Clinicals Are Over!

This week I finished my first clinical rotation and turned in the last of my paperwork. Yahoo! Now I am studying for the final which is little over a week away.

I loved the second part of clinicals this semester. We were at a local VA rehab facility and I got to see some interesting things and work with some really nice people. Also, I LOVED my clinical instructor. She is a great teacher and no matter what dumb things I did, she was always encouraging, yet correcting me at the same time.

So now I am trying something different while studying for the final, I am actually working in a study group. I have always been against them because I felt that the quality of study wasn't worth it. However, I think with all the time I have available, I am more open to it because I can study with them and then do some on my own. Yesterday was our first session and I think it went well. I also found out a bunch of gossip about things I was completely in the dark on. In fact, one of my classmates said, "Wow, you never seem to be in the middle of this stuff." I told her it's because I completely out of the loop and have no idea of what has been going on.

Oh, funny thing while studying yesterday... the question that was read was about how you insert a tympanic thermometer in an ear correctly. One of the choices was read incorrectly, but nearly had us all on the floor. One of the possible answers was "Move the penis to get into the ear canal." It should have been pinna, but I liked the first choice the best.

Riddle Me This

There is a news story on CNN that has the headline, "Friends, family mourn 'good kid' who died after Taser incident". My question is, if he was such a good kid, why did he put himself into a situation where the police would Taser him? Discuss it amongst yourselves. That is all.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Three clinical days and a final exam are all that stand between me and the end of the semester. I start today studying for the final. There is a huge amount of material to review, so it is going to take me several weeks. I plan on breaking it up with cleaning out the room that will be our guest room. Over break I plan to redecorate it, since I will have the time. I will also be studying for the Nurses Aide I exam.

I've been doing clinical at a local VA rehab facility. I've had two clients who were absolutely delightful. This last week was the first week for giving medication. My client sometimes is reluctant to take his meds, and he tried to get out of them, but in the end I prevailed. Just before we went to lunch I had to give him some Tylenol and he missed his mouth. He performed quite a dance for me trying to find it (it was stuck in his clothes).

Shoot Em Up

Now all that is left for skills check off is the injection. School policy doesn't allow us to stick each other, so we have to do it on a mannequin. I SO don't get the policy. We can't practice on each other, but it was acceptable for our first stick to be an elderly person. You would think that we should have given each other our flu shots.

While on the same subject, I got my flu shot today. The hospital conglomerate associated with my school gave us free flu shots. I was especially thrilled that she didn't activate the needle safety device while still in my arm. If you notice on the picture below, there is a button on the end of the shaft. You have to press it pretty hard to get it to work, plus it can pinch the skin when it retracts. Now, I'm not a fan of getting immunized, but I'm not afraid of it. The nurse today told me about a hospital employee who had to have two colleagues hold her down in order to get her flu shot, the employee was an RN!

Cathy can Cath

Today I had my skills check off for placing urinary catheters. I had to place an indwelling cath into a anatomically correct model. I was thrilled that when I opened my kit it didn't smell like grapefruit. I didn't want to have to explain that to my instructor.

The Home Stretch

We only have 4 weeks left for this semester! We have finished all the lectures and labs so all that is left is clinicals, tests and projects.

I had my midterm clinical evaluation. It went well so now we are on to the next clinical site with a different instructor.

Last week we got to go to a local long term care center (the new politically correct term for nursing home) and give flu shots to the residents. I did fine and no old people were maimed. I did feel like an idiot when my instructor pointed out that I couldn't understand my client not because of her stroke, but because she was speaking Spanish. So I said "Hola, como esta?" and wanted to say more, but realized the only other thing I knew to say was to order a margarita.