Thursday, February 06, 2014

Thursday again, already???

As of end of class yesterday, the semester is 1/4 completed.

This is an endurance test. Who persists, wins. 

Tuesday at clinical I wore a pedometer and I walked nearly 4 miles.  I realize walking 4 or 5 miles in a day is not extraordinary, but it is great to walk around that much at work. I've been in sedentary jobs for far too long, and I feel so restless when I have to sit in a chair for long bouts of time. Generally, I can calm that restlessness with donuts and other fried foods, but it's a bad combination, bad diet + sedentary =  *_*
So, yeah.  The extra walking is great. Feels good and useful to be so active.

My first two tests were not stellar, but I made solid, passing grades, so I'm content and resolved to do better.  I didn't feel as prepared as I would like (I rarely do), and I want to find a way to turn that dynamic around. I should be more solid with the material, so that's going to be my angle. I detest the feeling that I'm likely to fail - shouldn't a person feel more confident of what they are putting on their answer sheet? Surely this is not the norm?  I don't believe you can be a good nurse and only suspect you got the answer right.  Oh, wait! Maybe that's why nursing school is so damned difficult!

It's bloody cold here- 10 degrees.  I'm going to do something silly today, if the roads are passable and I can get out.  Was going to sleep late but woke before 8 anyway.  I'll start off today by commencing on my clinical assignments due over the next two Tuesdays. Monday night I started on Tuesday's assignments at about 7pm and I was up until 1AM with those(and had to be at clinical by 6:45). Ugh.  The upside to that is my professor said my Nursing Diagnosis of a virtual patient was excellent, where I only heard her say "very good" to one other on the same subject, so that was a good pat on the back.  Still, I don't want any more late nights. I have enough trouble getting to sleep and sleeping through the night.

The dispatching job seems to be going well and then at turns it seems overwhelming.  The person training me seems impatient, which adds to the sense of pressure.  I do know the call/activity volume has been extraordinary on 2 of the last 3 shifts I've worked, and I'm hopeful that I can get some experience when it's not a constant barrage. I realize that the activity is sporadic, and that ultimately, this think-on-your-feet experience will inform every other job I ever had. The learning curve is pretty brutal, though.

One way or another, I'll get by.  The important point is that one quarter of the semester is complete. If I can just keep running long enough to make it to that next telephone pole...

3 comments:

Knucklehead said...

Good luck to you and keep plugging away at it. We need more like you.

Just some fatherly advice... those 4 or 5 miles of walking, and all the other physical activity of being a floor nurse, seem like exercise now. But I've watched what a couple decades of working the floor does to people's backs and knees and feet. Working the floor slowly but surely eats up many, if not most, nurses.

As time goes by enhance your education and find your way into admin, or testing or, better yet, nursing education. Your back and knees will thank you.

Jennifer said...

The think-on-your-feet experience will be another tool in your toolbox as you begin your nursing career. It's a good skill to practice.

phlegmfatale said...

thanks, Knucklehead. I actually am most keenly interested in wound care as a specialization, so I'd be getting off into that branch as quickly as I might be trained and certified to do so. My understanding, too, is that they are not under the same physical process of a floor nurse. This interest is convenient, considering my relatively advanced age for beginning. Thanks for the words of wisdom!

Jennifer- thanks for the good reminder - good to try to use every opportunity to learn from experience to enhance future outcomes!