I love my MCA I instructor. She is a graduate of my school, is working as a CRNA (is a nurse anesthetist) and is very organized! I think I am getting clarity. We had an intensive skills day last week and surprisingly everything clicked. With the a little practice, I think I have my dose calculation formulas down pat and it's hopeful that the exam for that on Tuesday will go swimmingly. We have to have a 90% pass rate, so I have to be very careful not to make any careless mistakes.
Speaking of med-surg, we met our clinical faculty for SR Hospital last Thursday and I am so happy! We have a great group of classmates, plus an experienced teacher and nurse. I remember trying to take her dose calculation last summer, but having to drop it because of an accelerated statistics course I was taking. Now, instead of having her as an online instructor, I get to work with her three days per week at the hospital.
We have managed to divvy up the work for the next couple of weeks on the theory side, so hopefully when it comes time to do careplans and patho maps, we won't feel so stressed out.
I have no idea what to expect with this first MCA I exam on Wednesday, as I understand the questions are written NCLEX style, which means at least 2-3 of the answers will sound good, but they aren't the right answer...So I will have to bone up on my test taking skills by reviewing the NCLEX book in addition to the numerous chapters we've outlined since last week. We've had MCA I for one week, and have already covered 1/3 of the textbook! It's amazing...the lightning fast paced we are operating at and the amount of retention that is taking place.
I am thinking about switching from caffeine to "Go Girl" drinks. Yahoo!
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2 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing your student nursing experiences.
Oh, how I remember (some things vaguely) my first experiences on the floors.You remember the 'stupid' things most. I trained at County Hospital so they had a lot of transient/wino type patients and obviously '6-bed wards on each side of the hall which meant the entire area was
open for all to see when the curtains were not pulled around the
patient's bed for privacy. My assignment was to get this man to give a urine sample. I very professionally asked him to urinate in the cup and place it on his bed side table. He didn't understand 'urinate' and I fumbled with as many polite words, like 'pass water' etc. to no
avail. Finally one of the guys across the hall yelled out for the entire floor to hear, 'Jose she wants to you take a PISS!!! I was the laughing stockof the 'ward' for the rest of the day and probably the week.
Times have changed, and the student nurses' role has obviously been elevated from one of 'slave labor' to 'student in training'.
We wouldchave 6 patients (all in various stages of debilitation from a CVA) andcfor various reasons had not had a bowel movement in days (weeks) until
the stool was as hard as marbles and we literally had to pull out the 'fecal concretions'. You could have had a game of marbles and they wouldn't have splintered if they struck another stone!! I felt so sorry for those patients. The anal sphincter was so dilated from all their straining and they just couldn't push it through. You not only bathed them, gave them their meds, but what ever else needed to be done and of
course watch the clock because you had to leave to go back to campus or a lecture in the hospital.
One of the great things from my training days, by the time you completed your student nursing days, YOU were ready to take charge. In fact your senior year you were the charge nurse for the PM or Night shifts. No one precepted you when you made the transition into the 'real world' of being employed as an RN. Many of us were hired as evening charge nurse in the local hospitals.
The flying nun sends you bundles of hugs and love to you and your
'roadies'. Keep the faith, and keep on keeping on!
I just waved my magic wand and all of my patient's "poop issues" disappeared. I will lend you this magic wand for a mere $50,000, which will seem like a VERY small price to pay when you consider your personal affinity for "playing marbles".
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