog post and we made plans. I am not very good at initiating--but I will definitely respond if someone initiates/pursues (and I've got the time). We headed out to the Monticello Parkway/Trail and enjoyed mid-50 temps with full sunshine and full cardiac benefits. It was wonderful. It was so nice to be out and about and not thinking about school or even talking about it (okay, maybe I did mention it a little towards the end, but my recollection is that it was minimal). There were other much more interesting topics to be discussed!

I honestly think the Sunshine, Oxygen. and Social Interaction (SOSI) are very much responsible for my elevated mood and outlook. This is going to be a challenging week- no kidding. But I feel like the SOSI "therapy" has in a sense, been a reset button. Coping skills intact.

In the coming seven days, in addition to normal lecture readings for Pharm and Nursing II and clinical stuff, I'm also taking my first tests in Pharm and Nursing II. Today our Pharm instructor (online course) invited students to attend an hour long in-person test-prep session--basically giving us a better sense of what we need to review/study for the test. I left much more optimistic and much less anxious. Our instructor was very reassuring. 

Tomorrow is our all-day prep for clinical on Wednesday. I'm really hoping to get to bed at a decent hour tomorrow night. There's always the chance that I will be giving medications, so I really need to be well-rested and have solidly reviewed the meds and med administration skills applicable to my assigned patient for the hours I will be there on Wed.

In March, everything about clinical will be turned-upside down as my hospital is moving to a more fully integrated electronic records system. With our current record system (on computer), we have the ability to print off the Patient Treatment Plan and all the ordered treatments, meds etc...  It is my understanding that once the new system goes live in March...there won't be any reports that we can print.  I'm trying not to think about it and realize that every single nursing student is going to be in the same boat. Our clinical instructors are also going to be somewhat inconvenienced too... so flexibility is going to be key to our sanity. We are hoping for a thorough training day on the software...but we're not sure when that will be.   I just need to focus on getting my 2nd Satisfactory (on WCP) before the new software hits... that should take some of the pressure off.









(Click on image to enlarge)

Well, I'm going to go take a 20 minute nap and then jump on studying for my pharmacology test.

Cheers...and Happy Valentine's Day!





1 comment:

  1. Glad the walk was a good thing for you and didn't make you more stressed about studying. I'll be praying for your pharm test!

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