7 weeks in review

Oh, hello, again. Remember me? I've come to terms with the fact that blogging while in class just really does not work. There is minimal downtime, and the downtime I do have, I usually want nothing to do with my computer. I am currently off until January 10, so I do hope to blog more during the next 3 weeks, but after that, I'll be MIA for another 7 weeks.

Let's catch y'all up to speed, shall we?

This past term I was in Pharmacology, Maternal-Newborn (aka, OB), and Nursing Care of Children (aka, Peds). It was, hands down, the hardest term thus far. I don't know if the content was harder or if there was just a lot more work, but it was intense (and unfortunately seemed to move at a snails pace). I have no completed 3/8 terms and have only 7 months left until graduation! SO CRAZY!

I did really well this term, but there were a lot of frustrations. Unfortunately, I'm 95% sure someone from the school I go to has discovered my blog and I don't want to deal with the repercussions of venting my frustrations at this point, so I'm just going to give an overview of the courses and save my true opinion for August.

Pharmacology-- finished the course with an A- (93%). We took 6 exams in 7 weeks. Do you know how insane that is, especially when you're learning the in's and out's of a wide variety of drugs? It was a doozy. Fortunately, we were allowed to have a "cheat sheet" for each exam. Unfortunately, I spent 7 hours on each sheet, only to look at them 3 or 4 times while taking the exam. It totally sucked, but I still did really well on every exam, so obviously I didn't need the cheat sheets after all. The final for this class was easily the hardest exam I have ever taken in all my years of schooling. I only needed to answer 30 questions correctly to pass the course, but I had my doubts after I walked out of there. I pulled an 88 on the final, which I was thrilled with.

Maternal/Newborn-- finished the course with an A- also (93%). Hated the class, enjoyed the material, usually enjoyed clinical. In clinical, I performed postpartum assessments, newborn assessment, vitals, etc. I loved the time I spent in the newborn nursery and working with the most incredible doctor I have ever met. If anyone is in the Ft. Wayne area, Mark Adams, pediatrician, is so awesome. He was such a great educator for us student nurses and I learned more from him in 20 minutes than I did in class 8 hours a week. I also got to stand in on a c-section, which was the coolest experience ever. I was at the foot of the bed with a great view of everything. My instructor was worried I would get queasy because apparently the girls usually don't handle it too well, but I just kept saying, "THAT'S SO AWESOME!" (like when they pulled the uterus out and plop it on the woman's stomach and massage it to prevent hemorrhaging. Amazing.) I never thought I could be an OR nurse, but it may not be so bad after all.

Nursing Care of Children-- Not much to say about the class, finished with a B+ (90%). Clinical made me realize pediatric care is the area for me. I always said peds or nicu was where I would like to work, but peds won be over. Don't get me wrong, I love the babies and would be perfectly fine working in NICU, but I love the interaction I get to have with kids. I think my love for kids and ability to relate was obvious to everyone who observed me, and made the kids more at ease with me. Over Thanksgiving break, I shadowed a nurse at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital in Indy for an entire 12 hour nigh shift and was exposed to pediatric oncology. I strongly feel pediatric oncology is my calling and am really curious to see if that is where I end up (I'll talk about that at a later point).

Overall, it was a good term and my cumulative GPA is now a 3.6. I'm OK with that; I'd rather it be higher, but it's certainly not something to piss and moan over.

Next term I will be in nutrition, adult health II, and research. I have no clue where I will be doing clinicals or what unit I will be on, but I'm just hoping I get to do more than check vitals all day haha.

So that's that. I hope everyone is doing well and having a beautiful holiday season. I'll be back with another post either Friday or next week, and a giveaway. WOOOO!

I wish you a very Merry Christmas filled with laughter and love.