Skip to main content

First clinical DONE & Roll Tide!


Yesterday was the last day of my first clinical and I can say with 110% assurance, that LTC is NOT where I want to work.  Basically all the nurses did ALL day was pass meds.  I mean seriously?  I honestly feel like working in that environment that I would lose just about any real nursing skills I had learned.  And not to offend anyone in that field, but really what good is going to school to learn ALL of this information to then just stand at a med cart & hand out meds all day?  Uh, no thank you!

I am so happy to have that part over & done with, and not because I didn't enjoy it, clinicals are actually my favorite part, but just because I am ready to move on!  Next semester is Med/Surg & OB & I can't wait to be in an actual hospital, doing real clinical stuff.  I am totally going to feel like a real nurse at that point (well 1/8 of a real nurse)!! I'm so excited that there's no break in between!

So the countdown to the end of my 2nd semester in nursing school is on.  Here's what I have left to do by December 11, which is our last day:

Critique 2 articles (1 quantitative, 1 qualitative) for Research  (11/24 - Got a 10/10!)
Turn said articles into a group project poster
Present our group pharm project (Ugh) (Went swimmingly!)
Make a concept map based on one of our clinical patient's dx (11/24 - Got a 10/10!)
Take our finals

That's not bad right?  I am SO excited that I am almost through with my 2nd semester! Next semester I'll be halfway DONE with nursing school.  I can't wait!!!!!!  Of course I'm kind of nervous too b/c next semester is when most people drop/flunk out.  It's our main "weed out" semester, & it kind of has me slightly terrified....

Oh well, all I can do is just do it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  My fam & I are heading to Tuscaloosa to watch Alabama play, ROLL TIDE BABY!!!!!!!!

Blessings,

Comments

  1. Having worked in LTC for over year... yeah I could have told you that. I popped, crushed and passed more pills than I can ever imagine. It was the same thing day in and day out... even though I loved my coworkers and most of my residents, it was a mind suck, that was for sure. It did help me with Pharmacology though!

    Having said that... I think LTC is the worst place to have to spend a semester in nursing school! You will have a much better time once you get into the hospital for clinicals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah after finishing it I can see that they just use it a "practice" to get us used to being with patients. I mean we seriously did nothing that truly affected these patient's care. It was just a semester to get us ready to do care plans & get comfortable with patients. BORING!! The whole reason I got into nursing (ok well one of the reasons) was b/c I DIDN'T want to do the same thing day in & day out, I go insane in those types of jobs. Come on December 11th!!

      Delete
  2. i thought our rotation through psych clinicals was borring too!
    ALL the nurses do is give meds and talk to (babysit) patients. for the most part, we followed the social workers around. waste of time in my opinion.
    the hospital is where all the action is!!!
    i feel the same way and that is why i'm not considering working in any doctor's office. i need to practice my skills in a hospital setting.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm still alive!! Tomorrow is the NCLEX!

So as you can see I have GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!  I am SO happy that nursing school is over, but can we say holy terrified?  Tomorrow is the NCLEX & I feel thoroughly unprepared.  Fortunately our school provided us with the HURST Review  and even though I have been studying this for about 2 weeks now I still feel completely terrified to actually take the test.  Of my former classmates I know of one so far who has failed....so scary... The rest of them are chugging along & passing on a daily basis, hopefully I will be one of them! But to rewind, here are a few pics from graduation & my graduation party that my precious husband & sister threw for me: That's my baby girl to my right, she looks taller than me!   I seriously couldn't have been cheesing any harder!! My nursing bestie & his bf hiding in the back! My study buddy!   My inlaws, aren't they precious!! Definitely one of the best days of my life!

I feel so inadequate...

So today I was reading Sophia's blog over at All Things NP , she's a NP student at Penn State.  As I was reading about her interview process with Penn State & her rotations & her Sim Man day I started thinking, I am nowhere NEAR as smart as she is.  I still struggle with what lab values are correct, much less IF they're off then why??!!  I know that I don't put in as much time studying as some of my other classmates do and all of this makes me really doubt myself.  When will this stuff start to really click? When will I start to KNOW this stuff?  I wish I could spend more time studying than I do & in all honesty I probably could, but I also have a very busy life.  I know that's not an excuse as everyone has their own "stuff", but I was seriously thinking as I was reading over her blog that I really need to buckle down & start reading a bit more.  I definitely need to start studying more.  I mean, I'm doing fine in my classes but PERSON

Got the job!!

So the director of the Med/Surg floor said I would hear something by today and well, I waited as long as I could before calling her seeing as I hadn't heard from her.  I said I would wait until 4:00 but by 3:30 I was chomping at the bit so I called her.  She said "I was just filling out your paperwork to offer you the job"!!! Yay me!!      Now I know it's just a PCT/CNA job, but hey it gets my foot in the door right?  I've talked to several of my friends who are in the semesters ahead of me & they've all said the same thing.  "Get a job NOW".   I have one friend who said she can't even get a PCT job b/c no one will hire her b/c she's too close to graduating.  I never thought of that. Why wouldn't they want to hire you knowing that soon you'd be able to be a nurse there??  I don't know, but I am glad to have the job.    The director said she thinks the pay is $10 an hour, which is pretty decent.  I was worried they