Interesting Orientation Topics

Today was the first day of our 2nd semester nursing clinicals. The first 8 weeks of the semester I will be doing rounds in OB at two of the four city hospitals here. Now, everyone knows how boring orientations are, especially seeing as we were orientating to all four of the area hospitals, which two are sister hospitals. And any who, most hospitals have the same rules and regulations. But what the whole lot of us found interesting was the lengthy discussion on how to deal with anxious/agitated, and ARMED visitors/patients. Apparently recently, (most likely due to the poor economy), there has been an increase in the amount of armed people entering the local hospitals, not to mention the increase in car break-in's, so there was a whole two hour discussion on those two topics (I think it was because the hospital admin have been watching a bit too much of the movie John Q, you know, the movie about the angry father who takes the ER by force to get a new heart for his boy)... So yea, after that discussion, I sure can't wait to start my rotations! I can't believe summer vacation is gone. *sigh* I started my first class last Saturday...that's right...Saturday...a weekend class! YUCK! It is advanced anatomy and physiology, yay! (not). I used to love anatomy and physiology, until the incident with the broken cadavers tub...to make a long story short, the cadavers are in a big steel tub filled with preservative liquids. They lay on this platform that is raised up and lowered down by levers at each end of the tub. A year ago, during one lab period, I was one of the lucky people to help lift the cadaver out of the tub, only thing was they hadn't fixed the lever system yet! And I pushed down as hard as I could to raise my end of the platform, but something snapped and SPLASH! Yup, it was nasty. And yup, I did puke. Actually that's not the reason I stopped liking anatomy and physiology. It was the teacher I had during that semester who turned an interesting, enjoyable topic into a meticulous, uninteresting and overwhelming subject. Anyways, we finish our clinical orientation tomorrow. Seeing as we're into hospital clinicals now, our schedules aren't ever set in stone and they already told us most of the time we will find out the night before or the morning of our clinical shifts our patient assignments. Good thing I don't have a life. I didn't want one anyways, ya know?

I really am looking forward to clinicals semester though. From what I've heard, this is probably the most fun and interesting semester out of the four nursing semesters. Last semester our clinicals were at a nursing home which is stuff I've been doing as a CNA (certified nursing assistant) for years. I also worked at a hospital on the med/surg, ICU, and OB unit for a year, so I have my feet wet which helps, seeing as this semester is OB and med/surg and OR. I'm really really looking forward to working in the OR. That's gonna be a sweet rotation! I have also heard the instructors get a little more supportive as you continue on through the program. First semester is the 2nd hardest semester of nursing, and third semester is the hardest. They treat you like crap first semester to weed out the weak people, i.e. the ones the instructors think won't make it. The only reason third semester is the hardest is because of advanced nursing skills. I'm a little nervous about that, but after this semester is over with, I'm taking the LPN boards. After that when I get my LPN, I'm debating whether to finish my RN degree in the full-time track, or drop down to part-time. It's a really tough decision, but I'll deal with it when I get there.

I think the hardest thing this semester, besides advanced anatomy and physiology (A AnP) is gonna be the early mornings! I am so NOT a morning person, early bird, whatever. I am definitely a night owl, for as long as I can remember. And all my classes this semester are, you guessed it, MORNING CLASSES! EEKS! I'll slowly get used to it... probably by the time the semester ends! We have a quiz this Saturday, for A AnP, on cells and heredity. I hate that topic. Cells bore me and heredity isn't something I'm very interested in. I've always been interested in bones and muscles though, those are my favorite categories in anatomy and physiology. Someday maybe I'll become a cardiac intensive care unit nurse. That would be my dream job! That, or working in the ER. I can tell you this, if there would have been a high demand for EMT's or Paramedics, that's the field I would have went into. When I was 13, the local rescue squad had a Junior EMS program that offered basic first aid and life support training. I was part of it until the program closed, which was when I was about 16. It was after that program that I knew for sure I wanted to become a nurse. That's probably one of the only things in my life I have ever been 100% sure of, is being a nurse, well, working in the health care field I should say. I guess some people (like me) are lucky enough to know 100% sure what they are meant to do in life. I know this is what I'm meant to do, and it's what I want to do more than anything I've ever wanted to do.

I remember when I was in 8th grade we had to take this test and it determined which jobs we would be most successful at. I remember mine was nothing even anywhere near nursing. I was really upset about it, but then I realized it was just a stupid test. Counselors in middle and high school aren't very supportive of people. At least people in my situation, you know, average. I come from a middle-class family, and I didn't get the best of grades in school. I was on the honor roll in high school for only one semester! My GPA in high school averaged 2.6, and I didn't think at the time how important that would actually be, until I got into college. But you know what, I busted my butt studying in college, because people treated me as if I had potential, unlike grade, middle, and high school. It seems like that's a big flaw in our whats it called, primary and secondary school systems? They weed out the smart people and treat them different than the ones who struggle. I remember this psych study we reviewed in one of my psych classes. They took a class of students and treated the "average" students like they were prodigies, and the students grades improved! Because they were treated like they were smart. I do believe everyone has a lot of potential but we need to be nurtured in a way to encourage its expression. I know it's true because I went from being a high school student with a 2.6 GPA to a college student with a 3.5 GPA! Well, I could ramble on and on and on, which I really would like to do, but I must get going, I have to go study and do some cleaning. Until next time!