Mediocre Impressions

OB and Peds are okay. Upperclassmen always told me it was a "nice break", but I'm neither relieved nor inspired.

I'm a little frustrated; I study for OB and Peds equally but have an A in one and a C in the other. I partially blame the C on the ridiculous lecture format for that course. My instructor spends the first 45 minutes of each class talking about how to study and very little time actually talking about what it is we should be studying. More often than not diseases just... aren't discussed. It's frustrating; so Meredith, Cris, and I have started making up our own chapter outlines every week in an attempt to create USABLE notes. After classes on Thursday, we just park it in the library and don't leave until we finish reviewing everything.

I miss Instructor Incredible's class. At least I learned things in there, and never felt sleepy.

My clinical experiences have been somewhat disappointing as well. I spent several days in Labor and Delivery without seeing a single birth. Then, on my LAST day there I got to witness a C-section. It was horrifying to behold because the epidural... uh... well it wasn't working. That lady was kinda screaming and fighting them. They had to hold her down in order to push general anesthesia meds... but by the time they got her under, the surgeons were already cutting through the uterus. I observed all this while pressed up against the back wall with several other speechless students. Apparently this was a very unusual occurrence, but since it was the only live birth I've ever seen, my perceptions of the process will forever be skewed. This has only confirmed my extreme distaste for labor-type nursing.

Peds is disappointing mostly because I am being held on such a short leash. We aren't even giving meds! I understand the caution with which one must treat kids... but I feel like too much of my time is spent sitting idly by rather than providing care. Also, my patience with children is fairly thin, but my patience with parents is even less substantial.

In short, I'm not having the fabulous time I was used to having. That's probably more my fault than anyone else's. Therefore I'm going to have to work especially hard at observing Instructor Exhausted and Instructor Technology if I'm going to uncover the gems of wisdom I previously found so abundant. In the meantime, I look to my Nurse Tech job as a source of inspiration.

Back to School!

This semester is Peds and OB. I like my instructors sofar (though nobody will take the place of Instructor Fantastic in my heart).

I'm a little pissed off because I'm having to take a statistics class. It's not so bad by itself, but I already took Stat as a math class in Houston. But does the school want that credit? Noooo, they want Psychology Statistics. I've fought and pleaded. I've asked to take a test, but to no avail! Basically I'm paying them money to sit around and re-learn things I've already mastered. On top of that, I find that many nurses are none-to-bright about math, and the pace of study is agonizingly slow compared to the first go-round. Let's hope I don't go crazy. ^_^;;

I'm still working as a tech in the PCU. I'd never really considered PCU as a place to start a nursing career, but it's becoming more appealing all the time. First of all, the patient ratio is lower than Med-Surg, but the patients aren't quite as critical as in the ICU. Secondly, the hospital is interested in "cross-training" people in ICU and ER skills in order to provide more options for "floating" extra staff in times of low census. Thirdly, I like the floor I'm on, and wouldn't mind working with these people in a larger capacity.

I've always been far more interested in critical care than anything else, mostly because I'm not too fond of children or surgery or the like. And I want to be in a place that will challenge me and keep me on my toes. Still keeping my options open, but it looks like this hospital has accomplished it's own goals by recruiting me for this job: getting me comfortable with this facility and reeling me in for employment after graduation.

We'll see how things work out when I graduate. If I don't end up in Texas, I really hope I end up right where I am.

Tomorrow I'm going to spend clinicals in Labor and Delivery. I reaallly hope a baby is born in the time that I am there, because I feel like that would be much more exciting than just hanging out with a woman moaning in labor for 8 hours. o_O

Taken two tests sofar. I actually made an A on the second one! (I'd almost forgotten how it felt to make A's on big tests with this funky grading scale!) My extra preparation is paying off. I'm making time to read the chapters before lecture and staying at least 2 hours afterwards in the library for review. And that works. (Well... except when a question is vague or weird. But that's not my problem.)

I really really want to do well this semester so I can increase those decimals after the 3 in my nursing gpa. I want to be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau! They only take the upper percent of the class, so I don't know what my chances are. If I keep making As though, maybe they'll improve. ^_^