Week 1 as a LEVEL 2 Nursing Student

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Summer break has officially ended and school has thankfully started up again! It was a very exciting process, getting our hospital schedules, meeting our instructors, and finding our class lists in our email accounts. Once we received those attachments, I think it's safe to say that our studying for summer courses officially ended. Haha!

This semester, we are doing our surgical rotations. I'm situated at Mount St. Joseph's Hospital (MSJH) in East Vancouver and it's awesome because it takes roughly 10 minutes to get there in the morning and quite a few of us live in the same area. Plus parking's free, so that's a nice change.

The set up for patho is different this semester, the massive class we had last semester is split into 3 smaller ones in hopes of addressing all our questions, so that's helpful! Also, we have quizzes periodically which will help me, personally, keep up in review!

Microbiology will be interesting, I think. I'm slightly worried about my GPA this semester though, because we have two science-y courses, and I don't generally do too well in those, but we'll see!

PBL seems to be a good group this semester. I have a presentation on loss and grief on Tuesday, so I'm working on that right now, and just taking a break to update my rusty blog! It's interesting to see the different things being brought in from our last PBL groups and to see them all mix together and compromise into our new PBL format.

Clinical skills and techniques is super exciting because we get to do a LOT more skills this semester including injections, blood glucometers, IV meds, dressing changes, etc! I'm looking forward to learning that! The lab assistants are still the same and great, but the course leaders are different, but still seem nice.

Yesterday, we had our orientation at MSJH and it was very exciting because we got to practice our charting, get acquainted to the ward, and just plain being in the hospital is exciting for me. I realize I have used the word exciting an excessive amount of times already. Haha.

Fewf! That was a lot of random odds and ends! Back to my presentation!

Week 16 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

I am so pro-nursing it is borderline crazy, and I can see how I may seem ridiculously keen, but I think it is important to note that I haven't always been like this. I can't believe that I've found something I'm this passionate about. I've been an underachieving sloth, I've been the person that skips the vast majority of classes, and I've also been the person who whines and moans about everything school related. This time it's different, though, and I don't think I could've asked for a better place than BCIT to experience all the things I have since starting Nursing.

This week was our last week in clinical! We were supposed to have our 11 hour shift, but we ended up leaving earlier, at 2PM, so at least it was still a longer shift than normal. My day was great! My patients were both super friendly, I got all my work done, what a difference it is when you have two independent patients! Granted, they weren't fully independent, but the closest I've come since school started. My patients were both very sweet old ladies and they had great stories. I got thanked for giving the best bedbath one patient's ever had!! I think one of the things I love so much about nursing is that there are instant rewards. The smile patients give you when a cloth is JUST warm enough, the look of gratitude you get when you remember the way the like something, the way they're so thankful. To date, I don't think I've ever experienced so much happiness amongst sadness than at school.

One thing we were taught this week in Professional Practice was the need for the Public to be aware of the job nurses do. Whenever ppl tell me, "Oh it's so great you're doing nursing." I respond with, "Thanks, I love it." But that's a perfect time to do some shameless promotion - to let the world have a glimpse of the amount of work we put in:
- 12 hours shifts to start. 2 days from 7am-7pm, then 2 nights from 7pm-7am. Shift work is incredibly difficult on our bodies!
- The physical exertion of this profession (lifting patients, being on our feet the majority of shift, running back and forth, ensuring our patients are comfortable, continual monitoring of our patients to make sure they're stable, the list doesn't end here)
- The emotional price (these blurbs only provide you with the tip of the iceberg. For practicality sake, I have spared you the drama of it all)
- The sheer responsibility of the role

I've developed a real respect for nurses, care aides, and healthcare professionals in all their efforts. I'm lucky enough to have had many incredibly inspirational instructors to look up to. It doesn't stop here, though. Good leaders inspire their followers to become great leaders themselves and I relish in the fact that for the next few years, I am under the safe umbrella of school - a safe haven for me to endure the ebbs and flows of experiences to become something great.

Until level 2, faithful reader!
PS - If you want to know, it begins mid-August, so you can just mark that on your calendars

Week 16 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

This week was tough emotionally again, but more on that later. We had our clinical skills poster presentations and it went quite well! It was pretty low key and relaxing on Thursday. The sun was shining, we had our PBL class outdoors and did our group final evals - of course it was tearful. Are you really surprised anymore? Come on now.

Tuesday was a good day, I didn't have much to do and I got to actually interact with the family members of my patients a lot - something that I haven't had the opportunity to do much of yet. I got to do some family teaching and it was kind of neat. Both of my patients this week had a lot of family involvement and that always makes me happy because of the social support.

Wednesday, though, now that's a completely different story. I took vitals for one of my pts and his condition had gone south and apparently he had an awful day Tuesday. When I was outside charting my vitals for pt 1, there was a code blue called in the room on my right. Then a minute later, the pt in the room on my left died and I heard this blood curdling scream...and they were crying so hard, it broke my heart, to say the least. I stood there and the tears were just streaming down my face because it was so hard to hear. Wednesday was the first day I actually questioned whether or not I could do this for life. That, coupled with the fact that both my patients were doing poorly on the second day was really hard for me to see and deal with. I was so discombobulated and it totally affected my care and mood. I came home and I could tell that I was physically affected by it, my chest was tight, my stomach was unsettled, and I just felt bad. To be fair, I am sick, too, but still! It was sad, is what I'm getting at.

So I came home, felt bad, and really questioned myself and my capabilities. But the more I thought about it, I thought of all the good things I've come across this past semester - the experience with the legally blind pt, the time with the first pt I really connected with and had a hard time leaving, all the encouragement I've received from patients, and most recently, having my pt's daughter and son thank me - and genuinely thank me, on Wednesday. I heard coming into the program that I had to find things about nursing that motivated me, to hold on to the things that make me happy and to cling to things that I found rewarding; there are so many ugly things that I'm going to see and have seen already. I always worry that I'm going to forget about everyone, but I've been going back and I've remembered all the pts I've been able to help and all the encouraging things they've said to me. Their encouragement and gratitude have provided a pillow of comfort for me and for now, no amount of sadness can take that away from me. I know nursing can be an ugly job, but what I need to hear is encouragement, I don't need to hear things like "You should've thought about it before you started." I need support, not condescension. Thankfully, I've had more of the former rather than the latter.

PBL is hands down one of my favorite courses. This week when we were doing our final evals for each other, it really moved me to read what everyone thought and some of the things that ppl said was so incredibly heart warming. I'm so sad that I'm going to have a new group next semester but I'm incredibly thankful that I had such a great group this level.



Some aspects of nursing are tough, but I love it.

Week 14 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

This week was great! I got to take care of three patients this week, two at a time, though, because one was discharged on Tuesday afternoon. I can definitely see where my strengths are and my weaknesses lie. I am struggling with walking away from a conversation. The issue at hand is being assertive, I think. But one of my uncertainties lies in assertiveness and being rude. I feel bad walking away from a person who is spilling out their unhappy thoughts to go do something else. I would personally hate being cut off....but I know that it's not the case, it's just hard.

My patients this week were great:

One of them was an old man who was super mobile, so he was walking around almost my entire shift. It was sad, though, because he lived alone and he had been in the hospital a few times over the past month or so. So there was the issue of social disconnect and isolation, I think, which is scary no matter what age you're at! But I really got to be an advocate for him, as in making sure he got a warm blanket put over his feet every night (he had really poor circulation and cold feet 24/7). I could tell that even though he was depressed, I got to help him because though his smiles were sparse, I still got to see a few of them. It was really rewarding and it made me smile...like, one of those genuine smiles, you know? And it was so sweet because he was like, "I know you're really trying to help and you've been really helpful, but...." that sentence came up in the middle of one of our conversation. So I'm glad that I was able to help him a bit for the 10 hours in total that I was with him.

My second patient on Tuesday was this cute little Danish lady. Her children came in and spent the latter half of my shift with her, so it was nice. I could tell that her daughter was really caring, too, because she knew exactly which medication it was that I came by to give her, and it made me feel good, knowing that. This patient was so adorable, with her accent and her whole, "It's OK, take your time, I understand" attitude. She needed things, but she wasn't demanding about it and she was so patient. It's funny because I don't realize how often/how big I smile anymore because it's second nature to me, but I introduced myself to her daughter and son in law and I guess I was smiling when I was updating them on her condition. So when the time came for me to bring my patient her meds, I was walking towards them in the dining room and her daughter said, "she's still smiling". I thought she was talking about my patient, but she was talking about me!! I felt really silly. It's also something that I'm working on, because smiling really big can be inappropriate, like, you don't want to be smiling stupidly when someone's telling you about why they're depressed/if they're constipated or something.

My third patient on Wednesday was interesting. I know she could tell that she was really distressed about not having a mirror because it was something that she needed for her morning care, so I was on search for a mirror a portion of my morning. I know she really appreciated the fact that I told her that I hadn't forgotten. When it comes down to it, you or I don't like being forgotten about either, right? Patients are no different from you or me - they experience the exact same things as us, if not more. This patient was very personable and even asked me to call her by her first name! My first time addressing my patient by their first name! She really worked me physically because even though she had a compression fracture of her spine, she wanted to walk to the bathroom, but I was proud of her for trying to maintain her habits.

In PBL this week, we had our end of the semester potluck and it was great. I made hummous for the first time in my life and it was all I'd ever imagined and more. Haha! There was so much food, I felt like I was pregnant and I sat there rubbing my belly hoping that I would feel better. But I didn't and I couldn't even eat dinner that night. Haha. Good times.

ONE MORE WEEK OF CLASSES!!!! AHHHHH!!!! SO FAST!!!!

Week 13 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

This week blew by because we didn't have class on Easter Monday, so it was a 4 day week. With clinical being twice a week, I really only had classes for 2 days, life's swell! This week we started with two patients! On Tuesday, we started in the mornings so we did all the morning care like bedbaths, oral care, linen changes, all that fun stuff.

One of my patients was getting discharged ON Tuesday, so he was really excited - he was also very independent and refused a shower and help with anything, which made it easier for me because he was on contact precaution. I just had to go in and check up on him every so often, but he was really chipper and friendly and he had a lot of stories to share, so it was really cool.

My second patient was really tired and slept throughout most of my shift. I had to feed her and had to make sure that she was conscious enough to take each bite so that she didn't choke on her food. It made it really hard to give her her meds, but the nurse crushed them and just mixed it in with her pureed prunes. When I was giving her a bedbath, she started talking to me more, but all the while keeping her eyes shut. She was a retired RN herself and was kind of confused, she kept on talking about going on duty.

The second day, she was much more awake and talkative. We were on afternoons on Wednesday and she was up in her chair when I went in. She was telling me about her husband and it was so heart warming. She was telling me that they'd been married for over 60 years and how he was such a gentleman and how she wouldn't change a single thing if she were given the chance to. I was really worried, though, because she said that he always came on Sunday, and because it was Wednesday, I wasn't sure if I should orient her to the day. The good news is that he came along with two of their daughters. It was so cute how they went for a walk and in one hand, he was holding his cane and with his other, he held my patient's hand. I was behind them for a little stretch of the hallway and it seriously made me tear up because it was so....peaceful and happy. The way they were tottering in the hallway, her in her hospital gown and pink robe.... I was really sad, though, when I saw the husband and one of the daughters outside the room crying about the condition of my patient...but sometimes, there isn't anything you can do, because the reality of the situation is that the outcome isn't ideal.

I also got to help with an admissions form for a new patient. A friend of mine from high school is Greek and through the years, I have picked up on a few words here and there. Once I read the patient's name, I was pretty sure he was Greek, but of course, still asked about his ethnic background. So once I determined that he was Greek, I asked if it was ok for me to call him "Theo __________" and he kind of giggled and repeated Theo. The word theo is kind of analagous to Chinese ppl saying "Auntie/Uncle" out of respect. So I could tell that he appreciated that I was trying and it helped build rapport.

Week 12 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

This week was pretty challenging. I was on contact precaution for the first time, so my patient was in isolation. This means I had to put on a gown and gloves every single time I entered and exited the room. I didn't really connect with my patient this week...it's not that he didn't like me, because he did, and it's not that I didn't like him, but I think that having a gown and gloves on at all times really provides a barrier. It really does make you feel more distant, which is sad cuz I even felt it. I got to take off my gown, but everyone that my patient saw was wearing a gown, which is not friendly at all.

I felt really disorganized this week, and I just didn't FEEL good after clinical and I felt really stressed...like, my chest literally felt tight. And I was super warm, from the bedbath and changing my patient.

School's winding down now, just a few assignments, but nothing too tricky. I'm sad that summer's coming ONLY because we won't have clinical rotations anymore.

Week 11 as a Level 1 Nursing Student

So this week was good, emotionally. We had an afternoon shift this week and it was pretty boring, all the morning care had already been done, so we didn't get to change linens, give bedbaths, or oral care. We gave meds again, though, so we're getting more used to that. I had my presentation on Thursday about sleep cycles, which actually went a bit smoother than I'd anticipated, so that was good. I liked having the round table discussion instead of just standing there and talking at everyone, and it seemed to go well with everyone, so there was alot of good participation. Our patho midterm was on Friday, and it was alright. I am very confused by the multiple choice, but I always feel that way, so we'll see how I did after the marks come out. There weren't very many revelations this week, so there isn't much I want to share, plus the sun's shining and I'm itching to get outside.