This past week I finished up my Health Assessment course with an A on my final demo! yeah! and then turned in my "take-home" Test 2 and the Final Exam for my Dosage Calc class. We left the class without a clue of our grades on Test 1, Quizzes 2-4 and 4 case studies. I know the Dimensional Analysis method, I know how to do the conversions...I'm pretty sure I did all the problems correctly...so I will be very angry if I do not make an A in the class. The teacher "says" she less worried about correct answer, but more that we set the problems up correctly. But all the students in the class turn to each other and say..."well our patients will want to make sure we got the right answer!" Just very frustrating. I have the same instructor in the fall for 2 of the 3 parts of Nursing 108 (Nursing skills). This 5 week class was just so frustrating on many fronts...mostly just the communication aspects of the class! Well, I should be getting my grade next week sometime...but I've got to much else going on to be a worry-wort about the class/grade.
I'm in the final stretch at work. They've hired someone who I think will do a great job, it's just unfortunate that the overlap in insufficient to connect all the dots for him before I leave. He's brand new to the church and so everything will be brand new. But I just have to let it go...and trust that the Lord will provide and cover what I cannot. Once you've LEFT the job, usually it's not a big deal...but when you work at a church and still expect to worship there...it is hard to let go. So I am taking a 2 month sabbatical from worshiping at Trinity and will enjoy the chance to visit some other area churches. This time off will allow the new guy to assume and establish his authority. Plus it will give me the time I need to separate myself from the job. Soon, Trinity will be where I will worship--not work --on Sundays. Unfortunately Sundays have not been very worshipful this past year as Sunday became a required work day. I'm too much of a detail freak...I notice every little thing and try to fix things before they are noticeable by others. It's the hardship of a being control freak that serves a population with leaders with high expectations...
Okay, back to detailing my car. I promised myself I would detail my car at 200K...but that was in May and I haven't had time until now.
Cheers.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Confession
I'll admit it. Dimensional Analysis (DA) is cool. Way cool.
But it's not so cool that I will quit nursing school to take up math. No thanks. I'll leave that to my little sister who is a high school math teacher. So rather, I'll get my DA kicks from calculating drug dosages. (And yes, things are improving since the last time I commented on NUR 135).
Cheers.
P.S. Today in my Health Assessment class I was accused of being an over-achiever by my peers (who sit near me). I've NEVER been an over-achiever. And since they were laughing when they said that...I can assume that I can't take it to the bank. ha-ha. I SO enjoy that class. I guess that's a good sign. I really enjoy my instructor too! She tells us funny stories (related to what we are studying) which helps to alleviate some of the low-level stress we are all feeling. She's just so pleasant to be around. Rumor has it that that's NOT common. So I'm grateful!
But it's not so cool that I will quit nursing school to take up math. No thanks. I'll leave that to my little sister who is a high school math teacher. So rather, I'll get my DA kicks from calculating drug dosages. (And yes, things are improving since the last time I commented on NUR 135).
Cheers.
P.S. Today in my Health Assessment class I was accused of being an over-achiever by my peers (who sit near me). I've NEVER been an over-achiever. And since they were laughing when they said that...I can assume that I can't take it to the bank. ha-ha. I SO enjoy that class. I guess that's a good sign. I really enjoy my instructor too! She tells us funny stories (related to what we are studying) which helps to alleviate some of the low-level stress we are all feeling. She's just so pleasant to be around. Rumor has it that that's NOT common. So I'm grateful!
Assessing 12 Cranial Nerves
In NUR 226 (Health Assessment), we have to assess the 12 cranial nerves... in order to do that, we must know:
1. name of the nerve
2. what number it is (this would be for charting I think)
3. what it innervates (what functions expected)
4. what to ask patient to do (stick out tongue, shrug shoulders, identify flavor, etc...)
What are the 12 CRANIAL NERVES?
I. Olfactory
II. Optic
There are common mnemonics that are helpful to remember names/order for tests...but for the actual assessment/demo for class, we can't rely upon a mnemonic to remember the cranial nerves...so I found a few YouTube videos that get to more than just the names.
Since we use a song to learn the ABC's...why not songs for cranial nerves? enjoy!
1. name of the nerve
2. what number it is (this would be for charting I think)
3. what it innervates (what functions expected)
4. what to ask patient to do (stick out tongue, shrug shoulders, identify flavor, etc...)
What are the 12 CRANIAL NERVES?
I. Olfactory
II. Optic
III. Oculomotor
IV. Trochlear
V. Trigeminal
VI. Abducens
VII. Facial
VIII. Auditory (Vestibulocochlear)
IX. Glossopharyngeal
X. Vagus
XI. Spinal Accessory
XII. Hypoglossal
There are common mnemonics that are helpful to remember names/order for tests...but for the actual assessment/demo for class, we can't rely upon a mnemonic to remember the cranial nerves...so I found a few YouTube videos that get to more than just the names.
Since we use a song to learn the ABC's...why not songs for cranial nerves? enjoy!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Just a Few More Weeks...
First nursing class (NUR 100: Intro to Nursing) is finished... My first A of official nursing school. whew!
I am still taking NUR 226: Health Assessment and that will end in a few weeks (end of July). Enjoying the class but the final demo/exam is freaking us all out. In an ideal world we'd be doing a full head-to-toe exam to prove we know our stuff, but that would take us AT LEAST an hour and of course the faculty does not want to endure that for each student. I don't blame them. So it will be a lottery draw and my lab partner and I will each draw a different assessment to do. Unlike the tests up to this point, we won't be doing write-ups, we'll be verbalizing what we see and do (and what we are looking for) WHILE we do it. If we forget something but remember it later, we can still get full credit for it. So it's not like we have to be absolutely perfect. We just have to remember everything and what we are looking for. I've made 100's on all the assignments to date and hoping I can do the same for test 3...so that if I completely come unglued for the final demo--I will still hopefully get an A in the class.
Just started NUR 135: Dosage Calculations. Interesting. I hope I'm learning what I need to learn. It's a five week class and we only meet once/week. So far it's just been very confusing and lots of time wasted in a classroom of 20-25 students. It's amusing how there can be 3 conversations going on at one time--a lot like high school. I can do the problems in the textbook and can do most of the problems on the worksheets we are given...but I keep wondering what it is that I might not be understanding. Problem is that we don't get the answers for the worksheets...so we don't have a way to check ourselves to know if we know what we are doing. It's i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g.
I have registered for my fall NUR 108 (Nursing I) and its 3 components (lecture, skill lab, clinical). I have clinical on Wednesdays (prep will be on Tuesdays, I think), skills lab will be on Thursday afternoons and lecture/theory will be on Friday mornings. All the day nursing students will be together for lecture--so I'll get to see who all is in my cohort. Did find out that one gal from my church is in the day program with me. We are in the Dosage class together. Nice to have a friendly face.
And then there's the stress of finishing things out at the church. My last day is August 11. And no replacement confirmed. I had hoped that he/she would be decided upon and able to start observing/working by August 18...so I'm freak'n from time to time. The last thing is for me to be all stressed out during my last week or two of the semester. argh.
I am still taking NUR 226: Health Assessment and that will end in a few weeks (end of July). Enjoying the class but the final demo/exam is freaking us all out. In an ideal world we'd be doing a full head-to-toe exam to prove we know our stuff, but that would take us AT LEAST an hour and of course the faculty does not want to endure that for each student. I don't blame them. So it will be a lottery draw and my lab partner and I will each draw a different assessment to do. Unlike the tests up to this point, we won't be doing write-ups, we'll be verbalizing what we see and do (and what we are looking for) WHILE we do it. If we forget something but remember it later, we can still get full credit for it. So it's not like we have to be absolutely perfect. We just have to remember everything and what we are looking for. I've made 100's on all the assignments to date and hoping I can do the same for test 3...so that if I completely come unglued for the final demo--I will still hopefully get an A in the class.
Just started NUR 135: Dosage Calculations. Interesting. I hope I'm learning what I need to learn. It's a five week class and we only meet once/week. So far it's just been very confusing and lots of time wasted in a classroom of 20-25 students. It's amusing how there can be 3 conversations going on at one time--a lot like high school. I can do the problems in the textbook and can do most of the problems on the worksheets we are given...but I keep wondering what it is that I might not be understanding. Problem is that we don't get the answers for the worksheets...so we don't have a way to check ourselves to know if we know what we are doing. It's i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g.
I have registered for my fall NUR 108 (Nursing I) and its 3 components (lecture, skill lab, clinical). I have clinical on Wednesdays (prep will be on Tuesdays, I think), skills lab will be on Thursday afternoons and lecture/theory will be on Friday mornings. All the day nursing students will be together for lecture--so I'll get to see who all is in my cohort. Did find out that one gal from my church is in the day program with me. We are in the Dosage class together. Nice to have a friendly face.
And then there's the stress of finishing things out at the church. My last day is August 11. And no replacement confirmed. I had hoped that he/she would be decided upon and able to start observing/working by August 18...so I'm freak'n from time to time. The last thing is for me to be all stressed out during my last week or two of the semester. argh.
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