Mr. BSN

Hey eveyone! Well I got some good news and some bad news! The good news...I'm finished with nursing school and have earned my BSN (bachelors of science in nursing). So we had a special pinning ceremony for the graduating nursing students, so enjoy some of the pictures! The other pictures were from a sweet class pool party we had after the final exam! The bad news....I'm not a student anymore and therefore this blog must come to an end at somepoint. Okay so I'm not going to end it now, I will keep you up to date until I pass NCLEX and get a job, but the posts will be less often (even though I wasn't the best at posting in the first place)! However, look for another post soon!

Let the COUNTDOWN begin!

So you know when you were a kid and it was around Christmas time, you made the red and green paper chains to count down the number of days before it was actually Christmas. Yeah, you remember! Well I have one rocked out amazing friend from nursing school who has created a nursing paper chain to count down the days until graduation. So the countdown actually just didn't begin...it has been going on now for over two hundred days. It has just been more apparent lately because now the chain is so small (and that last picture was from a few days ago!) Oh how I love my nursing classmates...and I am truly going to miss them. This is one part of the end of school I am not looking forward too. Enjoy the pictures of the progression! And I am writing more after so scroll down and keep reading!


So this last week of nursing school has actually been quite stressful, but I'm getting through it. Day by day things are being done and ending and a little of the pressure feeling on my chest is being taken off.

Sunday night was my last night of clinical with my preceptor in the PICU at Helen Devos Childrens Hospital. Although it was sort of strange because my preceptor wasn't there. Since there were so few patient they had to call off a lot of the staff, and so I was paired with another nurse. My preceptor still came in and did his final evaluation of me and said encouraging words which was great since when I got there and figured out that my preceptor wasn't there I started to freak out because of all the things that need to be finished up on the last day.

Then today (Tuesday) was our group presentation. We did our presentation on the best evidence based practice of discharge planning. So glad to have that done, and it was the last presentation I ever have to do with school!

So all I have left now is one day of classes tomorrow and the final exam on Friday at 9. Not looking forward to that, but who ever is looking forward to taking a test. Although I am ready for it be done with! Bash with a splash party after the exam to celebrate!

ONE WEEK LEFT!!!!

If you can read, and you read the title....than yeah, it's a no brainer, I'm totally excited because we only have one week of school left!!! This past week has been busy, but manageable as everything starts to wrap up. I got the grade back from my capstone paper on Wednesday and am quite happy with that score. We also took a test called the HESI. It is a practice NCLEX test (the test you have to pass to get your nursing license) and it is suppose to help you identify the areas that you need to practice in...I didn't do too bad, but not as well I was hoping for either. Apparently I rock at community health, pediatric, and psychiatric questions and suck with labor and delivery and medications.

I have one more 12 hour shift to do with my preceptor this weekend in the PICU and then I will be all done with getting my 108.5 professional practicum rotation hours.

This coming week is going to be a busy one. Tuesday we have to do a group presentation....not looking forward to this at all. Wednesday we have our last full day of class. Thursday will be spent studying, and Friday we have our final exam. Then Saturday we have our nursing pinning ceremony meaning that we graduated from GVSU's nursing program! Lots to look forward to!

Capstoning

So I'm going to make this short and sweet because I got to get back to working on my capstone paper. My leadership clinical has been going very well. I have been spending more time in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) as they have been quite busy, so we aren't getting pulled to other units quite so much. I have been able to get to see some pretty cool stuff. Theory class has been pretty boring as we talk about common sense stuff... change, conflict management, health economics, complexity.

Anyway my life this past week and half has been composed of working on this capstone paper if I am not in class, in clinical, or working (besides a little vacation break over the fourth of July which was well deserved). The paper is due on Wednesday and has been consuming my life. Dishes are getting piled up and clothes (well lets just say I find them everywhere). And stacks of paper are taking over the floor.

This capstone paper is the last paper that we have to write for nusring school and is sort of like the last final big project. We had to pick a topic from Health People 2020 (if you don't know what that is I encourage you to google it, and find out!) to write about. I picked sleep health related to adolescents. There are certain things that we have to address in our paper that require a lot of research which leads to a lot reading and research articles which then, if appropriate, are put into the paper. So yeah it is a big task and a significant part of our grade. Right now for the most part I have the majority of if written and have to do the editing and all that type of stuff. I hope you enjoy the pictures! (okay so the picture uploader isn't working...check back and I'll try again later)

Leadership Clinical off to a Good Start

So my first week in my clinical leadership was awesome! Just to refresh your memory in-case your thinking, what in the world does clinical leadership mean, clinical leadership is my last clinical rotation in which I follow around and help do the task of a particular registered nurse for a total of 108.5 hours. The nurse that I am assigned to is based in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), however he is also a critical care float nurse for the hospital so if they need him on another unit that is were he goes, and I go with him! My nurse works the 7pm to 7am shift so figuring out how to get an appropriate sleep schedule down has been a little challenging.
So first just let me say that the new Helen Devos Children's Hospital is an amazing and beautiful building! The first night I worked with my nurse he was pulled to the hematology/oncology pediatric floor. Well if you know anything about me this particular area has been kinda like one of places that I really want to work in so it was awesome to be able to get a chance to be there! Then for my second night my nurse got pulled to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and we took care of three tiny little precious babies. That was also a great experience! This week I will be working three 12 hours shift with my nurse three days right in row so I hope I can survive!
Theory has been going well. The first test actually went really good, and I was super excited about the grade that I got! I have been trying to get a start on my capstone paper and that is coming along slowly. It is so exciting that I will be done with school in about a month!!!

Everything nursing.

2 weeks is too long, and I am truly sorry that I have allowed this much time to pass by without giving you an update. I think the title of this post sums it up pretty well - Everything nursing. In a nutshell everything in my life this past month, especially this past week and a half has mainly revolved around nursing. In my last post I had explained how I was experiencing some bumps in the road during this course. Good news is that most of the bumps have been smoothed out, bad news is the stress of nursing school without bumps has continued to increase.

Let me share some of the good news: I was able to be placed with a new nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit (!) for my clinical leadership rotation which I will actually start this week Wednesday! I am very excited for this! Our Community Health rotation is now done and we finished that rotation with teaching the residents about awareness to a heart attack and stroke and also taught them how to do hands only CPR after the eight of us nursing students were certified as leaders to teach this class. Both of those went really well and it is wonderful to think that only one rotation is left until we have a BSN. However, our group still really misses Stephanie.

The Bad news: We have a presentation to do Tuesday (Tomorrow) in front of our classmates and nursing faculty about the teaching lesson we did with the residents at Mount Mercy. Wednesday we have our first test in theory which I still don't have a clue as to how to study for. I have to finish a medication calculation test, work on my LEI timeline project, finish scheduling my clinical days, and not to mention I have barely had any time to work on my capstone paper....plus all of this is happening as I move. That's right I got my own place (well apartment) and have been moving in and slowly unpacking.

I will be so glad when things slow down a little bit, and I am able to relax an breathe. But I'm almost there I got to remember that. Less than 50 days now!

The bumps just keep coming...and all I want them to do is go away.

To be honest with you all I have no idea how I have managed to get past the last few weeks without having a significant emotional response unlike the norm. I think that being in the last semester and having very little motivation after going to school for such a long time without a large break has made me just take the things that come at me without feeling an enormous amount of stress. I keep continuing to experience all these stupids bumps in the road and I just wish they would away. For example, I found out this week that the preceptor (a nurse) I was assigned to, to do my leadership rotation with in the pediatric intensive care unit is no longer being a preceptor. So what does that mean for me...unlike all my other nursing friends who know where they are doing their leadership rotation and with who, and have been able to start scheduling to get their clinical hours...here I sit stuck. I'm not able to start setting a schedule because I don't know where I am going to be or who I am going to be with and its just a little bit frustrating. I have no idea if I will even get to be in the PICU still which is a huge bummer.

On another note clinical has been going okay. It is really sad to not have Stephanie with us anymore; however, each of knows that she needs to take the time to heal before she comes back. Meanwhile the course coordinator is filling in for her. Her name is Marilyn and is pretty great too. But when you get a course coordinator for your clinical professor its a little different because things seem more strict. But it has been going well.

Theory has been okay. Quite boring actually...still. I hope it starts to pick up. Capstone paper is underway (well not the actually writing part) but I have selected a topic and am in the process of searching and reading a number of research articles. I chose to write my paper on sleep health, particular in the adolescent population. Alright, thats all for now...funny to think that we are already starting the 5th week of the semester. How time flies.

Bomb Drop :(

So just when you think something else in school can't go wrong it does. This has been one of the hardest emotional weeks of nursing school that I have had.

Clinical on Tuesday went great. We again got a lot accomplished. Lecture on Wednesday was same as usually.

Thursday on my way to clinical something deep in my gut was telling me something was wrong. It is so strange because at that time I wasn't consciously aware of it, but I look back on some of the abnormal things I did in the morning on the way to clinical and it is easy to see that deep down I knew something wasn't right. (For instance I checked my phone twice while on the way to clinical to see if anyone, specifically my professor, had called me...and I never do that while driving to clinical.)

Then once I got to clinical things were happening that were making me more consciously aware that something was wrong. First I was the first one to get there, there is always someone there before me. Second, one of the residents told me on my way in that she was surprised to see the students that day. Third, 10 seconds after I walked into the conference room the associate dean of the kirkof college of nursing walked in after me (this doesn't ever happen). When that happens you just know something isn't right.

A few more of the nursing student came and then the associate dean dropped the bomb. Our clinical instructors husband had died the previous night. He was killed in a car accident. Silence. Followed by more silence. Then sobs of sorrow.

You have to understand that our clinical group spends most of the day together coming up with ideas and plans to implement and provide education and assessment to the community at Mount Mercy Senior Apartment. The professor is included in this time. And she was awesome. She talked about her family a lot and was full of energy and spunk. It was so hard for us to imagine what she was going through. She was left behind with 3 young kids (the oldest 11 and the youngest 5). After we found the strength to stand we decided to go as a group and pick out some flowers because she had told us she loved to garden. If you find a chance to pray for her and her family please do.

I have include a link a news website if you would like to know more information. Just click on the title of this blog post.

A few little bumps in the road.

So a week or two has passed and I am starting to get into all the work associated with being in a capstone class (final nursing class). Things have been moving along pretty well with a couple bumps here and there. Our lecture classes have been interesting. In our semester class, as a group of nursing student who have been together through thick and thin and done assessments on half naked partners over the past two years, the professors of this class decide to give us an assigned seating chart. Who does that....oh yeah, elementary school teachers....NOT college professors. So to say the least this has been one bump I have had to overcome. I enjoy the people I sit by, but I'm a creature of habit and enjoyed my other seat just as much as well as the people I sat by then.

One thing that I think I am going to like this semester is that there are only 4 professors who team teach the course as opposed to 6 to 8 in previous semesters. I'm still a little stuck on the content of the class though, because it so far has not been your ordinary nursing content that you would think a nursing student should learn, however I am enjoying the community nursing aspect of the course.

My clinical rotation at Mount Mercy Senior Apartments has been going extremely well. Our group gets along very well with each other. And the professor rocks! We have been keeping very busy doing a couple client visits a week, promoting exercise and walks to the residents and doing wellness clinics. I have had the chance to meet some pretty cool people that live there and they seem pretty receptive to the nursing students. We are also preparing to do a health presentation to a large group of the residents on a specific health concern of that community and then do a professional presentation to other nursing students and professors.

Also I shouldn't forget to mention the massive paper we have to write this semester. I'll probably be complaining about it in later posts....just a heads up, but we have to write about an objective of the Health People 2020 initiative, which I will talk more about later. Anyway keep checking in, I'm going to try to be better at posting at least once a week this semester! Thanks for reading!

Graduated...wait, wait....what?

I had a much needed break from nursing school and all things nursing these past two weeks, which is the reason that I haven't posted anything for while. Well I guess I shouldn't say a break from all things nursing because during the middle of the break I graduated! Grand Valley does not have a graduation commencement ceremony after the spring/summer semester so we could choose to walk early, which I did! But I haven't really technically graduated yet because I still have to finish the spring/summer semester. Then the nursing college has it own special pinning ceremony for the graduates. Commencement was interesting, it was rather long considering they had to go through about 1,200 students, however they read through the names pretty quick. The nursing students were the last to get their diploma 'holders' but I got to spend my 5 seconds on stage shaking hands.

Today we started our last and final semester. Hip-Hip-Hooray! I start with having 6 weeks of my community health rotation which is at Mount Mercy Apartments which serves an older population community. We are there on Tuesdays and Thursdays and have classes at Grand Valley on Wednesdays. The clinical professor seems really nice and invested in the place. I was sort of worried that it was going to be like my pysch rotation, but I'm pretty sure it is going to be okay and that I'll survive. Today we did the usual introductions, went over the course syllabus, and had a tour of the building. Then we started the first assignment called the Windshield assignment where we had to drive out around the community and observe the population and the resources they can use.

So close, but still so far.

So this week was pretty average so I'm trying hard to think of something fun to write about. Hmm, lets see...well I guess that I can tell you that on monday and tuesday we talked about chronic renal failure which is a pretty interesting topic since when people have this there is so much else that happens to there other body systems. Wednesday was the last day that we had in the progressive care/burn unit at Spectrum. We brought in a bunch of goodies for the nurses and techs because they we all so awesome! The patient that I had needed to have a dressing change and my nurse let me do it all by myself (with her supervision of course). I'm not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post or not but next semester I have my community health rotation at Mount Mercy senior apartment center and then I have my leadership rotation in the PICU (pediatric intensive care) which I am really excited about. But not too much more is going on besides that. The semester is wrapping up. I have one group debate project in my death and dying class and then an online final and that class will be done, and for my regular nurisng course we have one week left of lecture material and then the exam. Oh, I graduate on April 30! This is exciting, however, it is sort of bitter-sweet because on one hand I get to graduate and then on the other I still have to finish the spring/summer semester of school. Being done is so close, but the same time is still a couple of months away and I hear that this last semester is one of the hardest.

Relay for Life!

So for the majority of this post I am going to write about Relay for Life because that was the main event this week, however I'll quick fill you in on the first part of the week. Monday was seminar and theory class. In seminar we had a chiropractor and a massage therapist come talk to us. In theory class on both Monday and Tuesday we talked about brain injuries and CVA's. This past Wednesday and Thursday were are last two normal days at clinical in on the progressive care and burn unit. I had a great patient, one that I had couple of weeks ago, but a sad story. This coming week on Wednesday will be our last day there. Oh, and on Tuesday we had a blood drive and a bone marrow registry donor sign up - both of which I did! This was the 19th time I have given blood with MI Blood!

So Relay for Life was Friday from 6pm to Saturday morning at 6am. Thank you so very much to all the people that helped me reach my fund raising goal for this event. I was able to meet and surpass my goal. Relay for Life is an event were a number of people gather donations in support of finding a cure for cancer and remembering those who have died from cancer, are battling cancer, or are survivors of cancer. Throughout the whole time from 6 to 6 people are walking around the track also showing support. This event was super cool because its a bunch of college aged people all gathering together in support of Relay for life, to remember, to celebrate, and to fight back. I met a number of cool nursing friends from different classes, so that was cool! I got at the event at 6pm to see the openining ceremony which was about celebrating the survivors. They had the cancer survivors walk around the track with a caregiver and everyone else stood around the track and clapped and hooted and hollered as they walked past. It was so touching to see how much this simple act of supporting the survivors was affecting them in that moment!

Later in the night they also had a luminaria ceremony where the track is lined with white backs that students and participants have decorated with the names of people, in honor of or in memory of, that have faced cancer. They put a little light in the bag and turn off all the lights so it is pitch dark, except for the lighted bags. Then everyone walks around the track in complete silence. There were so many people and the track was so full it was hard to even walk, but this was such a deep and moving part of relay.

They also had other stuff going on through the night. Big inflatable games and obstacle courses, fear factor, minute to win it, cardboard box car competition (which the GV student nurses won!), and the Mr. Relay competition! I have added some pictures from Relay for Life this year and I hope that you enjoy looking at them! As a team Grand Valley State University raised more than $80,000 for Relay for Life!!!

Please and Thank you!

An update on the past week- here we go!

Monday we had our second exam. I didn't get to study for it as much as I would have liked to because I got mandated at work so I had to stay and work the night shift (16 hours in a row is not fun at all). So I go in to take the test, I'm feeling pretty good, and the first two pages I feel like I am guessing answers from thin air. Lets just say the test was pretty challenging but I must have had God on my side helping me get through it because I did okay, not as well as I would have liked, but decent.

Tuesday we didn't have seminar so I was able to sleep in, which was much needed after such a challenging test and a long weekend of studying. We did have theory though, and I can't really remember what we talked about...oh wait it was chronic disease related to the liver and the pancreas. (seriously it took me a good five minutes to remember that!)

Wednesday and Thursday we had clinical. Just a reminder, I am on the Progressive care/ burn unit. Interesting two days. Wednesday I got to watch a burn dressing change which was very intense but very cool at the same time. The patient that I had these two days was interesting as well mostly because he was very demanding. Please, please remember that when you get older a please or a thank you will go a long way. I mean you should do it now, but if you're ever in the hospital and the nurse hears those words they will love you!

This coming week is going to be fun. I'm giving blood on Tuesday and also signing up for the bone marrow donor registry and Friday is our Relay for Life event!

A Busy Week...but a good one.

This week has been quite jammed packed with events, but it has really been a great week. On Monday I had a scheduled LEI (longitudinal elderly initiative) visit. When I got to his house (which is a long 45 minute drive) he had forgotten that we were meeting today. Fortunately he was not busy and still let me visit. Then for seminar we went to Gilda's Club. Let me just say that this is one awesome place. You walk in and right away you get this home and peaceful feeling. Gilda's Club is like this house that has been transformed into a beautiful place were people with cancer, those who have had cancer, or those who have loved one with cancer can come for classes, programming, and support groups. The had three people come in and tell us their cancer journey and how Gilda's Club has had an impact on their lives. It was extremely emotional and cool to see how such a simple place had such a huge impact. After Gilda's club we went to back to class and had a lecture on chronic blood disorders. This is a picture of the Gilda's Club in Grand Rapids:

Tuesday we had a lecture on the child with cancer which was very informative but also cram packed and fast. I like learning a lot of information but I find it hard to learn when you have to focus so hard on being able to fill the blanks in on your notes before the professor turns the powerpoint slide, that you can't really listen to what they are saying. Then after that class, for my death and dying class we went and visited Faith Hospice at Trillum Woods. (Yeah this week was filled with field trips!). This place was also very cool. We heard from three of the staff - a chaplain, a nurse, and a social worker. It was encouraging to hear how they find so much passion in their job and how they don't find it depressing at all. I mean you think that being with people who die isn't very much fun, but they each explained that they get so much joy from being a part of helping people LIVE they way they want for the last months and days of their life.

Wednesday and Thursday I had clinical at the hospital. It was interesting that after all the talk in class lately I had a patient that had just been diagnosed with cancer. Anyway my patient was quite the character. My patient was really fun to work with and had a lot of life stories to tell. I got to do my first PICC line dressing change. A PICC line is sort of like and IV on steroids. Its put into a vein that is larger and closer to the heart. This allows for quick effects of medication and also you don't have to poke them every day to get blood, you can just hook up the tube to the lumen and blood will flow out which it nice for the nurse and the patient.

This week I also registered for my last semester of classes until I graduate! That was a good feeling, and I also found out that for my leadership (which is a clinical rotation in which you follow around a certain nurse for a large amount of hours is a specific area) I will be in the PICU which is the pediatric intensive care unit, which I am very excited about!

Going from the word everybody wants to hear (VACATION)...to the word that no ones wants to hear (CANCER)

Spring Break was awesome! It was so fun to get away for the week and not have to worry about doing anything with nursing school. I went to Denver, Colorado for the week with my girlfriend and did some hiking and sightseeing. It is so cool to be in the mountains and see God's indescribable creation surrounding you. At times I felt as if the beauty had taken my breath away. We went through Garden of the Gods, drove into Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, and did some hiking through some other state parks. We also went to the Denver Zoo and the Olympic Training Complex in Colorado Springs. And the whole time we were there the weather was amazing (like upper 50's and into the 60's)! Here are a few pictures of some of our adventures:

It was a little tough getting back into the swing of things after coming back from such a great vacation, but I survived. I think that it was helpful that we talked about a topic that interests me in our lecture class....and that would be cancer. Today we are going to the Gilda's Club here in Grand Rapids for one our classes so that should be pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to that. Last week we also had a seminar on living with HIV/AIDS. We had a special speaker come in and talk to us, and that was a pretty cool class. It's interesting to me that when you take the focus off of yourself for an hour or two and really listen a person who is talking, how much you can learn and get out of hearing about their life experiences and struggles.

Break Progressive Spring Care

Hey, shout out to my readers! Bet you didn't think that I would post again so soon! Well your in luck! If your confused about the title of the post I was having a hard time thinking about a creative title so I just picked out some of the major topics and scrambled the words! This past week I started my second clinical for the semester and it is more of a general med/surg rotation on the progressive care and burn unit floor. Sadly we won't get the opportunity to work with the burn patients however we hopefully will get to see some of the procedures they have to get done! So what is progressive care....good question! Progressive care is like a step-down unit from like an ICU or a floor where more monitoring goes on but not at the intensity of the ICU.

Anyway our clinical professor seems really nice, and she is not a big strictler on doing a bunch of paperwork which is really nice, because when you have to do a lot of paperwork it is really hard to get the full nursing experience. She doesn't make me feel as nervous as some of the other professor had done, and she brings candy to our post conference meetings! Score! I have clinical on Wednesday and Thursday from 7 to about 3ish, so I have to get back into the early morning thing again which is a bummer. The patient that I had last week was wonderful. When I left on Thursday the patient told me that I did a really good job in making them feel much more comfortable with being in the hospital. So that made me feel good.

This week we are on Spring Break! YAAHHHHOOOOO! So I will be spending the majority of the week in Denver, Colorado with my girlfriend going to visit one of her really good friends from high school. I'm excited for the break to get away for a bit! I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post when I get back.

Also GVSU is doing relay for life, and the nursing student's have a couple of teams. I'm am raising some money for that, and I am excited for that event as well. That is still about a month out, but I'm sure I'll have pictures from that too! But for this week its off to Colorado!

Half way through the semester!

So again, I have to apologize for not posting sooner, but this time I really do have a legit reason for such a gap...because I have done nothing. Yup, that is the sarcastic honest truth! So after my last post (which explained switch day and the time I spent for the day at Forest View) not much has happened regarding my psychiatric clinical. Several times our clinical was canceled because of circumstances I can't explain, but then we had to make up the days we missed. One day we had to go all around downtown and find health resources for the type of residents that live in the Herkimer Apartments and then the other day we spent again at Forest View Mental Hospital. Let's just say that the psych clinical was really disappointing and a huge mess. I'm glad that it is now over. And I am starting my second clinical rotation for the semester this week so watch for an updated post about that soon.

Class has been going well. Currently we are in the mist of having to turn in our 2nd paper this week, so I spent the majority of the weekend writing it. It is kind of an interesting paper. We got to pick a medical dilemma situation and in the first paper we had to write about our personal values and profession values regarding the dilemma and in this 2nd paper we had to write about ethical and legal issues surrounding the dilemma. I chose to do my paper about an adolscent male who wishes to receive no more chemotherapy treatments and his parents want him to continue to receive the treatment. We have one more paper to write during the semester that kind of integrates all the information from both papers together. Although this picture captures the feelings I have had when writing this paper!



Last week Monday and today we had our skills labs which I thought were both pretty interesting. Last Monday we had an ECG simulation with one of the manikins who was in the midst of having a heart attack. I feel like I learned a lot about that situation and what to do. And then I thought our lab today was pretty cool. We learned how to do opened and closed suctioning and provide trach care. And then we also got to finally learn and practice how to start IVs. Even though it was on a fake arm...I had been looking forward to that for a while. And I even got to try it out on this computerized simulator thing which was pretty awesome!

Namaste

You got it...two posts within one week. Yeah I was feeling a little bad for slacking off with keeping up with posts. So I thought I would create one more blog entry this week devoted to the one day of clinical I had this week...Thank you snow day! Anyway Thursday was a switch day for part of my group. Normally I am at Herkimer apartments for my rotation, but this week I got to spend Thursday at Forest View Mental Hospital (which is another psych clinical placement) and half of the students that are normally at Forest View went to Herkimer for the day. It was a great switch!

It didn't start off that well because traffic getting to the hospital was horrendous. I guess of course after the blizzard everyone was driving safe, even though the main roads were clear. So once I arrived I found out that I would be in the general part of the hospital. I mainly got to go to the groups that the patients went to and sit it on them to see what they were like. The first group was just a general meeting about the overall schedule of the day. The second group was yoga. The therapist that taught yoga was fine with nursing students going to it as long as they participated and did the yoga...so yup I did yoga in my nice dress clothes.

Then after that I got a little tour of the hospital by the professor and attended the third group of the day. I can't remember what the group was called, but the patients were asked to look at certain parts of their life (like work, leisure, ect.) and see how well balanced these aspects were. After that class we had lunch, which was really pretty good. Then we went to the last group of the day for the time that the students were there (the patients still had more groups throughout the evening, but obviously the students don't stay there all day). The case manager that taught this group was real energetic and did a really good job engaging the patients in the discussion. His class was called "the laws of nature" and he talked about 15 different laws or prinicples and applied them to people with a co-occuring disorder (like someone with a mental illness and substance abuse issues). He talked about gravity, snowballing, flight or fight, sin and flesh, and several others. The class was really neat because he gave the patients a different way into looking at some of their problems.

So the day ended up being really great. I was nice to see a different perspective.

And thats about it because after that I went home, and the traffic was much better!

How can I describe this semester...lets just say interesting.

So is it totally bad when the most favorite class your taking for the semester is called "death and dying." Interesting enough, this class has been my favorite and its even a 3 hour long class. The prof. is great and makes class go by so fast and makes it interesting. We have been discussing a lot of legal and ethical issues surrounding death and end of life care, and as you can probably imagine people have lots of different feelings about this so class can get interesting fast.

Lecture has been okay. We have talked about asthma, neuro problems, cardiac, and musculoskeletal issues in the child. And we have now moved onto anxiety and personality disorders.


Clinical at the Herkimer has been interesting too. We play lots of games with the residents like yahtzee, cribbage, apples to apples, and last week one of the residents brought in a dart board. We also had dog day on Thursday so the nursing students could bring in their dogs for the residents to see and pet. We only had two dogs come in but the residents really seemed to like the dogs being there since they aren't allowed to have pets. And I think the dogs liked all the attention too.

This week we had a SNOW DAY! So clinical was canceled for Wednesday. And tomorrow I have a switch day...meaning that we get to switch our clinical site for the day with the students at Forest View Hospital so that we can get to see what that is like.

I feel like I'm not writing a lot, but really there isn't a super lot going on for me right now. I actually feel like this rotation is a break in the rush of all things nursing school, so that has been a huge benefit! Sorry for not updating sooner...I'll try to stay on top of it better!

New semester,,,,Hello nursing 420/421

On Monday I started a new semester at GVSU. This semester includes Nursing 420 and 421 and also an elective nursing class 354 called Death and Dying. I know what you must be thinking. Why in the world would you take a class on death and dying? Well first I needed to take the class to have enough credits, and considering being a nurse I think that the knowledge from this class could be extremely beneficial.

Nursing 420 is our theory class (which is like a lecture class) that I have on Monday and Tuesday for a few hours each. This class is focused on chronic illnesses. It seems like it is going to be really interesting and I am actually looking forward to it. However, it is also a class with a lot of writing and I am not looking forward to that part of the class very much.

Nursing 421 is composed of three parts: seminar, clinical, and lab. For this class we only have one lab in which we get to learn and then practice IV and EKG stuff. Seminar we have some weeks and some weeks we don't have it, or we have a different assignment (such as a quiz) to do in it's place. Seminar is like a lecture that is more practical and we have it on Tuesdays before theory class.

We have two clinical placements this semester. My first clinical placement which we started this week and is pretty much all day on Wednesdays and Thursdays is at Herkimer Apartments for 6 weeks. This is for my psych rotation. This rotation is different than all the other clinicals I have been in because it is not at a hospital. Herkimer Apartments is the old Herkimer Hotel building and houses those with mental issues and a low socioeconomic status that can still function in the community. So far we have kind of had on orientation day and have met some of the residents and talked and played games with them. Looks like we are going to be playing a lot of Yahtzee! I love the fact that this rotation is not so structured, it kind of gives me a break to breathe while still being in school.