Give Thanks

I meant to get this post up before the Thanksgiving holiday but as we move on I know that it is never too late to be thankful...so here you go - happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

I am very very blessed.  I have so much to be thankful for.  But for the purposes of this blog, I thought I would sit down and list a few things that I am grateful for that pertain to nursing school, and the profession of nursing.

I am thankful for my loving, understanding and supportive family who remain so even through my second go-round of being a poor college student.

I am thankful for the opportunity to keep learning and improving myself.

I am thankful for kind and patient nurses who remember what it was like to be a student, and who are glad to share their knowledge and passion.

I am thankful for patients who are open to sharing their experience with a student, to facilitate my learning as well as theirs, and to let me participate in their care with confidence and trust.

I am thankful for great examples who love being nurses even after years in the profession.

I am thankful for wonderful friends who keep in touch and never hesitate to ask how school is going and to offer a few words of encouragement.

I am thankful for new friends and classmates to lean on, commiserate with, and to help one another muddle through the papers, tests, quizzes, evaluations and examinations.

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These are just a handful in a sea of blessings that I have been given,  but time slips away and I forget to be thankful for all of the little things.  Don't ever forget to give thanks for the good things.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
-- Melody Beattie

What are you thankful for today?

The Longest Week

Welcome to my cozy little nook, where I am currently sitting with a cup of tea,  

just taking a breather.

This is where I study, pay bills, and keep in touch with important people...but mostly study...as evidenced by the heavy heavy stack of books bowing the shelf above my head.  Last month, I was having a lot of back pain from sitting in one of our garage-sale dining room chairs to study here, in the nook.  My thoughtful and considerate boyfriend took me to Office Depot and let me pick out this super nice and comfortable chair to support my back during my long hours of studying.  And he plays video games in it when I am in class.

I thought this week would never end. 
The schedule of events:
Monday: Pick up patient assignment for Tuesday and start care plan and med cards
Tuesday:  Clinical 0630-1700
Wednesday:  Clinical 0630-1600
Thursday:  Simulation
Friday:  Med/Surg I lecture, final research critique turned in
Saturday:  Pharmacology exam and lecture

But finally, a moment to relax.
The only productive things I accomplished this afternoon were buying milk at the store, and putting up our new tiny Christmas tree.
It's too early, I know.

Tomorrow, I will be back in the groove, studying for the online Med/Surg I online exam that is to be completed sometime over the Thanksgiving "break".  Oh, and I also have two PICO questions due for my research class at the beginning of the week. Does anybody know what that means?

Just when I am starting to feel the stress and count down the days until winter break, some motivation for sucking it up and getting myself through this thing called nursing school:  On Tuesday, AOL compiled a list of the Top 10 Most Secure Jobs in 2011 from U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.  Nursing was number one.  Thanks to my friend Jennifer for sharing this with me, and thanks to my friend Jessami (who is a nurse) for summing it up by saying:

"Isn't it great to know that when you are finally done...someone will ALWAYS need you!"

Putting A Face To A...History of Presenting Illness

Today, like every day before a clinical rotation, I went to the hospital to pick up my patient assignment and fill in my blank care plan as completely as possible from the information in the paper and electronic medical records.  I find it inconvenient to have the information either split and/or duplicated in the paper chart and the EMR.  It takes me forever to find the information I seek.  But alas, this is the system we live with.

We are not allowed to meet or have contact with our patients until clinical day.  So as I was filling in the blanks as required (recent labs, demographic information, history of presenting illness, pathophysiology, current medications) I found myself, as I always do, wondering what my patient looks like.  And not only, what does my patient look like now and what will I encounter when I walk into the room tomorrow, but what did my patient look like before he/she was sick?  What kind of life did he/she have before becoming a patient in this hospital for weeks or months?  What kind of person must he/she have been before they were defined by laboratory values, diagnostic procedure reports and a "face sheet"?

I find it hard to relate to the history and physical as represented by a doctor's barely decipherable chicken scratch on a form in the chart (sorry docs...).  Without a face, a family, a story...there is no connection.  And it makes me resentful of the seemingly thousands of medication cards and numerous pages of care plans I have to fill out for this nameless faceless diagnosis.  

But I'm sorry!  I am not resentful toward you, my patient - I just haven't met you yet!!  And tomorrow, when I finally meet you, I will know your story; I will understand why you have all of those medications and tubes and machines, and radiological and surgical procedures.  And hopefully, I will understand what it means to you to be on all those medications and connected to all of those tubes and machines and to have all of those radiological and surgical procedures.  Then I will learn from you, and hopefully you will also learn from me.

Putting Theory Into Practice

Phew! Three weeks into Med/Surg I, our little group of six nursing students has completed three full days at the hospital in our first real clinical rotation.  Although much of these three days were taken up by computer and EMR training, tours, and an introduction to care plans, we did have some actual patient contact.  It's so exciting to be able to apply concepts we have learned to real life!

So far, the doctors, nurses, CNAs, and other health professionals on the floor have been very tolerant of us, and even incredibly helpful!  As much as we try not to interrupt their normal flow and function, I can only imagine how distracting we are with all our questions and curiosity as we follow our clinical instructor around in  our black student scrubs like baby ducks.  One of the other students joked about us being like an "atherosclerotic plaque" clogging up the hallways of the unit.  HA! Nursing school humor...

Though I feel terribly inept and spend most of my time trying just to stay out of the way, I am enjoying my clinical experience very much.  I was so excited to administer medications to a real patient!  I got to flush a PICC line, give two subcutaneous injections, hang IV meds and pass oral medications.  It was not nearly as scary as my medication CPE made it seem!  

I had the nicest patient both days this week, and was honored to hear from her and her husband that they would miss me after my clinical days were over for the week.  I appreciated very much hearing that they thought I was going to make a great nurse.  That is the sweetest compliment!  And the greatest motivation and encouragement to keep plugging along in this journey called nursing school.

An Empty House

This is my Papa Virgil.  Only he doesn't remember.

He doesn't remember taking me to the sale barn early in the mornings for breakfast.

He doesn't remember the little barn he built for all "My Little Ponies".

He doesn't remember being the subject of my World War II history project.

He doesn't remember how proud he was when I told him I wanted to be a nurse

-like his mother.

He doesn't even remember my name.

He doesn't remember his only granddaughter

His only grandson

His only daughter

His only Son-in law

His only wife.

This is my Papa Virgil.

An empty house

Abandoned by a good and careful tenant

Lights turned out

Familiar things strewn about

But not even a resemblance of the once lively, strong and proud.

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November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month and National Caregivers Month. Honor a caregiver by creating a tribute:  

http://ping.fm/SuqLy

To my Mom, Dad and Meme, the hardest working caregivers I know.  And to my Papa Virgil; may we find a cure for this cruel disease. 

Takin' It To The Streets

As I progress through my nursing program I learn more and more about the different roles of nurses and the wide spectrum of opportunities that will be available to me when I graduate from this program (and pass the NCLEX of course).  I came into this program wanting to be an oncology nurse (and I still do, more on this in later posts).  That's a pretty narrow focus, and almost daily I encounter possibilities that I had never considered.

In today's post from AJN's Off The Charts, the topic of discussion is outreach nursing.  Click to read "Harm Reduction or Stigmatization: What's Your Approach To Drug-Addicted Patients?"  These Canadian nurses go to their patients rather than waiting for them to be admitted to the hospital - oh, and their patients are illicit drug users and prostitutes.  Take a look at the video below for a segment of the documentary called "Bevel Up:  Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing".

 

Not only was this topic striking to me because it wasn't something I had ever considered, but it's not a topic that I am very familiar with either.  I don't know that I would be able to do what those nurses do for their patients without judgment or criticism.  However, I know that even doing student nurse rotations in a city hospital, I am likely to encounter some of these folks.  It spurred my thinking and maybe will allow me to adjust my perceptions before I am in the situation.

"To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart."
-Donald Laird

I would be interested to know about experiences you all have had, or perspectives on the topic if you are willing to share.