Practice, Practicum, Pyramid, and Party!!!

The end of the week was pretty busy....but ended pretty awesomely. We have are second practicum next Thursday over thorax, cardiac, and skin assessments. So we have been practicing on each other to help define our skills to kick butt at the practicum. There are a lot of steps to each assessment that we have to remember to do in a considerable amount of pressure to preform well. One thing is for sure, we have learned to become comfortable with each other half naked and in awkward situations. (In case you have no idea what I am talking about let me explain quickly.) When we are in lab we practice our assessments on each other. So we work in pairs. One person is the nurse, the other is the patient. Because are assessments have moved to body regions usually not visible because of cloths (such as thorax, heart area, arms, legs, back, ect.) when we are the patient we wear a hospital gown ( and for me a pair of loose fitting shorts underneath). The person in the nurse role goes through and does all the steps of the assessment.

But anyway, my nursing lab class is amazing. The gals put together a nursing party on Friday night for a lab class. We had dinner together (oh there was so much great food...gummy bears, meatballs, chips, ham and cheese roll ups, rice(surprise), tater-tot casserole, pig-in-a-blankets, cake, ice cream, brownies...and so much more!). We played some games including nursing bingo!!! Our catch phrase match got pretty intense when my team made the comeback of the century to win the game!!! And for the people that were still there (I only think 2 our lab classmates were missing) we formed a nursing pyramid! Take a look at the amazing picture that resulted! That in itself displays the awesomeness of our class!

Communication...or the lack there of.

So I found it kind of interesting that lately in seminar we have been talking about communicating, and yet I couldn't keep this thing updated...sorry I must be a bad communicator! But this week you might just get two post...so watch out and be ready! And I am treating you all with a picture. You know how like in kindergarten on the first day of school you had to have your picture taken getting on the bus with your new backpack and stuff, well the first time I got to put on my uniform for nursing school the same thing happened. So here is a picture of me all ready for my first practicum! Such a nerd, ya I know. In Nur 315 we start our Longitudinal Elderly Initiative project (also called LEI). Every nursing student that starts the program is matched with an elderly volunteer somewhere in Michigan. Throughout our nursing school career we meet with them several times and get to know and all that sort of stuff. I got to meet my LEI client this past Wednesday. That was fun. We took a set of vital signs, started a health history, and did a genogram and eco-map with them. Then last week thursday and friday of course we had a ton of reading for labs. But we got to practice and learn how to do assessment of the lungs and thorax. Fun times!

Life starts to get hectic

Whew...what a week. Let me tell you about it. Monday= good, Tuesday = good, Wednesday through Friday = ahh, what I am I doing? The end of the week got very stressful and busy. Wednesday we had our nursing seminar which was fine. We discussed the power of communication. Thursday and Friday labs were good and I leaned a lot. However prior to lab there is a lot of prep with reading texts and such. For each day we had to read at least 60 to 70 pages, and I tried to work ahead but it was very challenging. So Thursday I went to school (downtown GR) for class at 8, I had to be up at about 6. If you know anything about me, you know I am not a morning person. After that class I had to go back to Allendale for another class, and from there straight to work. I didn't leave work until midnight because I had to stay late to chart. Once I got home I had to take a shower, eat, and then read a ton of pages from the text book. I was up until 2:30 and then I had to get up at 6 again to make it to lab this morning at 8, and didn't get out this afternoon until 3. I tried to drink a monster to help me stay awake during classes...didn't work so well. But anyway now I have the weekend to rest up, so I'll take that as a positive thing. This is something positive I learned about myself in my nursing classes this week, when you think your inadequate to do a task, you don't find out how adequate you are at it until you start doing it!

Position Races

What an extremely interesting day we had in learning lab. It was full of learning how to percuss (on ourselves and a partner...mind you we were tapping on a cheek full of air...fun times). Percussing is when you tap on parts of the body using a certain striking method and listen to sounds it gives off. I know what you think...you got to hit your partner!...no sorry your wrong...striking in this case is only a tap with one finger. We also learned some strategies for doing other parts of a physical assessment and learned about how to conduct a mental status. After that is got really fun. We practiced patient positions for examinations. In the learning lab there are several examination tables set up like the examination tables you sit on at a doctors office. We picked a partner put on hospital gowns and the professors took us through some of the more common different patient positions and how to drape the patient. My partner was the patient first so he got to try out the positions as a patient, while I as the student nurse, guided and draped him after following instructions from the professors. Then after we went through them all we got to switch roles. Now I was the patient, but this time the professors threw in a fun little twist...she was going to shout a position and it was a race to see what group could get the patient in the right position fastest and be properly draped. Just imagine people flipping over on exam tables from the supine position (flat on back) to prone position (flat on stomach) to the knee-chest position where you are on the table on your knees and forearms with your butt up, all as quickly as possible, and add the blankets flying everywhere to be the first one correct. That's what you would have saw! Good fun times...all while learning at the same time. I wonder what someone who walked by the class and looked in the door window thought while all this was going on! :)

"If we all did the things we are capable of,
we would astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison

Don't talk about it...

Yesterday in lecture we discussed HIPPA. HIPAA is an Act put in place by the government that allows for patient rights and patient confidentiality. The main point is that nurses giving care to a patient needs to keep that information private from everyone that is not it the direct line of providing care to that patient. We also discussed boundaries that a nurse needs to have and be aware of while working with patients, their families, and other professionals. We also discussed why nurses are known by first names but doctors are always identified by last name. I had never though about that perspective before, and how nurses unintentionally accept less importance of status by going by the first name.

Today in learning lab we got to practice health histories on actual patients. Well, they are people that volunteer to come in and act as patients to help us (the nursing students) become more comfortable with asking really personal questions to complete strangers. It was a great experience and an amazing learning opportunity but because of HIPPA rules I can't go into too much more information! :)