Weeks 7 & 8

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. It has been a crazy 2 weeks, both in school and in the graduate admissions office. We have spent most of the time preparing for upcoming tests and quizzes. Last Tuesday was our second professional nursing lab quiz. I did not do as well as I thought I did on this quiz and I don't really know why. We will be going over the lab quiz on Monday in class. After the quiz in lab, we got to spend our first time slot practicing oral medications. This was probably one of my favorite times in lab. I am excited to begin administering oral medications in the clinical setting on a regular basis after being tested. We got to practice reading an individual patient's MAR and checking which meds to administer and which ones to discontinue. It was helpful to look up the meds and their most common doses, routes, etc.

In Health Assessment, we began to study sections of the body that I am most familiar with. We began the nervous system, which I was able to study mainly in undergrad. It was nice to feel comfortable with a full section of a full health assessment. After practicing cranial nerves for almost 2 years, I feel like I can do them in my sleep!

Last Friday in clinical, I was assigned to a patient who had broken the neck of his femur. He was especially interesting because he did not understand that he was injured. Whenever I asked him if he was using his inspective spirometer, he replied that he did not understand why he needed it. I explained that after being on bed rest for even a few days, his lungs could start to lose their respiration strength. He replied with “I’m not on bed rest”. Although it was completely evident that he was injured, he could not understand this. He slept through most of the day and it was difficult talking with him due to his confusion.

Today in clinical, I was happy to be assigned to a very pleasant woman. She had a past medical history of a bilateral mastectomy and was admitted with a chief complaint of abdominal distention and pain. It turned out that she had cancer of the appendix and had a hemicolectomy, in which they also removed a part of her ascending colon. This was interesting because I had never heard of a patient having cancer of the appendix. She was a very easy woman to work with and very willing to do what it takes to be discharged. This included participating in physical therapy, despite the pain that she was in.

Finally, in professional nursing this week, we had our 2^nd professional nursing exam. This exam was on an excessive amount of information. Since we were behind in class throughout the past few weeks, there was a lot of information provided very quickly. This information included fluid and electrolyte balance, acid-base balance, pain management, medications, diagnostic testing, urinary/bowel systems, etc. Although this was a lot of information, I did feel prepared for the exam. I studied a lot for this exam and concentrated most heavily on lab values of electrolytes and on the larger chapters.

We will be receiving the test and quiz on Monday in class. Hopefully we will see a positive outcome from this!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! (Oh by the way, at clinical today, most of the nurses were dressed in costume… including an x-ray technician who was dressed as a giraffe!!!)

Thanks for reading!

- Katie : )

Week 6... almost 1/2 way!!!

Hello everyone,

So ever since my blog has been added as a link on our program's facebook page, I have been hearing from a bunch of the students in my program that they have checked out my blog!!! I guess I feel somewhat like a movie star ha-ha. Anyways, I wanted to thank you all again for checking out my blog and following the life of a first year in the accelerated masters program! I also wanted to give a shout-out to my newest supporters, my clinical group!!! <3 the 7 west ladies and Mary!!!

Ok now back to my week. Since Monday was a holiday and there was no school on Tuesday, we only had 2 classes on Wednesday and clinical on Friday. This was definitely a much needed break!!! Since we began the program in September, we have had assignments and exams just about every week. When there wasn't, we spent a majority of the time preparing for the next week's exams. Since I had a whole week off from class, it was finally nice to catch up on some necessary rest and relaxation!!! After a fun-filled weekend with my friends, I was able to catch up on homework and sleep all day Tuesday.

Monday, I was asked to work the Tufts 10 k for women for the graduate admissions office. This was such a fun race and for a great cause. There were over 8,000 runners participating in the event and even more family members and supporters there to cheer them on. It was a great way of promoting the graduate programs that Regis has to offer. Also, this became my motivation to become a more serious runner and hopefully participate in some road races in the future.

Wednesday's classes went well and we were able to learn some of the information for the lab quiz we will be having on Tuesday. Some of the information we covered included urinary and bowel elimination in Professional Nursing and the ears, nose, mouth, and eyes in health assessment. With practice in the lab, I believe I am becoming more confident with assessing patients in clinical.

Clinical this week was very helpful. I was assigned to the same nurse as last week which was helpful because she already knew me and talked me through the procedures in detail. My patient was also extremely helpful. She was a pleasant woman who I will be using as the subject of my process recording paper due in a few weeks. She was being treated for a pnumothorax that had been caused during a lung biopsy. She was a very friendly and thankful woman who made my job that day extremely easy. One problem I did encounter at the end of my shift was with family members. A niece asked me about an aspect of her medical records that she didn't want to ask her aunt. However, due to HIPPA and patient confidentiality laws, I was unable to reveal any information regarding the patient to her. However, I explained that she could ask her aunt her question and she could personally explain it with her. Although it was tough to tell the niece that I could not help her, the patient's rights always come first and confidentiality should always be maintained.

That is all for now! This weekend, a group of students in my program have planned a get together to go apple picking. I am very excited because we will be able to get to know each other on a more personal, out of the classroom level. Since we will be spending the next few years together, it will be really nice to start getting to know each one of them personally. I'll let you know how it goes next week... maybe I’ll even have some pictures to share : )

- Katie

Weeks 4 & 5

Hi all,

Sorry I was unable to write a blog last week. I got very busy with studying and with different projects while working in the Graduate Admissions office. Boy, this grad school thing sure does keep you busy. Anyways, I will give you an update on the past 2 weeks!

So week 4 was filled with exams! I was signed off on the remainder of my vital signs in order to perform these tasks in the clinical setting. I had my first clinical pharmacology and health assessment exams on Monday and Wednesday. I spent the weekend studying for pharm and the beginning of the week focusing my attention on health assessment. Clinical pharm was basically an intro to the detailed information we will be learning throughout the year. Health assessment included everything we learned in class on the interview with the patient, abdomen, heart, and lungs. I ended up doing well on both of these exams. However, I did feel like I had a justified argument for a couple of the questions I got wrong on the health assessment exam. However, when I asked about the wording of these questions, I was told that they were actual questions taken from past NCLEX exams. Although I still feel like these questions should be worded better, I need to stop thinking too deep into questions and adding information and just answer the question based on the information provided.

Week 5 included 2 more assessments! Basically every week until the end of the semester is going to consist of studying for an exam or writing a paper!!! This week included my first math meds and professional nursing exams. The math assessment included a majority of the conversions that we have gone over in class. This is essential to every nurse in order to properly obtain the correct amount of medications prescribed to the patients in a clinical setting. The professional nursing exam covered everything that we have learned up until this point, including topics ranging from legal aspects and communication to mobility and skin integrity. I felt very prepared and I thought that Janine did a great job preparing us for this exam. All in all, I was very pleased with the results from these exams as well.

During both Friday clinical rotations, we were assigned an individual patient to care for throughout our day at Lahey. I was pleased to find out that both of my patients were extremely compliant and willing to help me in any way possible. Since it is a teaching hospital, the patients and staff at Lahey have become accustomed to helping out the nursing students. I am especially grateful for the nurses that I was paired up with throughout each day. Both of the nurses that I was paired up with were in the process of teaching 2 relatively new nurses (both who graduated from undergrad this past May and passed the NCLEX exam). Since I spent the majority of the time with the new nurses, I felt like we could connect with me on an even greater level. I felt comfortable with them because I knew that they were in the same position that I was in preparing for the NCLEX exam only 1 year ago. I definitely feel like I am learning a lot while at my clinical rotation. While there, I get to learn the ins and outs of the hospital as well as the daily routine of a nurse. As the weeks go by, I find each day to run even smoother than before. I am getting better at reading charts, taking vital signs, evaluating patients, finding items in clean utilities, etc. I am very grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to learning more in the future!!!

That's all for now! Next week is a short week, seeing as I only have 1 day of class and my clinical rotation. But I will let you know how that goes next week!!!

- Katie : )