finals!!!

I think it is perfectly planned that we are discussing Stress in lecture 2 days before our final... because I am stressed!! This weekend was absolutely wonderful with an amazing win in FSU football, but besides that I was stressed. I studied everything I could think of and yet I still am finding more I can study. My plan is this week to complete nothing but studying until Wendesday afternoon, where I am going to get a pedicure and eat some chocolate and relax a little. Just a little, because we immeidiately start Thursday with our new set of 8 week classes. As always I am very excited for change. New classes, a new group, a new instructor, i love new things... even though they stress me out to no end.

week 6

I definitely felt more confident in clinicals this week, mainly because of the way the staff at Healthsouth treated us. I felt we were wanted there as students and were asked to help in a variety of situations. But now thinking about my 6th blog entry, that means final exams are coming closer. It's crazy how fast the time flies! Studying for the exam has been going pretty well, but I will pick up the pace starting tomorrow. This weekend, I needed a bit of relaxation and drove to Atlanta with my boyfriend to hang out with his dad and grandparents. Overall, its been a great week!

study study study!

Since we didn't have a clinical last week, I took advantage and studied my heart out! Trying to catch up on the Unit 2 study guide, just so when October gets here, I won't stress too much. Its hard to manage other things besides nursing, when I feel like its all I need to think about. My parents were here for the football game this week, need to figure out financial stuff, need to get an oil change, clean my room. : ) just little things that aren't priority that I still need to finish. Here's to a new week!

midterm already?!?

Today was our midterm exam, this four weeks has really flown by!! I did alright on the exam, but as always I think I can do better. As Mrs. Demelio said in class today, success is being better today than you were yesterday. My study technique was over-using my highlighter, I highlighted the chaper, the course objectives, and my notes, which really helped key points stick in my mind. But I also used our Fundamentals Critical Thinking book, it was on the book list, I'm pretty sure. Talking to some of my classmates, they didn't realize what that book had. I would say it helped me the most, which sections of critical thinking type questions (like on the test) and reasons why each answer was wrong and why each answer was correct. Definitely going to be a main source of my studying for the final exam! As for this week, my clinical is on Friday, and I am a little more nervous than last week just because we are doing more care with the patient. Hopefully all will go well!

first day of clinicals!

Today was the opposite of what I was expecting! I came in really nervous for the unknown and stressed for the 8 hour task ahead of us. I even decided that my goal was going to be getting over my fear of talking and responding to a patient. But getting there and meeting my patient changed my mind immediately! I know this will never always be the case, but I found it really easy to talk and start a conversation and ask questions to someone I've never met. We spent breakfast together, went to the hair salon, and attended an exercise class. My patient was very independent but also very willing to share with me her stories! The one thing I found difficult was to initiate taking the vital signs. I was reluctant to get in my patient's personal space, and afraid of hurting her frail arm with the blood pressure cuff. All was well in the end, but getting over this fear was something I hadn't expected. I plan on practicing taking vital signs with more and more people, so next week, this won't be a problem.

2nd Week

I almost feel like this is too good to be true, and I don't want to jinx anything. But these first couple of weeks have been really easy! It scares me because I've always expected to be thrown into nursing school with immediate 50 hour study weeks. Because of this, I've been reading and re-reading everything, taking everyone's blood pressure, and trying to find things to study!! I dont want to be caught off guard for when lectures and labs start to pick up the pace. But I definitely can't wait : )

Why I want to be a Nurse!!

I don't really have a cool story of how I decided to be a nurse : ) I just always knew that I was going to grow up, go to school, and help people to the best of my ability. I'm that friend that gets phone calls from friends when they don't feel good, or have a cut finger. And I absolutely love it. I guess its in my genes.. My mom has been a Labor and Delivery nurse for 25 years, and I love hearing about her job. I've always said that I would like to go into Labor and Delivery as well, but thats the only nursing I've come into contact with. I change my mind every day, but some ideas are being a Nurse Anesthetist, OR, ICU, NICU, or maybe actually Labor and Delivery, I have two years to decide : )

I think a nurse is any one who cares for another. Yes you need an actual degree to be called an RN, but nursing comes second nature to most any human. We want to care for and protect the people we love. The thing I love most about the nurses I have met is their desire to know about, not just the patient's well being, but their life and feelings and emotions. Nurses are there as a friend and shoulder to cry on and there as a professional to save a life. And that's what I want to be.