I confess...

Ok, I admit it: I love going back to school.
I guess you could call me a geek. But that's okay. I pretend that I don't like it sometimes. Like on my facebook page, where my most recent status update is somewhere along the lines of "school starts tomorrow, so depressing". I love buying new school supplies. There is nothing like seeing sharpened pencils and perfectly white and square erasers in my pencilcase. I love binders filled with lots of fresh, blank loose leaf. I think that September is definitely my favourite time of month. It's like a blank slate, where you can't start new again (I feel this more so in September than January). And my second big confession: I don't really find nursing school that stressful. I know most people wouldn't agree, but I actually don't mind sitting in the sofa for a whole afternoon in our library reading over my notes.
This is my last year of school. Which means that this is my last year for school supplies, blank slates, and studying. I think I am definitely going to miss it. Which leads me to believe that I'll probably do some post-graduate program. I am really interested in the nurse practitioner program, and would love to specialize in medical-surgical nursing. However, I am not naive enough to believe that once I recieve my nursing degree I will know everything, so I am going to try to get atleast five or so years of experience first. And then I'll be back to the books.

I love nursing shows!

Have any of you guys seen the preview for the new NBC show Mercy? I'm really excited about watching it! I don't care if nursing dramas don't necessarily accurately reflect the nursing profession, but no more than House is a realistic portrayl of medicine. I'm sick of shows like House or Grey's Anatomy pretending that nurses don't exist in hospitals. I've watched lots physician characters give out medications on several episodes (since when do doctors actually do that?). And I love the actresses in Mercy, they are actually young, not like Nurse Jackie whose main actress is in her 40's or 50's. Plus, according to Michelle Trachtenberg, who plays one of the main characters, the show isn't supposed to be gimmicky which is cool.

You can watch the promo video at: http://www.nbc.com/mercy/video/clips/featurette/1094574/

Less than a week until school starts.

Scarryy! I miss my summer!

Real vs. Fantasy Nurse

I think there is a point in every nursing student or perhaps graduate nurse's career where one comes to the realization that nursing is not what they thought it was going to be. This realization is not much different from the fantasy-turned-reality awakenings that occur in other stages of life: that getting your drivers liscence does not necessarily equal unlimited freedom, or that first love does always not mean happily-ever-after.

Like with most careers, I doubt many people who decide they want to be nurses have ever had a proper introduction to what nursing entails. My idea of nursing was more fantasy than reality based. I read Atonement by Ian McEwan, and swooned over Briony taking care of injured soldiers. And I read lots of Cherry Ames books, and even Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul. I fantasized about myself selfishly slaving by the bedside, selfishly assisting sick and needy patients in their recovery. And usually (I am ashamed to admit) my fantasies included wearing a starched white uniform and a white nursing cap, like the pictures I had seen of my mother when she was in nursing school.

I guess my real reality awakening occured my first year of nursing school, when all the nurses that knew my mother discouraged me into being a nurse. And my second probably came during my preceptorship, when I worked for eight weeks on a surgical floor. A lot of the nurses seemed tired and jaded and that was a little dissapointing.

I hope that I can always find new ways to be excited and reinterested in my career. I know there is lots of nurses who still love their work, and can't wait to be back to the bedside. I would like to know their secret.

Anyways,

school is soon...the summer is over, and I can't wait until fourth year!! I am almost finished! Nursing school went by so fast, like a blur. Scary stuff.

Change

My boyfriend is going away to Osgoode Law School in Toronto in ten days. His degree will take three years to finish. In February, I have to do a ten week independent clinical, and since I can do it anywhere nationally or internationally I would like to go to Toronto and stay with my boyfriend.

I am from Newfoundland, which is a large island approximately 2129 kilometres, or 1323 miles away from Toronto. For any readers who have never heard of Newfoundland, it is Canada's most easterly and newest province. We are known for our whales, icebergs, unique irish/english dialect, and friendliness. Although St. John's is technically a city, there are no sky-scraper buildings or big, noisy crowds. There is no smog, and you can see a sky full of stars on a clear night. Like most small towns, everyone pretty much knows everyone else.

Newfoundland is completely different from Toronto, which is Canada's most populated city. It is busy, crowded, and full of smog. However, it is one of the safest cities in North America, and has lots of different festivals and entrainment venues.

I think nursing is going to be completely different in a big, urban city. When I visited Toronto, the people there seemed rushed, cold, and unfriendly. Here in Newfoundland, patients often treat you like you are family. It's easy to find some common ground ("You're from Corner Brook? Do you know Anne Smith from out that way?"). On the plus side, I know I am going to get tons of experience. And I know it's time to learn how to be independent (I am twenty-two years old, afterall). And I don't know that I can stand being apart from my boyfriend for three years.

Nurses are NOT angels

So I go back to school in a couple of weeks. I am actually kind of excited, tired of working all the nursing home shifts. After graduating, most people are happy to never have to study ever again. I think that I am definitely going to miss it. This semester looks pretty good so far; I have no classes on Friday! Which means a long weekend, every week.

Anyways, I was reading an interesting article written by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario that was published in the Registered Nurse Journal. The author discussed how we should put an end to nurses being labeled angels. Being called an angel sounds like a compliment. But I am not a good nurse because I have angelic virtue, I am a good nurse because I studied hard in nursing school and because I care about my work. Similarily, I did not choose nursing because I had a higher calling to do so, I chose nursing because I love working with and helping other people. Does the steretype of an angelic nurse encourage males to enter the nursing profession? Probably not.

Night Shift = Carcinogen?

I work as a Personal Care Attendant at a nursing home when I am not in clinical during the summers. Mostly, my work consists of feeding, bathing, and changing the nursing home residents. There are lots of advantages about my work. I now have lots of experience with patients with mobility difficulties. I am not overly grossed out by vast quantities of poop. I have a new respect for Liscened Practical Nurses. My job pays twice minimum wage, and is unionized so there are lots of benefits. The downsides? Lots and lots of poop. It's a really physical job. And I am casual, so I feel like I am attached to the phone at all times. I've learned that nursing home nursing isn't probably for me.
Yesterday, I read that the WHO listed overnight shift work as a possible carcinogen. Apparently this was announced in 2007. How depressing! Now not only do I have to deal with the fact that night shifts make me feel a little nauseous, and exhausted the whole day, but that I may possibly develop cancer from working them. Apparently, there is an association between light at night and breast cancer. Apparently, animals who have their light-dark schedules reversed develop tumors and die earlier.
Lovely.

Preceptorship so far.

So I am halfway done preceptorship. Too busy to write much. Here's what I learned so far:
1) Catheterizing male patients is easy. I'm sure it is much harder to do with a female.
2) Always bring in a blue pad when you are emptying an ostomy bag. Spilling the contents of an ostomy bag is not so much fun, for the patient or for yourself.
3) It's probably not best to attempt inserting an IV for the first time on an old men who has very tricky veins. Especially if his assigned nurse couldn't get it the first two times.
4) Post-mortem care is definitely hard to get used to. I didn't know toe-tags existed in real life.
5) Vac dressings aren't complicated, just time-consuming. Prepare to give up an hour of your shift when changing one.
6) When patient's get upset, don't take it personally. Chances are, they're just having a hard time at a hospital and taking out on the safest person around (their nurse).
7) Never say no to a coffee run during a shift. Coffee is always necessary.
8) Doctors aren't always reliable, and don't necessarily know everything. If a patient rips his chest tube out and is at risk for respiratory distress or a pulmonary embolism or stroke or worse, the doctor on call should get out of his bed and come to the hospital to assess him. Always advocate for patients to get the care they deserve.