Okay, I'm better now.

I was able to vent a little several days ago. I still feel like my clinical instructor leaves something to be desired, but I have seen some improvement.

Our next test is in a couple of weeks. I'm swamped with the reading and I'm not sure if I'll ever get ahead. As it is, I'm just staying caught up. It's really a shame that I can't spend more time studying the information I am reading. I pretty much just gloss over the info and then try answering the questions. While that does get some of the information into my little brain and helps me pass the exams, it doesn't make me feel any better when I'm going in to see my patients and I am fairly clueless about what is going on with them. I can only hope that my knowledge base will improve with time "on the job".

Looking at the calendar, we've only got about six more weeks left in this semester. It's going by very fast (sometimes). I'll be registering for my mental health theory/clinical in a couple of weeks. Summer classes scare me! There isn't any time to actually learn anything. It's almost just going through the motions during the summer. Get the credit and move on. Formal education ticks me off sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if things wouldn't be better like they were in the olden days when you had a one-on-one mentor to learn a trade. It just seems like I'm doing my best to get a piece of paper and not doing my best to learn. Surely other people feel the same way. Right?

On the bright side of life...I had two really good patients last week. One was an elderly woman who said that I looked like her grandson. She was very sweet. I am pretty sure that if I were taking care of her on a regular basis, we'd have a great relationship. The other patient was a female middle aged school teacher who was very pleasant to be around. I'm very glad to find out that most patients in the hospital I am at are receptive to a male student nurse. I've seen more objections from the staff nurses and students than the patients this semester.

That's it for now. I'm tired. Going to get some shut-eye before I get up and go on a quick run before class tomorrow morning.

-DV