nursing school | Nursing Student Chronicles

I hear that phrase all the time and, to be frank, it is driving me bonkers.

There are so many students who talk about what kind of nurse they would really like to be…perhaps OR, ER, Critical Care, whatever! Yet, they decide to become general med-surg nurses for the experience so they aren’t pigeon-holed.

I’ve talked to many types of nurses on many types of floors to try and get to the bottom of this. Weigh in if you will! So far, what I’m finding is that while getting the one year of experience has been good in the past, it isn’t so much the case anymore. People are becoming so specialized that wherever you go…you may be pigeonholed.

Several critical care nurses/managers said they don’t like taking floor nurses in because it is fairly difficult (if not impossible) to break their old habits and make them think like an ICU nurse. One nurse that I had met in clinicals on a ICU floor got sent back to the floor because she couldn’t get out of her floor nursing habits. At one hospital I rotate through, the med-surg nurses are getting certified for that specialty! I have a friend in PICU who tried to move to another hospital closer to her new home. They said she was overqualified for their PICU, too specialized for general pediatrics, and had no experience to be in the E.D. So, she continues to drive over an hour and a half to work.

My thought? Go where you want! I want to be a PICU nurse. No wonder the burnout rate is so high! If I have to go to an geriatric floor, I’ll probably cry. [Yes, I know a job is a job. But my happiness counts for something. So yes, I'll be happy I have a job if that's all I can get...but I'll still cry because my dreams of being in PICU will be so far away. Just keeping it real...]

I dunno. What are your thoughts on the matter?

After much consideration….

I have decided to post again. I know…the comings and goings are a bit much.

There’s so much hoopla right now about HIPAA this and HIPAA that. I got cold feet. But then, after much prodding and poking from my mother, I realized I have to finish what I started. It would be quite an incomplete chronicle if it finished right before senior year, right? Right.

So here I am.

School started. We spent the first week in skills labs practicing changing a central line dressing, hanging blood, and IV push meds. Finally! The exciting stuff from day 1.

The next week was spent doing our leadership class where we have Quality Improvement project with Geriatric Fellows. I hate to be a bad sport…but I’m not too excited about all this extra work that won’t help me out when it comes to passing the boards. Especially when it means driving all the way to the hospital [along with my 37 peers] to meet with them for one hour. I digress. At the very least, my fellow seems nice. So there’s that.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week were spent in clinical immersion. It was meant to get our feet wet again in a med-surg envrionment since last semester was mommas and babies. It was a great week.

I had some heavy stable patients, and one patient who tried to have chest pain and difficulty breathing at one point. I LOVED being back on the floor doing patient care on my own. The first day we had one patient and the next two days we had two patients. I felt pretty cool since I was one of the few with patients that were considered ’serious’ instead of ‘fair’ or ‘good’. Alas, no ‘critical’ since we are all on a general medicine floor.

Tomorrow is first day of lecture. 8-4.30 is a long day for lecture. Aye yi yi.

So…that’s what you missed!

In other news, I caved and bought the new Kindle 3 and am majorly geeking out over it. It should be arriving tomorrow and I’m bummed that I have to wait ALL DAY for it. AND we’re selling our house. Yeah. 1700 square feet is much to much for these 2 people. Especially 2 people who are anxiously wanting to feed their new-found-grown-up taste for the modern and minimal and open floor plan. Something which this townhouse is not.

I really have the best readers. Thanks for sticking by me. I mean that.

Love,

Laney

How to Survive Overnight Shifts

I’ve gotta admit- I’m loving these night shifts. I was on day shift for one week and the rest of the summer have all been overnight. I can’t believe how much I was yawning when I was on days. Yeah…7p-7a works for me. It’s so much more relaxed than day shift too because you don’t have all the services coming in and out or all the managers and JCHAO worries.

So…how to survive it if you’re new.

I try to stay up as late as possible the night before (like 5am) and then sleep through until it’s time to get up and get going. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take a nap at, say, 2am until 5am and wake up for a little bit. I’ll do errands, laundry, watch TV- whatever- and then go back to bed from 9 or 10 until 5pm when I wake up for work.

At work, space out your snacks and food. They keep you awake. Some drink coffee. I take two Diet Dr. Peppers with me. I usually only need about one and a half, but you never know when there’s a slow night.

Anyone else want to weigh in? How do you manage during the graveyard shift?

Love,

Laney

Breathe Me

I did chest compressions for the first time. I lost my first patient.

Man, that was hard.

The adrenaline rush of being in the middle of a code is like nothing else. The way the floor falls out from beneath right as you realize that you’re about to pull the code bell is…well, we call it a “shit-your-pants-moment”.

I was asked what it was like. It’s like no other moment I’ve experienced. I’ve been on the outside of many, many codes before. In the doorway looking in. This time, I was on the inside looking out. Not trying to sound dramatic or anything- but it’s true. You’re in this small room looking at your patient, looking at the monitor, looking at your supplies and seeing this kid turn gray and hearing the alarms sounding off. The code bell goes off and in an instant there are 20 people piled into your room and spilling into the hallway- not to mention the passersby stopping to rubberneck.

It’s like a TV show that I should be watching at home. The attending and I make eye contact and I hear them say to push another 120ml of normal saline bolus. I grab the full syringe, lock in, and push. Then it’s time to draw up more, switch out and keep going. I stood there next to my preceptor alternating between my fluids and her epinephrine doses. I did my first round of chest compressions and brought pressures back up to an acceptable level where we could feel a pulse again.

It didn’t last.

I take comfort in the fact that we were able to save this patient long enough for the family to get there. It was a long time coming.

It’s surreal. I can hear the screaming exactly like a remembered movie and, yet, it’s so distant that I can’t recall it at all- like a nearly forgotten dream.

Going home was weird. I’m standing in an elevator with other people talking about their night, someone else on the phone, someone else looking at me as if they cant tell if I have bad attitude or if I’ve had a bad night. And I’m sitting here typing this thinking how crazy it must have looked to see me- the youngest in the room with big glasses and, most likely, panicked eyes- bent over a small bed looking like a kid trying to save a kid.

It’s crazy, but this is still where I want to work. This is not the normal day to have your patient go. More people get better than don’t. I have a renewed strength and want to be an amazing nurse. My preceptor is amazing. I want to be just like her when I grow up.

That’s all for tonight.

I wanted to be a nurse because….

…I want to help people.

One thing I don’t think I’ve really talked about is my decision to become a nurse. I was thinking about it today from a recent conversation.

So, when I was little…as in 4 or 5, I wanted to be a doctor and open up my own E.R so I could save people- I guess I’ve always been a trauma junkie. Then I wanted to save hearts so that I could make my great-grandma better. That’s pretty much what I wanted to do up until sophomore year in high school when I took a journalism class. I loved it.

I thought, how cool. I could make an underground newspaper and tell the world about the REAL news going on out there. Not just the censored stuff that is on T.V. nowadays. If you’ve ever seen Vice Journalism (vbs.com) that’s what I wanted to do. Then I moved to NC and took Mass Comm and thought, yeah I could do film and tie that in with the journalism and bring about awareness- blah, blah, blah. I even went to University for a semester to pursue this.

It was fine and all, but then I started thinking “Man, this isn’t really what I was looking for. And film? My God, I really do want to stay hungry forever.” Only joking…kinda.

Meanwhile, back home my mom was in the middle of nursing school. She was actually at the halfway point exactly. She was talking about what she was doing and what she was learning and that stirred up all my old dreams. One thing I had noticed from volunteering at the hospital in high school was that the nurses were at the bedside way more than the doctors. They got to build up that rapport that I was looking for. And advocating is something I craved. Doctors (not all!) tended to treat the disease and the nurses tended to treat the person. That’s just how I felt.

I moved back home with my then-boyfriend-future-husband, applied to nursing school, and thankfully got in.

That’s pretty much it! How did you get to where you decided to become a nurse? Or doctor or psychologist or teacher or [insert profession here]? I just think it’s really fascinating the life experiences that lead a person to pick a career that may identify them for the rest of their life. I mean, isn’t that crazy?! Granted, some people just pick jobs for the money, but that’s not really the same thing. Or some people always knew what they wanted to, but thanks to life, didn’t get a chance until later (like my mom).

Love,

Laney

Blood and guts and….food?

The other day while I was eating lunch at my in-laws house, my mother-in-law (who is super sweet) was trying to talk to me about a juice fast she had been on and how it was cleansing her insides. She was going into detail and was like, “Oh I’m sorry. I don’t want to say any more since you’re eating.”

I thought it was funny because I didn’t even think twice about it. At the hospital (or any meal with nursing friends, really), it’s pretty inevitable that work talk will come up at some point…and well, it’s not uncommon to be talking about blood, guts, or any and all bodily fluids while eating a meal. I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t bug us! And by us, I mean most people in healthcare with patient contact. Isn’t that weird?

Sometimes I have to catch myself when talking with my non-nursing friends at meals b/c it has happened on more than one occasion where I’ll say something about clinicals and I’ll get the blank stare with a downturned mouth before the subject is quickly changed.

For example, I was talking about blood or something at the lunch table with Ishaq and he said, flat-out, okay we need to change the subject. Oops!

What about you guys? Does it bug you to hear shop talk while you’re eating or do you talk away without batting an eye? Or do you notice a difference with hospital world and not hospital world?

Love,

Laney

May Giveaway

I’m trying to keep up with the giveaways, so without further ado…

If you have an iTouch or iPhone, then this is perfect for you! It’s this really neat app that gives you practice NCLEX questions including with the coveted rationales! It even breaks it down into the categories of the NCLEX so you know where you need to practice. Usually it runs for $20, but you can enter and possibly win for free!

http://www.atitesting.com/Solutions/PostGraduation/RNNCLEXPrepiPhoneApp.aspx

There’s the link if you want to check it out.

So, enter by next Tuesday (the 25th) at midnight and a winner will be randomly selected. Enter by leaving a comment with your ideal way to study. For me? It’s in the living room, laying on my stomach with a coffee or Dr Pepper and answering questions.

Good luck!

Love,

Laney

Officially a Senior

That’s right! Got the word today in my summative conference that I passed clinicals with flying colors and theory with colors that weren’t flying as high, but still high enough to be made into a SENIOR NURSING STUDENT.

I graduate in December and I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! Let’s celebrate!

I’ve got 3 weeks off before my PNA program and plan on writing and relaxing just a bit. I just woke up from a 5 hour nap in fact. I think my body was sleep deprived. No matter.

Anyways, I also want to thank all my readers/commenters for your support so far. I was telling the husband last night that it’s like my therapy on here. It’s been so healing to know that I am not alone and that there are others experiencing the same highs and lows. So thanks you guys! It really means a lot to know you’re there.

Love,

Laney

Minor Meltdown

I guess I don’t go into my personal dramas too much on here. I don’t know why. I guess my first thoughts after wiping away tears and gorging on junk food isn’t to update my lameness for the world to see. But, I thought about it today. Most days I’m fine, but today there was a minor meltdown. So here I am. But, I don’t want to talk about it like “me, me, me” so I will instead do a case study write up.

Case Study #1

Pre-nursing school Laney was mostly on her A-game. She cooked dinner regularly, had laundry folded and ready to go, was usually cracking a witty joke or three, and had time to go to out for movies/dinner/walks/tennis games/etc.

Intra-nursing school Laney is a wreck. She picks up dinner most nights or asks her husband to on his way home, is usually living out of baskets of clean laundry, cracking many jokes b/c lets face it- she’s hilarious, and will go out to the occasional movie/dinner/walk/tennis game while thinking about how much studying she is going to have to make up for it later.

Intra-nursing school Laney also has a lot of guilt. She will think that simple comments such as “What time did you get up? Oh right, we woke up at the same time” are secret judgments that say “why on earth on you tired if we woke up at the same time and I’m not tired?” She will also have occasional hateful thoughts when people say “Oh I’m so tired, I had an 8-hour shift today” because I had a 12 hour-shift and will have to go home and study after. [That's not a good attitude at all. I know this on some level. Truly. It's ugly thinking and I know it.] Her eye also twitches when people assume that clinicals are not tiring because, in actuality, it’s working an 8-hr shift + school for free. Free labor which does not pay the ever-growing mountain of bills that are neglected on a desk at home. Furthermore, she may suffer from hypertension from all the arguments and complaints from her friends that don’t understand why she can’t go out…again. It’s not from neglect, it’s from the fact that the first day of class, the instructor said “Tell everyone you know and love that you’ll see them in two years” and was not exaggerating.

Intra-nursing school Laney is sometimes a bitch.

Nursing Diagnosis: Emotional Distress r/t (related to) lack of mental sanity secondary to nursing school AEB (as evidenced by) lack of sleep, fits of crying, glaring, and state of being irrational and/or inconsolable unless near chocolate.

Potential Complication: Mental Insanity, Hypertension, Cardiac Failure, Zero Friends outside of school/work

Good write-up I think. Pathetic? Definitely. I just keep trying to tell myself that this time next year, I will be a nurse and a much better person. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go grab a brownie.

Love,

Laney