There are 21 days left in this semester...I had 2 exams this week. I have 3 next week and then finals begin.
Needless to say I am ready for a break...not from nursing but from nursing school. I am exhausted both mentally and emotionally. To be totally honest I am bordering on being burnt out. School is VERY difficult for me. I am a multi-sensory learner so a professor standing in front of me lecturing sounds very much like the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons. I need pictures, diagrams, and to actually execute the task with my own hands to grasp the concept.
Nursing school and nursing exams are unlike anything you have ever experienced...as the bumper sticker on my car says "Nursing School Is Not For Sissies" There is much truth and wisdom in this statement. In nursing school they don't want to know if you know what a disease IS, they want to know that you know how to "nurse" the symptoms of the disease. Have I lost you yet?
Example: Patient comes into the ER short of breath, the practitioner diagnosis pneumonia, and prescribes antibiotics. As the nurse you are watching the multiple symptoms of the disease...yes its important that the patient has an infection in their lungs but that's the practitioner's problem. What the nurse is looking for is that the lungs are getting clearer, adequate nutrition is being received, oxygen is at a good level, and the antibiotics are being administered on time...ugh, the things that can go wrong with antibiotics are numerous including anaphylactic shock=BAD.
So that's what I'm learning....they call it "critical thinking." That is, seeing a number of problems, putting them in order of importance, and responding appropriately. And sometimes all that must be done in a matter of seconds...seconds that could mean life or death for a patient-ugh, no pressure, right?
I have, however, learned a lot about myself in this first year...
1) I really don't know a lot about sex...I'm not sure who gets more entertained by my questions, my professors or my fellow students.
2) I do not want to be a labor and delivery nurse...hurry up and wait-not my style, plus, screaming women and crying babies stress me out
3) I can function on 3 hours of sleep a night for multiple nights in a row...I may be grumpy but I can function
4) If needs be I can and will crawl onto a patient's hospital bed to administer heart compressions during CPR
5) I can put in a foley catheter (a sterile procedure) without breaking the sterile field and having to start all over...that's a big deal! I've heard stories of students running through multiple pairs of sterile gloves before their professor steps in
6) I am able to leave my emotions outside of the hospital and be a hard ass if I need to be- this is a grace from heaven, however, don't mistake this for leaving my love at the door, which I don't...this grace of seperation will make it possible for me to be a good trauma/combat nurse one day
7) I see Christ in EVERY patient I care for...it is a honor to do the smallest task for them (I haven't had a patient with c-diff yet, so I could re-neg on this one)
8) I really do have every disease that we have covered so far in class with the exception of anorexia...I have managed to dodge that bullet
9) I can't manage nursing school and boys....I just don't have the skills for that nor the expertise...who knew the way to run a boy off was, after he asks for your number, to tell him you won't sleep with him
10) I CAN do this!- I will be a nurse. I will care for our veterans in the VA system. I will return to Gidel, Sudan to serve my brother's and sister's whom I love. I will, if needed, be prepared to care for our wounded warriors in a combat zone. I WILL BE A NURSE!
3 semesters and 21 days left...
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