So I've got only 2 more days of school left. I can't believe how fast this semester has flown by. It seems like it was just last week I was finding out that I got accepted into the program, when in actuality I got the acceptance email in October, (2 days before my birthday!!) and it's been 7 months already. Persistence pays off. This was my 6th attempt at trying to get into this program. I was almost close to not even applying at all, I was getting to discouraged and frustrated.

I still have yet to put up my list of different types of patients I have worked with. Maybe when school lets out on Thursday. Though as soon as we get out, we're all going to La Pinata to celebrate! =D We will all find out our test scores on Thursday, right after we take the test, since it's all computerized and graded right then and there. There are a few students who are really worried, they are on the verge of not making it through this last exam. Thankfully I'm not one of them, I only need a 59% to pass the course, and the APA paper we turned in a couple weeks ago, which is worth 20% of our grade, I got an excellent score on so I'm not worried about that anymore.

Only 2 more days....=)

I had a great clinical week, we're only at the hospital 2 days a week, but a lot can happen in that time. Wednesday afternoon we go to the hospital for a 2-hour data collection, where we are assigned our patient and we collect pertinent data from the patient's chart that we can use to understand the patients condition and research any medical conditions we're not familiar with. We're also learning about and giving medications so we take down a list of medications they're taking and understand what each one is for and why they're taking it. It's a lot of research and paperwork, but we truly do learn a lot.

So I get to the hospital yesterday, Thursday, and my patient is still in the hospital, meaning she hasn't been discharged (yay!) so I don't have to research another patient on short notice. Well, she doesn't require too much care beyond a few medications and maybe some walking as she's able. Usually when we don't have anything else to do we tend to research the patient's chart information on the computerized charting system or we see if a classmate needs assistance with their patient. When you're only assigned one patient for now and you manage your time well, boredom can sometimes set in when you've got nothing left to do for a bit. Sometimes we wander the halls to see if there's any interesting procedures going on in any other rooms. One of my classmates actually told us her patient was going to be getting a cast placed on her arm, so a few of us students slipped in and we got to watch. None of us had ever seen a cast placement, and believe it or not, none of us had broken a bone so we had no personal experience of a cast placement. So that was my Thursday.

Today I had the same patient again, (WooHoo!) So it was smooth sailing again, and my awesome clinical instructor discovered a patient was going to have a wound dressing change and told a few of us students to go watch! If you don't like blood, open wounds, drainage, mangled skin, don't watch. Personally, I thought it was awesome. Me and another student were able to observe, and the way they change the dressing can be very painful to the patient but it needs to be done. It's usually done every 3 days. Some wounds tend to have a lot of drainage, so they attach what's called a Wound-Vac.

There's a photo I found on the web of what one looks like, the black thing is a piece of foam to help absorb drainage that's then sucked up via a suction box through a tube. Wound-Vac's have only been in use for about 5 years now, and studies and practice have shown that wounds heal SO much faster than just simply dressing the wound alone. The first dressing change I observed was on a man's leg, caused by a mo-ped accident which resulted in a broken bone that protruded (stuck out) through the skin, leaving an open wound exposed down to the muscle. The second wound change I watched was on an elderly woman's abdomen, I didn't get to find out the cause of the wound, but it was very large and open down to the bowels, or intestines. I definitely learned a lot from watching it all.

Ok I think that's enough grodi-ness for today, hope ya'll have a great weekend!

So as of now each student is assigned one patient at a time, so if your one patient gets discharged, obviously you get assigned a new patient. Each patient you have requires a lot of paperwork to hand in to our professor each week, so if you end up with several patients who have been discharged, that's a lot of paperwork. Even though each patient requires lots of paperwork, you get used to it and it's not so bad after a while. Next week however, things are going to be a bit tougher because we'll be assigned 2 patients at a time! WooHoo! I'm actually super excited! Even though it will be almost twice the paperwork, (there's a couple forms we only have to fill out for one patient, not both) I'm really looking forward to the challenge! We're doing just about everything with the patient now, we started out with giving bed baths, making beds, performing oral hygiene, wiping butts...you get the picture. But now we're actually giving medications, and charting everything on the patients chart! =D I love being so independent. Of course as students, we're under the watchful eye of our clinical instructor until we become proficient at doing whatever task we're working on.

I'm currently at Kaiser Fremont, which has the brand spankin' new computerized charting system, which has been absolutely amazing. Everything you need to know about your patient is right there, and you click on exactly what you're looking for.

Hopefully soon I'll try to post a list of different patient diagnoses I've dealt with, both so you can see what I'm working on and so I can keep track of what I'm doing. =) Now of course due to HIPAA, I cannot release personal information, so no identifying factors will be linked to each medical diagnosis. All that will be listed will be the reason why the person is in the hospital, such as Total Knee Replacement, or Abdominal Pain. No age, no gender, no names. HIPAA can be a burden sometimes to work around, but it's for patient protection and safety.

Well I'm up late enough as it is, I've got to be at the hospital for clinicals at 7am. At least we get to go home by around 12, our instructor is sick. She came to clinicals today not feeling well, she's been sick since at least monday, but took a couple days off before coming to clinical today. She's been to the doctor and it's just a regular virus, non-communicable and not swine related, but she needs rest. So as of now we have clinical tomorrow but I'm kinda excited there's a possiblity that clinical could get cancelled tomorrow if she hasn't improved enough. We shall see.

*Yawn*....Good Night!

So I thought I'd go ahead and try to start blogging on a regular basis regarding my progress throughout the nursing program. I created this blog a little while ago, but figured I should use it and try to keep it updated.

So for those of you who may not know, and sort of an introductory post, I'm a first semester nursing student at Ohlone College, after applying to multiple programs for 3 years, twice a year. I'll be the first one to tell you that persistence and a lot of prayer pays off.

So as of now, we only have 3 1/2 weeks left of the semester, but in that time we have a lot going on. We've got 2 major exams, a research paper, a teaching plan for a patient to create, and lots of reading as well as patient care. Most nursing programs, SJSU for example, don't let students start doing clinical work with direct patient care until at least a year or more once they've started the program...Ohlone starts us in the hospitals our 5th week of school.

It's been quite an experience so far, I've had some great patients and some not-so-great patients, but they can really teach you a lot. And a lot of what you learn from them, you can't always find in textbooks. It's easy to take your life and health for granted as you live day to day, but when you're looking at a patient whose life is in your hands and they're struggling just to live each day as it comes, it gives you a different perspective on life. Take each day as it comes, and live it to your fullest. Never take it for granted. God is in control, always.