Monday, January 7, 2008 – 3:08 PM and 68° F:
68° F on January the 7th in Baltimore, MD. Who is it that sang that song about Monday’s and how you can’t trust that day? “Bah-da bah-da-da-da. Bah-da bah-da-da-da bah-da bah-da…Monday, Monday.” Was it the Mama’s and the Papa’s? I think it was, in 1966 or so. Well, it is just absolutely beautiful on this Monday as I sit outside, in my t-shirt, next to the Eisenhower Library at the Hopkins Homewood Campus writing this to you. It does seem like a pretty sneaky thing for an early January Monday to pull; but you can trust me when I tell you that today life is grand.
Life is a grand thing, actually, even on a cold, blustery January Monday, as I am sure is in store for us here in Bawlmer (“Baltimore,” that is, in the local dialect of Bawlmarese as spoken by the indigenous population in these parts). Perhaps I will write to you again on one of those. I have to admit, though, that the grandeur of life is just a bit sweeter to contemplate in the 68° sun on an early January Monday when there is no school. Ah, school – the very reason you are reading these words and the very reason for which these words were written. So why glory in the fact that school is out?
Well, as wondrous a place as Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is (“JHU SON” for short and it truly is a place of wonder), the respite offered to those of us who are engaged in the study of the art of nursing is very well appreciated and I dare say well earned.
In these weeks of early January I have been spending time thinking about, well, to be frank I will say that I have been thinking about money. FAFSA information needs to be updated. Financial aid forms for the next academic year need to be filled out once again. Grants, scholarships, and yes, even loans need to be researched and applied for, resumes or if you prefer, “CV’s” must be brought up to speed and polished yet again. It sounds like a lot of paperwork and it is. Oh, another thing, I hate paperwork. So, I will stop talking about all of that now and say something you may really be interested in.
So, what was the 1st semester of nursing school like, anyway? Well let me tell you…
For one thing, something that had I thought to be true before starting here at JHU SON was confirmed: the notion that by coming to Hopkins I would be surrounding myself with people who would potentially teach me as much if not more than the professors themselves. Allow me to explain. First I will say that those who decide to dedicate their lives to teach here at JHU SON are marvelous and outstanding people, without question they are the best of the best…but so are the students and these are the ones you, as a nursing student, spend most of your time with in nursing school. Think about it. The lectures are great, but learning what the lecture had to offer takes place, to a large extent, in the conversations you have after the lecture with the others who heard the same lecture. Here you will find the best and the brightest to share a cup of coffee with after class and discuss the nuances of osmotic pressure, fluids and electrolytes.
I want to take a moment to recognize, especially, the five people I worked most closely with last semester, our first semester of nursing school. I am convinced that I could not have found myself surrounded by a better group of smart and talented people with genuine hearts: Susan, Sarah, Heather, Tina and Jordan. These guys (one of whom was quite literally a guy, Jordan, one of the other 7 men in our class of 110) were really the best to work with and experience what for all of us was our first taste of nursing school. If I had to say one thing for you to remember about choosing a nursing school and even a nursing job, I would say consider the following question: "With whom will I be working?" A very wise person relayed that message to me as I was searching for a nursing school and I have heard the same wisdom from professional nurses about looking for a job as a nurse. Who your co-workers or fellow students are can make or break the experience.
As we are learning here at JHU SON, being a nurse means working with a large team of other people who all have a piece of the health care delivery pie that they know the most about. Therefore, the best care for patients really boils down to how well that health care team can communicate and work together.
The nuts and bolts of my first semester was a five-day week, four of which were spent in the School of Nursing building at 525 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD and one day a week at a clinical site in some hospital around the city. For me that site was a rehab unit at Bay-view Medical Center. Some of the time at the school of nursing was spent in lectures and many hours each week were spent in the laboratory where we practiced hands on the various nursing skills that we were learning. Our classes ranged in size from all 110 of us in the large lecture hall on the main floor to about half of the class in the rest of our course lectures. You see, the entire class is split into two sections so that classes and clinical sites can be more easily managed. Now the lab times were much different. Still we went according to which of the two sections we were in, but then we were further broken down into groups of five or six students per instructor – a great ratio when it comes to hands-on learning.
What subjects did we have for the 1st semester? Well, I am glad you asked:
1. Principles and Applications of Nursing Interventions
2. Health Assessment
3. Foundations of Nursing Practice
4. Trends and Issues in Nursing
5. Issues in Aging
That’s the list of required courses. I also took an elective:
6. Fundamentals of Forensic Nursing
The Forensic Nursing class was a treat. I mean, if you are coming to nursing school all of these classes are welcome changes to the academics we have already had to finish, those classes we may only have taken because they were pre-requisites…you know what I mean. However, the Forensic Nursing class is exceptional. I am wondering when it will become a required course to graduate with a BSN (I am surprised it isn’t already a requirement actually). And the professor, Daniel Sheridan, is an international leader in the field of forensic nursing and he is simply one of the best lecturers I have ever heard.
It was a fast and furious 1st semester and I honestly cannot believe how much we all learned. In a few weeks, as we begin the second semester I suppose we shall see how much of all that information is sticking with us.
Well I am going to leave it at that for now. I will be writing again soon, so keep your eyes pealed.
Take care, Daniel