I am officially a 2nd Semester student now.

Did OK, final grade was just a smidge below where I wanted it to be but in line with what I’ve been getting since the beginning of the year.  Not the highest grade in the room, but likely in the top 3.

So, of  course, that means I have an A.

Final exam went s0-so.  I could have done better, but I didn’t try my best.  I knew walking in to the final that I had already passed the course (81.4% with 80% needed to pass) and I knew what my bottom line was for holding my A.  Once I was comfortably past that number in the exam I just coasted in for the landing.

I’ve been able to get some hints on things to start preparing and reviewing for next semester.  As I don’t want to lose my ‘rhythm’ like I did over the fall intercession.  But just to make things worse they extended our start date.  Instead of going back to classes on Jan. 4, we’re going on Jan 11th!  Everyone else is thrilled….me, not so much.  I don’ t like having to stop, reset, and restart.  A small break to rejuvenate is definitely much need.  Plus I have to catch up on honey-do’s and reorganize the messes that used to be known as my desk and the couch.
But a month??  I can’t begin to imagine how stupid I’m to be by then!

SU keeps asking if I feel relieved.  And, you know, I just don’t yet.  I’m glad to have this one in the books.  It kinda feels surreal to have accomplished it, but no ‘weight lifted.’   I have a few more school responsibilities throughout the rest of this week, such as being the marshal for the Black Banding ceremony, so maybe when they are done I’ll feel it.  Now, I’m not saying I’m not enjoying the accomplishment…

Will update more this week…
However, Today was the final exam.
Went in to it having already passed the course, just needed to defend my A.
Having meeting tomorrow where I find out my final grades…

have I been?

Man, Can’t believe it has been so long since I updated this. Sorry to be so remiss.

Fall break was a disaster. In every sense of the word. Everything thing I planned fell apart.
Not an exaggeration either. Seriously, 99% of the factors for 100% of the planned items combusted or eroded. We’re talking not only did the wheels come off the wagon but the sideboards fell off, the axles came lose, and the horses ran away.

I spent the first two just trying to make something be productive, only to spend the last week salvaging anything and trying to get back in to “school groove” again.

I knew three weeks was not going to be pretty. I just didn’t realize how ugly it would get.

Well, we’re now well past that and thinks are cooking with gas again. I’ve finished my second clinical rotation and that went very very well; starting the third and last rotation tomorrow.

Had another test. And while not meeting my goals, I did well and held my average. Our group project, though as painful as it is, is starting to take a form that assures us that we’ll do well and be on time.

Only 3 more weeks of regular class stuff left. And I have to say “stuff” because we finished with all the theory lecture this past Thursday. The rest is various types of labs and project oriented items.

One more regular test coming up and then the final is on Dec. 7.

I have an entire list of things I want to get posted on here…hopefully with theory assignments to the stern I can get that done.

This week has been full of mid-term items; mid-term eval for clinicals/skills, 3rd test of 6.

Now we’re on a three week break.
Actually, about 2-1/2 weeks, the last week the school is having remediation and enhancement seminars.

Plan to put some posts up on here that have been nothing but vapor up to this point.

Consider this scenario:

You are a floor nurse in a hospital and you have a client who is not quite with it.  They are able to do things and converse, but the thought processes aren’t all working together.  In addition to checking in on your client every hour or two, you administer antibiotics about every four hours.

Next thing you know, you are standing outside this clients room and they are on the phone, and the charge nurse is standing next to you and they too are on the phone (to the outside world, not in house).

The floor nurse is asking what you have been doing for your client as they (the floor nurse) is on the phone with the police because they (the police) are on the phone with 911 dispatch, who is on the line with a person who has called in about someone sneaking in to their room every four hours and is trying to poison them….

You gotta love it.

My first real-world clinical was an excellent experience.

First off, and most importantly, no one died!
I figure that’s always a priority.

We spent the morning in the new born nursery followed by discussions and debriefing after lunch.

Most interesting things:  The babies so easily choke on their own spit, and there are quite a few babies born on a regular basis that have extra digits!

They remove the digits by just tying it off with string and before long the necrotized appendage just falls off.

The focus for the day was assessment.  After some minor orientation we each, or in pairs, took a baby and began assessing.  Most of the babies were in good condition, excepting two in particular.  One that was having problems processing bilirubin (a bili-baby) and one who was having trouble breathing and expressing the amniotic fluid.  The bili-baby was under a bili-light with a blind-fold and seemed otherwise satisfied.  The one that had breathing issues was in the admission nursery (upon delivery a baby actually undergoes an admission process like anyone else).

My most exciting (to me) client was the baby that came in to the admissions nursery from delivery while we were in there.  I got to participate in that initial assessment and then once she was determined stable we gave her an initial bath including a much disliked wash-n-rinse of the hair.  With all we did she ended up with a below acceptable temperature, so I had the responsibility of monitoring until she was back to stable and within acceptable norms.

Everyone on the team had a great experience.  The nurses on the floor were great, both in the nursery and out.

I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start.

With that in the bag, we are only a week away from being halfway done with first semester!  Unbelievable!!  A couple of lectures this week, and next week is more lab & clinical with mid-term evaluations followed by a test and then it’s a 3 week intercession.
The intercession is already filling up.  We have meetings for our group project.  I have a ride-along scheduled on the life flight service, and am working to line up 2 more shadows.  The school will also be hosting seminars during the last week of the break, so I’ll likely be attending some of those.

On another topic:  SU has completed her orientation in her unit and this Wednesday night she’ll be working on her own!!  She is most definitely excitably-terrified! lol

Today is my very first ever, real life clinical.
Wish me luck!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks.  A week of labs and lecture, then a week of simulation labs and lecture.  Now we have our second test coming up on Wednesday morning.

Add in that the Labor Day holiday isn’t so much of a holiday as far as school goes.  We had Monday off but they just shifted everything over a day, which has us in class on Friday which we usually have “free*.”  I usually use Friday’s to clock most of my weekly time for my part-time job.  Since Friday is booked this week I had to work on Monday the holiday.

It wasn’t much of a holiday weekend.  Work, study, chores, study, Work, study.
I did, however, manage to spend most of Saturday doing stuff for me.

Next week is the big week - we start onsite clinicals.  To that end, we have clinical orientation today.   This week too will be busy; clinical prep, test, two-and-a-half days of new lecture material which is fairly involved (nutrition), plus several meetings between school organizations and group projects.

The simulation labs we had last week were great!  We worked in teams to handle real-life situations that we’ll be seeing over the next couple of months.  I’m excited…but then no one might be, as its fairly basic stuff…but then that’s all we can currently do
I really thought that my grades were going to suffer some.  There were times I personally wasn’t doing as well as I know I can and there were times that the entire team was stumbling over our own feet.  Somehow we all managed to get good grades and I had a most excellent review!

Well, I’m off to make the world a healthier place, on vital sign at a time…

The website was down the last couple of days due to issues at the hosting company.

They gave me about a one hour notification that they would be moving my site to a new server, and then of course it didn’t work on the new server…

But, hey, I’m back.

Updates on the last weeks activities and more on the note taking template in a day or two.  (along with fixing a couple of things that seemed to have disappeared with the move)

Major Topic

Overview

· Major Element

o Definition

o Attributes

· Major Element

o Definition

o Attributes

Physiology

· Factors

Assessment information

· Key Assessment Item 1

o Method

o Special Considerations

· Key Assessment Item 2

o Method

o Special Considerations

· Developmental Considerations

o Neonate

o Infant

o Child

o Adult

o Geriatric

Diagnosis information

· Diagnosis 1

o RT factors

o AEB issues

Outcomes / Planning

Goals/Outcomes

§ Goal 1

§ Goal 2

Interventions

§ Achieving Goal 1

§ Achieving Goal 2

Implementation

· Common procedures/techniques

· Special Issues and Considerations

Evaluation

· Special Considerations

Word Template file coming soon…