I made it through another week. I stated clinical this week. Waking up @ 4:30 a.m. is definitely NOT an ideal beginning to my week, but so far they are going well. Monday morning, we learned about the computer charting system at the hospital. I do not really like computer charting, but it seems to be the newest and greatest thing that most hospitals will have in the very near future, so I guess I need to get used to it. We took a tour of the floor we will be working on and we went down to the cafeteria for lunch. I lovvvvve hospital food! Lunch time is always the highlight of my day. We also choose the patients that we were going to have on Tuesday. I already had some new experiences my first day with a patient. He had a PEG tube (a tube going directly into the abdomen) supplying him with tube feedings, and he had a leaking foley cath (tube going through the urethra into the bladder to drain urine) that I got to remove later in the morning. I had a busy day!
We had one exam this week, and the other exam we were supposed to have got moved because of a 2-hour delay! The only time I like snow is the first snow of the year, Christmas and when school is canceled because of it!

until next time =)
bre knapic

Posted by Bre Knapic at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I made it through the first two nursing exams of the semester this week! There are another two this week, and this week also begins the off-campus clinicals. I am always really nervous when clinicals start, because everything is new to you. You start with a new instructor, a new hospital, new hospital staff, a new student group, new assignments, and, of course, new patients. And while there have been new challenges each semester, I have really enjoyed each of my clinical experiences so far, and I am excited to see what this semester's clincials are going to bring. I am only upset that I have to leave my house @ 5:30AM!!! But, after this semester, I can get a job working whatever shift I want...hopefully.

This semester is going to be difficult, because it is the time when you get out of the mind-set of a student and begin your role as a professional RN. I already have people ask me medical advice and I haven't even graduated yet! This week's exams are on pancreatitis, gastric bypass, and intraoperative care, so I should be able to answer those questions at least.
until next time =)
bre knapic

Posted by Bre Knapic at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first week of 4th level is over! 14 weeks to go! I have 2 exams next week already. This is going to be a rough semester, but I am definitely looking forward to new experiences and challenges. Today, in seminar, we talked about cardiac arrhythmias. I thought it was going to be really confusing and boring, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was really, really interesting. We learned how to read the normal heart rate on a telemetry monitor, and then we learned how to see the differences caused by heart arrhythmias. This is going to be a crazy semester!!

We also talked about the NCLEX, what to expect and about the test in general. I cannot believe that I am going to be taking the NCLEX soon! I have a lot of practice questions to do between now and graduation.

until next time =)
bre knapic

Posted by Bre Knapic at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)