Fun times come from the weirdest places...

I had so much fun the last clinical shift. I was able to hang piggyback IV, inserted a Foley. And helped c 4 pts. I can't tell you how exciting it is! I did do more, but those two things were the most exciting. It was my first time for both. Practice and reality are so completely different, duh, but you don't realize how much. So it was amazing. Didn't do all my charting, but I was able to get all my info for the cp (care plan). At the end of shift I had the worst pain in my feet and in my back. Still working c the idea of raising the bed. I think I deserve a nice massage and spa day. I had one pt tell me that I was really good at my job. When I told her thank you and that I love it, she said to me, 'I can tell, it shows.' So it is reassuring that I do care for my pts and they know that by the care I give them.
I was able to get my NANDAs before I went to bed which helped a great deal when it came down to doing my cp the next day. Thank God for by best friend who is also a nursing student and at the end of her program, she pretty much told me all the NANDAs. My dear hubby went shooting in the AM and left me c kids and my paper to do... yea I finished c literally 2 minutes to spare b4 it was due. That will NEVER happen again. I can't believe he really did that. Oh well. It was done, probably not the best paper, andit could have been better, but I finished. That is what counts.

First time is the hardest time...

This is the hardest part of nursing... the loss of a life. A pt died on the floor, and though it was not my pt, it was still hard to take. How crazy that we come on the floor, eager and ready to sustain life and to have it leave that quick. A fellow student was the one that was caring for the pt. And tho it was not anyone's fault for the death, it was still sad. The family didn't have time to even make it to the hospital in time. The pt passed without anyone there, not even a nurse in the room. Understanding the circumstances of her passing away really doesn't make it any better. My poor classmate had to actually bag and move the body. So, how does it feel when it is your pt? I know that at some point it will happen, I can say without a doubt, I hope it isn't for a very long time. I don't think that I could handle it right now as a student. And most likely not as a new grad. The hardest part was not the passing, the hardest part was the passing without family there to hold her hand as she left this world... how scary to die alone. It would be so terrifying.

A new Semester...

Walking into the classroom on the first day of the second semester was for a lack of a better expression, nerve racking. There was so many thoughts that were running through my mind. What was this semester going to bring? What information, if any, did the teacher have on me? Did the teacher have a preconceived idea of what kind of student I was? How much better was this semester going to be in terms of my personal life affecting my school work/studies?
I started to get more and more excited as I saw the information from the teachers. We jumped right into lecture and found that we were focusing on surgery. And I also find that I will be in the OR twice this semester! How great that is. With all that I didn't have to get a lot of books this semester, save some bucks.
So the next day was orientation at the hospital. We had all the normal paper stuff to go over which was a huge bore. We were supposed to go on the floor and start our first care plan. But our teacher decided against it. It was a miracle that I have the same hospital for rotation as I did last semester. I, along with two others, will have a one up on others in our group. We already have a relationship with the staff and know where everything is located. So in short, I think this is the semester that I can start over, and reinvent myself as a student.