christine

Psychiatric Nursing Interventions and Battle Drills

2010-03-15T01:59:00Z

Hello Blogging World,

My hiatus has not been intentional, more like a direct result of being completely swamped.

I finished my Psychiatric Nursing Clinical on Thursday; and really had a wonderful time getting to know patients and working in an atmosphere that I had previously had such little exposure to. I found out quickly that life on the Psych Ward is nothing like what you see on TV or in the movies. My favorite day involved Exercise Therapy (Dancing around to Michael Jackson Music) and painting fingernails. I LOVE Fabulous Nursing Interventions. I really enjoy working with the geriatric population! I just love people.. I really don't know how I will ever narrow down what I am going to actually DO when I am done with school.. Prior to my time here at Hopkins I've worked for Hospice, and I really enjoy working in a bereavement / palliative care setting. I am sure the Army will help me find my "calling"...

Some days it is really bizarre to leave clinical, thinking about a patients vital signs and assessments and charts and drugs to thinking about EPW searches and 9 Line MEDEVACs and Infantry Battle Drills; But I would never be able to be where I am without the Military. I am grateful for the opportunities it has provided me. Tuesday I got to run a Squad Attack! for those of you who don't know what that means, I was in charge of a Situational Training Exercise involving attacking a hypothetical enemy cachet site! It was really fun, as my mind was still reeling with Pathophysiology and Pharmacology notes that I had been looking over prior to "knocking out the objective". :) So I kept thinking about Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and MAOI's and Metabolic Acidosis while I was calling up my Ammo, Casualties and Equipment Reports.

I am on Spring Break at the moment, and when I head back to Baltimore I will start my Labor and Delivery Rotation... I am excited for the babies! But who isn't?

Off to catch up on some serious Hulu, do push-ups, and read the new issue of Vogue!

Au Revoir!

P.S. Totally forgot to mention that I survived the Baltimore death Blizzard of 2010! I spent that entire week that we had off of school engaging in some pretty serious retail therapy.. Online Shopping is AMAZING!

Home for the Holidays

2010-01-19T23:08:00Z

Finals week was a difficult mix of exhaustion, illness, studying constantly, Sign Offs, an Army Physical Fitness Test and 6 Exams. I literally finished running my 2 miles for the PT Test, went home and threw all of my crap in my glorious Diane Von Furstenberg Luggage and sprinted off to the bus, which took me to Penn Station to catch a light rail, which took me to the Baltimore Washington International Airport, which I proceeded to sprint the length of in order to catch my flight! I can’t imagine many people sprint across the Airport with an Army Combat Uniform Backpack, Fabulous Luggage and a Coach purse, but I somehow managed to pull it off. I was a woman on a mission; literally the last human allowed on the flight..

What a perfect Mental Health Break this has been, the most glorious time out of all time from all things military and nursing related. I love what I do, but I have never truly appreciated not getting up at 5am and not doing pushups and not studying quite this much.. I have watched so much football my eyes may roll back in my head from the sheer awesomeness—Ohio State owned the Rose Bowl; I have died and gone to heaven.

That being said it must be stated: I made it. I am 25% Nurse. I have 3 semesters and 16 months to go !

In some ways it does not seem possible. This time last year I was putting together my gorgeous glittery portfolio of student work and sending it off to Johns Hopkins, praying to the Nursing Gods that they would take kindly to my bright pink binder full of every academic work worthy of gracing the pages that would seal my fate. The three months that inched by waiting to hear from the admissions committee felt like 14 years. In the months that followed I ate my happiness in such a celebratory reflection of my feelings! No amount of Alfredo, Macaroni or Chocolate could have prepared me for the PT butt-kicking I was in for. Next time I will run my feelings ! .

My upcoming semester includes: Psych, OB, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Politics in Nursing and of Course Battle Tactics & Leadership. My own diversity freaks me out sometimes. I need to get my butt in gear for my adventure in the woods this summer (Summer Training). Another upcoming Adventure (pending my survival) is the Nurse Summer Training Program; The Army basically sends me somewhere cool/fun i.e. Germany or Hawaii and I get to be a Nursing Student!

Off to pack! staying in MI for a few days until its time to say hello to Baltimore!

Singin' in the Rain

2009-12-02T23:20:00Z

Hello All, I have lived through a very stressful three days of Nursing/Army Life.

I feel kind of like a Rockstar, because I passed my Health Assessment Sign Offs, aced my two quizzes and dominated my Tube Feeding, IV Push, Wound Care Sign off today. My Military Science Final is tomorrow Battle Drills for the Infantry Platoon and Squad are what I will be studying tonight :).

The city is Rainy today as usual, I oftentimes feel like Forrest Gump "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath." I will admit, all though it is raining that just gives people an excuse to wear fabulous rain boots and carry around cute Coach umbrellas, and who doesn't love that?

This may make me a loser, but I love seeing all of the fashion in the city, yes I am predominantly surrounded by poor college students, but if you know where to look in Baltimore, you can observe some pretty epic couture.

Several weeks ago I bonded with one of my patients over her amazing pink shoes. :) This was a woman who had completely lost her ability to walk, and still managed to crack jokes and talk about football with me. Coming to this school and working with these amazing patients has only reaffirmed that I made the right decision in coming to Nursing School. I love people. I love talking to them, helping them, laughing with them, or even just pushing them to Physical Therapy in their wheelchair. After two full years of nothing but prerequisite course work, it has been so nice to finally get to work with patients.

Adventures in Blogging

2009-11-22T19:33:00Z

I suppose I should begin this blogging adventure with a little bit of an introduction.

I'm Christine, I hail from The great state of Ohio. I did the first two years of my Undergraduate Degree in Ypsilanti, Michigan at Eastern Michigan University, and have packed up and moved my life 500 miles away to Baltimore to finish my degree at Johns Hopkins. Currently I am a Cadet in Army ROTC here at Hopkins, in 18 months I will be an Active Duty Officer in the Army Nurse Corps. I am almost done with my first semester here at Hopkins, and have really enjoyed my time at the School of Nursing so far. When I am not training with my Battalion, or taking care of people, or studying, I am watching college football and reading Vogue :). I am excited to share my experiences here!

I have met some wonderful patients and really enjoyed the experiences that I have had working in the Hospital. My final clinical for the semester was Thursday, and I was honestly sad to see it come to an end. I am really anxious to begin working in OB and Psych next semester, and to see what kinds of experiences I can have there. Crazy to think how fast this semester really went, It seems like just yesterday I was trying to ride the shuttle home with my 16 textbooks, wondering if I would be able to make it up the stairs to my Apartment without falling; telling myself that if I can carry an 80 pound rucksack or a 200 pound man, that I could carry my 16 books :P. Every Thursday this semester I would go straight from my clinical at the Hospital to Training. It was a very interesting transition to go from Patient Care to Battle Drills, Taking Patients to Physical Therapy, and then taking myself to Combat Water Survival Test. This past week I had Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) Training, and that was a far cry from the lessons I had in Catheters and Medication Administration and Wound Care all week. Regardless of how busy it has been, I have definitely had a very rewarding experience so far.

I am anxiously preparing to return home for Thanksgiving! Then its back to the grind for Finals!! :) I think this shall suffice as a good Introductory blog, I will write more later this week!

Au Revoir