Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Job Hunt
Well, I'm still unemployed. Looks like the hospital I interviewed with a few weeks ago has hired someone else from my graduating class. Today I went online and applied for positions with every hospital in a 25 mile radius. Some are requesting an "internship". Unfortunatly, all of the internships have been filled at this point. It'll be a few more months before new internships are available. I also applied for RN positions with the local prisons :) and hospice facilities. I'm sure something will work out. I just have to be patient.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The End...or is it?
I’ve been absent from this blog as of late. It has been a very busy semester. Never-the-less, it has come to an end. I am proud to say that I have completed nursing school! I passed all of my tests with a solid B. I took the HESI exit exam and made a descent score a week and a half ago. Tonight my dear readers, is my pinning ceremony.
As I reflect back on the previous two years, I recall that there were many times of stress and insecurities. There were many times when I felt a sense of accomplishment. Also, to this day, I ask myself, “What have I done?” It seems surreal somehow. As a graduate, I feel adequately prepared to begin learning how to become a nurse. Yep, nursing school simply teaches you the very tip of the iceberg. It certainly doesn’t seem that way when you are trying to read through 5 chapters in one week. It doesn’t seem that way when you have a paper, a presentation, a test, and a required professional meeting to attend. It doesn’t seem that way when you are trying to understand concepts that physicians spend a lifetime studying. Nurses have to learn a lot about a lot of things. It’s not easy. However, even with a family and a job, nursing school is not impossible to get through. It seems that way sometimes, but eventually you make it through. Well, most of us…
I have met many friends in nursing school; many of which are the type of people I never thought I would be friends with. We each have our story…that’s the really interesting part. We come from all different backgrounds for the common goal of caring for other people. Some of the people I met in foundations are long gone. They dropped out for one reason or another. Nursing school is a big wake up call for some people. It isn’t just going into a room and talking to people, cleaning up after them and passing out meds. You have somebody’s life in your hands and you are directly responsible for that life. It’s a bit intimidating to say the least. Some of my friends are going through divorce directly related to the stress, and time away from family that nursing school causes. This makes me very glad that my marriage was very strong to begin with, and that I had never-ending support from my wife and family from the beginning.
The job market for new nurses is extremely competitive right now. I am officially unemployed now, but looking. I had an interview with a local hospital a couple of weeks ago where there were 15 GN positions available and nearly 400 applicants. I’m still waiting to hear from the nurse manager. Fortunately, I don’t need a job to survive (my ever supportive wife is still taking care of that). I have faith that God will put me exactly where I need to be in his own time.
To my readers…thank you for following me through nursing school. I haven’t posted as much as I wanted, but blogging was put on the back burner many times. There are at least a few more posts to come…
-DV
As I reflect back on the previous two years, I recall that there were many times of stress and insecurities. There were many times when I felt a sense of accomplishment. Also, to this day, I ask myself, “What have I done?” It seems surreal somehow. As a graduate, I feel adequately prepared to begin learning how to become a nurse. Yep, nursing school simply teaches you the very tip of the iceberg. It certainly doesn’t seem that way when you are trying to read through 5 chapters in one week. It doesn’t seem that way when you have a paper, a presentation, a test, and a required professional meeting to attend. It doesn’t seem that way when you are trying to understand concepts that physicians spend a lifetime studying. Nurses have to learn a lot about a lot of things. It’s not easy. However, even with a family and a job, nursing school is not impossible to get through. It seems that way sometimes, but eventually you make it through. Well, most of us…
I have met many friends in nursing school; many of which are the type of people I never thought I would be friends with. We each have our story…that’s the really interesting part. We come from all different backgrounds for the common goal of caring for other people. Some of the people I met in foundations are long gone. They dropped out for one reason or another. Nursing school is a big wake up call for some people. It isn’t just going into a room and talking to people, cleaning up after them and passing out meds. You have somebody’s life in your hands and you are directly responsible for that life. It’s a bit intimidating to say the least. Some of my friends are going through divorce directly related to the stress, and time away from family that nursing school causes. This makes me very glad that my marriage was very strong to begin with, and that I had never-ending support from my wife and family from the beginning.
The job market for new nurses is extremely competitive right now. I am officially unemployed now, but looking. I had an interview with a local hospital a couple of weeks ago where there were 15 GN positions available and nearly 400 applicants. I’m still waiting to hear from the nurse manager. Fortunately, I don’t need a job to survive (my ever supportive wife is still taking care of that). I have faith that God will put me exactly where I need to be in his own time.
To my readers…thank you for following me through nursing school. I haven’t posted as much as I wanted, but blogging was put on the back burner many times. There are at least a few more posts to come…
-DV
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The job hunt and testing
Is that a light at the end of the tunnel I see? Maybe I’m just about to pass out instead and I’m seeing stars. Either way, today marks the half way point for this semester. In just a few short weeks I’ll get pinned and then it’s off to the real world of a working RN. In many ways I am really looking forward to getting to that point. In other ways, I kind of wish I could just go back to being a stay at home dad again. That was sweet. Currently, I’m tweaking my resume for the umpteenth time. I’m sending it out all over the place trying to get an interview. Up to this point I’ve got nothing. There is so much competition out there and not too many jobs. At least not like there used to be. I have to remind myself to be open to any job opportunity (near or far). Also, a little patience couldn’t hurt as well. I’ve been studying the book of Exodus recently. The story of Moses is pretty tough for me to handle right now, because I too want things to happen on my time, not God’s.
Remember that test I was going to take a few weeks ago….I failed. Yep, academic advisement came and went. Remember that I was kind of complaining about my current instructor’s lack of ability to present information? My failing grade of 65.9 was bumped up to 79.9 due to several questions being thrown out and points awarded for multiple answers. I was not the only person in class to receive points like this. Is it possible that this person does not know how to teach? YEP! On a brighter note, I just finished my neuro/hepatic unit with another instructor. She was GREAT! Logical powerpoints and straight forward lectures make all the difference in the world. I made an 86 on the test yesterday. Not perfect by any means, but I knew that I was not in any danger of failing. I’m just glad to know that it’s not just me!
This weekend I’m working on my final paper. It isn’t due for a few weeks yet, but it will be nice to get it out of the way. I can’t stand writing papers. The family is out of town today, it’s early and I’m about to get busy. Wish me luck!
-DV
Remember that test I was going to take a few weeks ago….I failed. Yep, academic advisement came and went. Remember that I was kind of complaining about my current instructor’s lack of ability to present information? My failing grade of 65.9 was bumped up to 79.9 due to several questions being thrown out and points awarded for multiple answers. I was not the only person in class to receive points like this. Is it possible that this person does not know how to teach? YEP! On a brighter note, I just finished my neuro/hepatic unit with another instructor. She was GREAT! Logical powerpoints and straight forward lectures make all the difference in the world. I made an 86 on the test yesterday. Not perfect by any means, but I knew that I was not in any danger of failing. I’m just glad to know that it’s not just me!
This weekend I’m working on my final paper. It isn’t due for a few weeks yet, but it will be nice to get it out of the way. I can’t stand writing papers. The family is out of town today, it’s early and I’m about to get busy. Wish me luck!
-DV
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Supplies, Networking and Testing
I’ve had a pretty good week so far. I was very busy in clinical this week. I’m still on the PCU and the acuity of these patients is pretty high. I’m not sure how I’ll do when I move up to ICU. I am seeing a trend with this hospital, however. I really like the fact that this facility serves an underprivileged community, the nurses seem to really enjoy their jobs, they work well together, and learning is always encouraged. I’ve checked off more skills in my two days on this unit than I have the last year and a half of nursing school. Here is the problem…you can’t find supplies, techs are rare and there seems to be a lot of issues with charting. They are short of unit secretaries, so paper charts don’t get put into the computer system in a timely manner, there is double medication charting and paper care plans that are not computerized in any way, shape or form. I know that back in the olden days, that’s how things used to be all the time, but step into the 21st century people. I don’t know for sure if the low supplies and low staffing are a normal part of this hospital, but I hope things get better as I go through the semester. I’d love to work here come January!
A word about “Meet and Greets”…. Last week I attended a local hospital’s recruiting “meet and greet” at a restaurant close by. For those who are looking into attending something like this in the future, please note that you will NOT get a job this way. There were literally hundreds of nursing students from all over passing out resumes to the unit managers who were hiring GNs for the spring. Unless you already know someone, don’t expect to be able to stand out in this crowd. Besides the fact that I had previously met one of the nurse managers, my time last week would have been better spent studying for the test I’m am having today. Yes, I learned a little about their GN/new RN training, but I have a feeling that the resumes I passed out will never see the light of day. Anybody who knows me knows that I am pretty introverted and not the hob-knobbing type, so maybe I could have done some things differently. For the most part though, it’s better to get in good with the people you meet at your clinical sites. I’d be curious to know if anyone else has had luck at event like this. Anyone?
The test: yep this morning I’ll have my first test of my last semester. It’s over Cardiac/Respiratory. Here is my oversimplified example of a standard nursing question…
Question: What is the sum of 2 + 2? Choose the best answer.
A. 6 - 2
B. Four
C. IV
D. 4
E. Only A and C
Wish me luck!
-DV
A word about “Meet and Greets”…. Last week I attended a local hospital’s recruiting “meet and greet” at a restaurant close by. For those who are looking into attending something like this in the future, please note that you will NOT get a job this way. There were literally hundreds of nursing students from all over passing out resumes to the unit managers who were hiring GNs for the spring. Unless you already know someone, don’t expect to be able to stand out in this crowd. Besides the fact that I had previously met one of the nurse managers, my time last week would have been better spent studying for the test I’m am having today. Yes, I learned a little about their GN/new RN training, but I have a feeling that the resumes I passed out will never see the light of day. Anybody who knows me knows that I am pretty introverted and not the hob-knobbing type, so maybe I could have done some things differently. For the most part though, it’s better to get in good with the people you meet at your clinical sites. I’d be curious to know if anyone else has had luck at event like this. Anyone?
The test: yep this morning I’ll have my first test of my last semester. It’s over Cardiac/Respiratory. Here is my oversimplified example of a standard nursing question…
Question: What is the sum of 2 + 2? Choose the best answer.
A. 6 - 2
B. Four
C. IV
D. 4
E. Only A and C
Wish me luck!
-DV
Friday, September 16, 2011
It's the "squirmy" little things.
Day one on the floor ended up being a really great learning experience. We missed morning report due to some computer training that ended up being postponed until next week. After listening to a couple of paper presentations we were taken up to our respective floors to get paired up with an RN. I was placed on the progressive care unit with a relatively new nurse. I can say that being paired with a nurse recently out of school ended up being one of the best days I’ve had in a year and a half of clinical. She was able to really remember what it was like being a student. She explained everything to me and let me do lots of stuff during the day.
I was allowed to do trach care, IM’s, IVPB’s, peg tube meds, condom cath, and last but certainly not least…leech therapy. Yep, you read correctly; L-E-E-C-H Therapy. Until Tuesday, I thought that the last time leeches were in use was back in the 1400’s. Apparently, leeches are still used occasionally today as a therapy for wounds with buildup of venous blood and wounds that are not perfusing properly.
Amazingly, the leeches have anticoagulant and anesthetic properties in their saliva. I had no idea! They are a little squirmy, but once you get them out of the bottle, you just place them on the wound and let them suck 15 - 20 minutes and they fall off on their own once they are full. Funny….the Rx says “Apply three leeches to wound for 15 minutes q2h”. Hee, hee! You won’t see that very often.
All of the RN’s were extremely helpful and even let me get a taste of the charting they had to do. With all of the paperwork (computer and hardcopy) they have to do, it’s a wonder patients get taken care of at all. I was allowed to get the initial information directly from a new patient, enter it into the computer, chart the plan of care and get her checked into our floor. I got to see a patient who was posturing. I’ve only seen that in the text books so far.
In addition to the skills I was able to take part in; I was able to talk one-on-one with my instructor about my head to toe assessment. That is always something I get nervous about. I am always forgetting something. She was very thorough and had lots of tips for how I could improve my efficiency. For the first time, I am actually looking forward to the next time I get to give a head to toe assessment next week.
Hopefully next week will go as well as this week.
-DV
I was allowed to do trach care, IM’s, IVPB’s, peg tube meds, condom cath, and last but certainly not least…leech therapy. Yep, you read correctly; L-E-E-C-H Therapy. Until Tuesday, I thought that the last time leeches were in use was back in the 1400’s. Apparently, leeches are still used occasionally today as a therapy for wounds with buildup of venous blood and wounds that are not perfusing properly.
Amazingly, the leeches have anticoagulant and anesthetic properties in their saliva. I had no idea! They are a little squirmy, but once you get them out of the bottle, you just place them on the wound and let them suck 15 - 20 minutes and they fall off on their own once they are full. Funny….the Rx says “Apply three leeches to wound for 15 minutes q2h”. Hee, hee! You won’t see that very often.
All of the RN’s were extremely helpful and even let me get a taste of the charting they had to do. With all of the paperwork (computer and hardcopy) they have to do, it’s a wonder patients get taken care of at all. I was allowed to get the initial information directly from a new patient, enter it into the computer, chart the plan of care and get her checked into our floor. I got to see a patient who was posturing. I’ve only seen that in the text books so far.
In addition to the skills I was able to take part in; I was able to talk one-on-one with my instructor about my head to toe assessment. That is always something I get nervous about. I am always forgetting something. She was very thorough and had lots of tips for how I could improve my efficiency. For the first time, I am actually looking forward to the next time I get to give a head to toe assessment next week.
Hopefully next week will go as well as this week.
-DV
Monday, September 12, 2011
Get off your butt and go do something!
Need some motivation to study, eat right, go to the gym, etc.?
This ought to do it.
This ought to do it.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Gahh! When did I get old?
Gee wiz! Apparently at some point in the last 30+ years I went and got old. Last week when I went in for my TB test my doc had me submit a complete blood work up. It had been about four years since the last one, so I’m like, okay; I’ll get to see my lab results and compare them to some of my patients (It’ll be fun.) WTF…when I go in today to “discuss” my results my Globulin is low, my Alb/Glob is high, HDL is low, Tri’s are high and apparently I have a hypo active thyroid too. And to top it all off I have a sore throat and my wisdom tooth extractions still ache. I get scripts for antibiotics for the throat and hormones for the thyroid. I go back in a month to check things out. Until then it’s eating lean and hitting the gym a bit more often. I'm too young for a cane!
DIE, FAT, DIE!!!!!!!!!
-DV
DIE, FAT, DIE!!!!!!!!!
-DV
Friday, September 2, 2011
Every point matters & I’m hungry.
Today was my second day of lecture. I have to admit that I’m a bit of a teacher snob. I have a degree in education so I know what I like. Also, I became a little spoiled this summer listening to my favorite YouTube teachers and Podcast teachers talk about things I need to understand. They are great educators. My current theory instructor pretty much just goes over her PowerPoint’s and doesn’t present the information in a logical, systematic way. Teach-Check Comprehension-Re-teach is not part of her style. So once again I’m on my own for really figuring this stuff out. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a nice person and probably a very good nurse, but an educator she is not.
We had another quiz today. I missed one question because I just wasn’t thinking. (Duh!) and another question for sure. I’m fairly positive that I got all the others correct. That means I’ll get another point added to my score at the end of the semester. Each quiz is worth one point and you must answer 70% correct to receive the point. Now, there are a total of 1000 points for the semester so each quiz is (you guessed it) 1/1000 of my total grade. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but my experience has shown that it is possible to increase your letter grade by only one or two points. Conclusion….study hard for each quiz!
In one hour from now I go to get my wisdom teeth removed. Yea! (can you sense my sarcasm?) I haven’t had anything to eat since dinner last night and I’m starting to get hungry for lunch. Looks like my next meal will consist of water, broth and pudding. Actually my next few meals will consist of that. It’s going to be a rough Labor Day weekend. I’m going to be irritable.
-DV
BTW here are links to some of my favorite online professors. They’re awesome!!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/DoctorNajeeb
http://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching
also, check out Dr. Gerald Cizadlo’s lectures on iTunes They’re free and totally awesome too!
We had another quiz today. I missed one question because I just wasn’t thinking. (Duh!) and another question for sure. I’m fairly positive that I got all the others correct. That means I’ll get another point added to my score at the end of the semester. Each quiz is worth one point and you must answer 70% correct to receive the point. Now, there are a total of 1000 points for the semester so each quiz is (you guessed it) 1/1000 of my total grade. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but my experience has shown that it is possible to increase your letter grade by only one or two points. Conclusion….study hard for each quiz!
In one hour from now I go to get my wisdom teeth removed. Yea! (can you sense my sarcasm?) I haven’t had anything to eat since dinner last night and I’m starting to get hungry for lunch. Looks like my next meal will consist of water, broth and pudding. Actually my next few meals will consist of that. It’s going to be a rough Labor Day weekend. I’m going to be irritable.
-DV
BTW here are links to some of my favorite online professors. They’re awesome!!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/DoctorNajeeb
http://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching
also, check out Dr. Gerald Cizadlo’s lectures on iTunes They’re free and totally awesome too!
Theory Day 1
Rocked the quiz over rhythm strips including times for each wave and interval.
I am also TB free. Thanks for caring!
-DV
I am also TB free. Thanks for caring!
-DV
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The beginning of the end
Alas, here I am in the first week of my last semester. WOOT! I took the summer off just to recharge and spend some much needed time with my family. I applied for several PT/PRN tech jobs but only got one interview. I didn’t get the job, however. At this point I’m happy for that outcome. While I would have liked getting some experience dealing with patients and staff, I am glad to be able to concentrate on my studies over the next few weeks. I did spend a little time this summer reviewing and going over anticipated material for this semester, but not as much as I had hoped. I suppose that’s how it goes; you start out with the best of intentions…
As for today… I believe I got a little too comfortable with my summer schedule and was not looking forward to starting classes this semester. THEN, I went to my first clinical on Tuesday. I am so pumped about being at the “county hospital” that I can’t even begin to tell you. My clinical instructor is going to be awesome. She has a great sense of humor and at the same time will be willing to push me to learn everything I need to learn before I graduate. (Which is December 15th BTW!!!!! Super WOOT!) You can tell that she is really passionate about critical care and making sure that we learn something this semester.
In just a few hours, I’ll be attending my first lecture for the semester. Cardiac! I am looking forward to this unit. I hope I remember something from Adult I last fall. We’re supposed to have quizzes every day so I’ve bee brushing up.
Hopefully I’ll get black to blogging a little more now. It seems like yesterday that I started this blog and now I’ve got just a few weeks left.
-DV
As for today… I believe I got a little too comfortable with my summer schedule and was not looking forward to starting classes this semester. THEN, I went to my first clinical on Tuesday. I am so pumped about being at the “county hospital” that I can’t even begin to tell you. My clinical instructor is going to be awesome. She has a great sense of humor and at the same time will be willing to push me to learn everything I need to learn before I graduate. (Which is December 15th BTW!!!!! Super WOOT!) You can tell that she is really passionate about critical care and making sure that we learn something this semester.
In just a few hours, I’ll be attending my first lecture for the semester. Cardiac! I am looking forward to this unit. I hope I remember something from Adult I last fall. We’re supposed to have quizzes every day so I’ve bee brushing up.
Hopefully I’ll get black to blogging a little more now. It seems like yesterday that I started this blog and now I’ve got just a few weeks left.
-DV
Thursday, August 25, 2011
TB, or not TB, that is the question...
Damn... I just realized that my TB test is out of date and Tuesday is my first clinical day. Today is Thursday, hence, I can't get the test until Monday 'cause they have to see the result in three days. Maybe I'll slide by, seeing as how I won't be having any direct patient contact.
Fracking rules!
-DV
Fracking rules!
-DV
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Where do babies come from?
I can officially answer that question now that I have completed my “Mother-Baby” rotation. I am very glad to have learned about women’s issues, but I have to say that I am very glad to be done with this rotation. My biggest complaint…the nurses that I had to shadow. With only a couple of exceptions the nurses did not provide a very good learning environment. I recall my day in the nursery when I was supposed to follow the “baby catcher”; she wanted nothing to do with me. I tried to ask pertinent questions, be helpful, all the things a good student nurse should do, but got nothing from her except sighs and short answers. Most of the L&D nurses would ask their patient if it would be alright for a male student nurse to come in and observe. You can only guess what most of the answers were…”No, I don’t think so”. I understand that when it comes to certain procedures, it would be appropriate for a male student nurse to leave or make himself scarce, but if I’m a nurse with a student following me I state that I will have a student with me today to the patient. My last day of clinical I was paired with a great nurse. She was absolutely great. She told the patient who I was and what I was doing. I learned more with my short time with that nurse than I did the entire semester. I really hope that when I get my license that I’ll be able to help students learn what they need to learn.
All in all, I learned a lot this semester (mostly from the lecture classes), but I am glad to be moving on. I am not taking any classes this summer, so I’ve got three months to lounge around and do nothing…..right? Well, I have started on a couple of projects that I’ll discuss next time.
-DV
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The Wee Sick Ones
I haven’t posted on this blog since before Christmas. Sorry about that. I have just completed my Pedi/Ob semester. While it really wasn’t my cup-o-tea, it could have been much worse. I started out this semester in the local children’s hospital. Having to see so many very sick little kids is really heartbreaking, but that’s not what I was worried about. I was more worried about the dragon-headed, student nurse-eating, what-do-you-think-you-are-doing-with-my-child parents. I know my wife and let me tell you, I don’t ever want to be the nurse in charge of her child when the child is gravely ill. I get the whole interrogation act when my daughter gets the sniffles here at home. However, to my surprise all of the parents that I met were incredibly understanding of my situation. This included the parents who were nurses themselves and the parent of a child who terribly needed a complete intestinal transplant. My clinical instructor for this section was very tough. While I liked her just fine, many of my colleagues did not. I’m pretty sure that my “B” in clinical was one of the higher grades. In my final evaluation, I was told that I did extremely well. Why the heck didn’t I get an A then?….We missed a couple of days due to the mega ice storm of the century, and I was graded as “just short of becoming independent” due to the acts of God I cannot control, which would have given me an A. I suppose I should have prayed harder.
In the next post I’ll fill you in on where babies come from. Trust me, I know!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Spring 2011 Teaser
Doh....did I forget to blog this semester? Damn, it's almost like I didn't want to remember anything about my OB/Pedi semester. Oh, wait. I don't. Well, not exactly. I was pretty busy trying to make the grade, AND I don't really want to remember too much about this semester. I had my last clinical today in OB. One more lecture tomorrow and a final next week.
I'll post more about this semester later. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here.
Time to go pick up the little one from school.
-DV
I'll post more about this semester later. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here.
Time to go pick up the little one from school.
-DV
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