…what you can do today!  Like writing a book.  Researching the writing of said book.  Learning Spanish and Japanese.  Cooking elaborate, healthy meals for my family.  Reading all kinds of books.  Playing on Facebook.  Wow, I’m just a master of productivity.

Can you tell that finals start in less than two weeks?  I’ve got this ferverent need to do something other than study.  And trust me, I need to study.  But I am happy that this semester is almost over.

~Flo

…stories from my clinical experience.

A resident is standing at the nurses station, where there are charts strewn all about (because the residents never put them back) and asks me how he could find a chart.  I look up from the MAR I’m checking and do my best quizzical dog impression, huh?  He says “Where would I look for a chart?

Are you fucking kidding me?  I would bet that most people would be clued in by the three charts at their elbow, or the others all over the nursing station.  This guy was stumped because the charts weren’t in the rack.  I explained that we like them to be in the rack, but that if he looked around he should be able to find the chart.  My MAR checked, I went off to medicate my patient.

When I return to chart I notice that this guy is still sitting there clueless.  I ask him if he was able to find the chart, he says no.   I ask him what room he says 30 bed 1, so I go looking, then he says no, I’m sorry 31 bed 1.  It takes me all of about 5 seconds to find the chart.  When he starts to look at it he says that it is the wrong patient.  And looks at me accusingly and says “I said 33 bed 1″.

Um, excuse me?  #1 I’m helping you since you can’t seem to find your ass with both hands and a flashlight, and #2 that isn’t what you said.  So then my collegue pipes up, here’s the chart right here.  The exasperated resident says “I’ve been looking for that for 10 minutes”.

Afterward, another resident confirms that he did not give me the correct room.  And my collegue says that he couldn’t have been looking for the chart for 10 minutes because they had just been in the room together.  Hmmf!

And the second one…

I have a pt with diarrhea so bad that they have a rectal pouch.  And yet I return to the nursing station to see new orders for colace.  From the residents of course, who haven’t even seen the patient.  WTF?

~Flo

I can’t believe that I’m already halfway through this semester and I only have one left. I picked up my graduation packet this week too. It’s like suddenly I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m pretty sure it’s not a train.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had any time to write. I’ve barely had time to sleep, and I know that next semester it is only gonna get worse.

I do have something that is on my mind…why don’t doctors tell patients that they have cancer if they have a definitive diagnosis?

Yes, I’m taking this little gem from a clinical experience wherein a patient believed that they had pneumonia but really they had lung cancer. I couldn’t help but wonder why it was that the Dr’s hadn’t told the patient yet. I’m hoping they were waiting for further confirmation or something, but I can’t help but think that it was because they each thought another dr would do it.

Anyway, I promise myself that I will write more soon.

~Flo

The class I’m talking about is Research.  Yup, a whole class dedicated to looking up, reading and interpreting interventional articles.  We had our first test today and I don’t think I did too bad, all things considered.

But this class is one of the main distinctions between a BSN program and an ADN program.  Learning about research, learning about community health, learning about management, these are all things that we have in our program that the ADN doesn’t.  These items don’t actually make us better RN’s, but they do set us up to move on to our MSN or DNP or PhD more quickly.

You see in today’s world that is the way things are going.  Soon, although I’m not sure how soon, the entry level for an RN will be a BSN.  And if you want to become a nurse practitioner you will need to have your DNP and if you want to teach you will need to have a PhD in nursing education.

I’m not here to debate the trend, but I must say that for the most part I agree with the way things are going.  RN’s do a lot of work and are an integral part of healthcare.  We should be recongized and celebrated, and not demeaned by someone saying we “just” have an ADN or whatnot.  It is also really neat to see the progression of DNP where it will stand next to MD and DO.  Just think of the possiblities!

I love education.  As much as I might complain, I really enjoy learning new things.  And knowing that when I get my BSN and my RN I can continue and get an MSN and a DNP and so on is very exciting for me.

~Flo

I’m staring another new semester.  I’m excited and apprehensive all at once.  This is the time where I may start to fall off the wagon and start letting things slide, or I may buck up and do what needs to get done.

The biggest issue is that this program doesn’t have any breaks really and burnout looms in my mind.  On the other hand, I’m halfway through and the end is very near.  In fact, I need to go pick up my graduation packet.

We keep losing people in the program, last semester we lost 15 people total, 3 of those out of the program entirely.  I just keep keeping on and hoping I can put it all together.  But the truth is that we are 3 weeks into the semester and I have yet to open a book.  I guess I need to get cracking!

~Flo

Am I dating myself by saying that?  Come on, who doesn’t love the A-team?  Anyway, I’m feeling like things are starting to come together in my life.  We are lucky enough to be getting a nice tax return (thanks, kids!)  and I just got approved for summer financial aid (yay!) and I’m almost done with my second semester and am about to hit the homestretch into December and graduation.

Let me just say a quick word about graduation: My parents have been waiting sooooo long for me to graduate from college.  I hope I don’t have to wait as long for my own kids to graduate.  And I’m happy for myself and proud of myself, but I’m also happy for them to finally see this dream to fruition.  Oh, and my poor husband who has been such a darling waiting on me to figure out what I want to be when Igrow up as he supported our family.

I’ll be back with all kinds of good stuff after next week.

~Flo

…and I feel fine!

Yay, that’s right folks, just one more week and then it’s time for finals.  Once that happens I’ll be doing a little revamping and should be back to posting a bit more.  We’ve had quite a few crazy things go on recently, not the least of which was my mother in law breaking her neck.  It sounds worse than it was, she fell and fractured three vertebrae, but her spinal cord wasn’t compromised and she is up and walking around in a neck brace.

~Flo

Yup, it’s that time of year again, when I get to be crazy and topless at bars in Mexico…wait, that’s not me!  I have kids and a husband and no extra time or money to go to Mexico.  Instead I’m thinking up creative ways to still study while not have the kids go stir crazy in the house.  We will be travelling to visit family for Easter, but they aren’t that far away.

On a happy note, I have some things in the works for this blog coming up.  I’m thinking about having Medicine Mondays or something like that where I get to share everything I know (which is by no means definitive) on different drugs.  I’m hoping this will help me as well.  And maybe Wacky Wednesdays where I share the strangest thing that has happened to me that week.  I dunno, I’m still working on it.

~Flo

I feel a strong need to whine coming on.  I’m just so tired.  I’m almost falling down with it, falling asleep in class with it.  There is always some reason that I don’t get to bed at a decent hour.  Recently it has been my bittiest  teething, and therefore fussing all night.  Plus, I have to do all this studying so that I pass my classes and such.

But then tonight, I really got to enjoy being a mom because the bittiest vomited all over me.  Not once, not twice, but three times.  The joy of this is that she doesn’t really give any warning.  With my oldest his lips always turn pale white before he deposits the contents of his stomach all over me, but with the bitty, no such luck. 

I’m still undecided on whether she should go to preschool tomorrow or not.  She has no other signs or symptoms and is currently sleeping peacefully.  I have some stuff that needs to get turned in and then I have to go to the hospital to pick up my clinical assignment, for my loverly clinicals tomorrow, yay!  And that won’t go over well if I take the bitty with me.  I guess I’ll just play it by ear.

~Flo

What on God’s green earth was this lady thinking?  Um, I already have six children but that isn’t enough for me, I need to use fertility treatments to have more, and then I think I’ll jeapordize my health and their health and the sanity of all around me and when it is found that there are 8 babies I will not reduce them.  That sounds like a dandy fine plan to me.  Have fun with your 14 kids lady.

Oh yeah, poop on the head of the Dr. who was treating her too, that Dr. should’ve known better!

~Flo