Week Five

This week it was kind of strange not having clinicals.  I felt like the week was too short.  Since we didn't have clinicals Thursday or Friday, I spent some time studying and I managed to get a little ahead with some of the reading and started outlining some of the chapters.  I feel like right now things aren't too difficult but it scares me to think how hard it is going to get.  I'm already anxious about our final, and its still a few weeks away.  I'm hoping that I'll be better prepared for it than I was for the midterm.

Another Week

Another week has flown by!  Between studying for our midterm and our second day of clinicals, I feel like there was so much going on!  After learning about wound treatment this week, I actually got to practice dressing a real wound!  My cousin was bitten by a spider on his leg and it became infected with staph.  He had to have minor surgery and they removed about an inch out of his upper thigh and left the wound open to drain.  The day we learned about these types of wounds was the day after his surgery and I went and to clean it and redressed it for him.  It was definitely quite different working on a real person instead of a model.  He laughed at me when I pulled out my sterile gloves and put them on, but  I made sure to follow all the steps we had learned that day and it was definitely great practice!  He was completely grossed out by the drainage and the way the wound looked and couldn't believe that I was sitting there pulling all the gauze out and telling him that it was sanguineous and trying to practice everything I've learned.  I thought it would be gross to see an open wound like that but it really didn't gross me out because I was so busy trying to make sure I did everything the right way.  Overall, last week was a good week, the midterm wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I'm happy with my score, clinicals went well, besides me going to the wrong place at first, and now I'm ending the week writing my blog and then finishing my paper.  Hopefully this next week will be another good week and fly by!! 

Clinicals

I can't believe another week is already over!  It seems as if we just started!  I enjoyed our first day of clinicals so much.  I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be when we arrived but when I walked into the room and introduced myself I did get a little flutter of nervousness.  Spending the day with my patient and hearing about her life experiences gave me a different outlook on geriatrics.  I love the elderly but have never felt like that is the field I would want to work in, I'm much better with children, but I really did enjoy my day at the facility.  It was a long fulfilling day and definitely reinforced to me that I love what I'm going to be doing with my life.  I can't wait for our next day of clinicals!  I'm ready to see what else is in store!

My Nursing Philosophy

For years my mom always told me that nursing was such a great career and that she thought I would make a wonderful nurse.  I was never interested, I had a huge fear of needles and a weak stomach!  I bounced around from different schools and majors for a few years and then I took some time off from school and traveled for a while.  I traveled to South Africa to visit my cousin for a few weeks and fell in love with the people in the Zulu village outside of the town I was staying.  We ended up changing our plane tickets, dropping out of school and with the help of some friends we made starting a volunteer program working with AIDS orphans in the village.  We stayed 7 months and when I came home, all I wanted to do was to go back!  I decided that the best way for me to be able to help would be to become a nurse. 

I think that I want to be a Pediatric Oncology nurse.  I've always love children and after dealing with children facing AIDS and other fatal illnesses I feel like that is the area I want to specialize in.  I think that as a nurse you have treat each patient with the care that you would want one of your family members to be treated.  In the past year, my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital and is now in a nursing home.  Watching some of the nurses, I was shocked at the way they treated my grandmother and then at other times a certain nurse would come in and treat her wonderfully.  After going through that for the past year, it made me come to realize that every nurse should treat an elderly patient as if they were their own grandmother or grandfather or their mother or father.  Each patient is special to someone and deserves to be treated that way.  

I believe that one of the most important things for a nurse to be is passionate about helping others.  It baffles me when I hear people say that they are choosing a career in nursing because of the money and the nursing shortage!  If I'm ever sick or a loved one of mine is sick, I want a nurse who is there because she cares....not for the paycheck at the end of the day.  I would define a nurse as someone who is passionate about helping others, who is caring and empathetic to the needs of others.