Weeks 11 & 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone,

So I wanted to combine these 2 weeks into 1 blog because this week was only 2 days long because of Thanksgiving week! Saturday the 21st was my birthday so it was really nice to celebrate with my friends and not worry about a lot of things due for school the next week! I'm definitely looking forward to a nice break from classes and some Turkey and family time this week! But first, I'll give a little review of these weeks.

Most of Monday was spent preparing for the professional nursing exam on Wednesday. A lot of material was to be covered and there wasn't enough time to cover all of the material in lecture. Therefore, my professor went over the most important chapters in class (including oxygenation, circulation, and IV therapy) and put notes on a couple of the chapters on blackboard so that we could review for the exam feeling prepared. All in all, it went well and a majority of the questions asked ended up being from the material covered in class. On Tuesday in lab, we were tested on injections and I was assigned to administer "insulin and NPO", which was really just sterile water, into the arm of the sim-man. The best way to feel comfortable about being tested on injections is to feel calm and confident. Talking your way through this out loud is a great way to keep on track and remember all of the steps! Luckily I passed and I will be giving my first injection during the next clinical on a patient!

Another paper is due in Health Assessment following Thanksgiving break. It is a pediatric health assessment. I chose to do mine on my 6 year old cousin with Down Syndrome. Although I know this is going to be a lot more hard work, I feel like it will be a very interesting paper to write. I will be working on this, as well as a teaching and learning paper, studying for pharmacology and health assessment. On Friday in clinical, the patient that I was initially assigned to did not return back to the floor for the rest of the day. Instead, I was reassigned to an elderly woman who had undiagnosed pain localized to her hip, back, and chest. Although the doctors couldn't pinpoint a cause, she was in pain anytime she moved or needed to be touched. It was tough working with this patient because I was always so worried that I would hurt her. I felt bad that we needed to move her. However, in order to promote healing and prevent loss of function, she needed to be repositioned regularly.

The 2 day week this week was very relaxing! Although I had classes, there was not much work due and the teachers were a lot more laid back due to the approaching holiday. That's basically all for now!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoy all the yummy food!

- Katie : )