In my last blog I wrote about my classes, but how does that relate to time?  Well, for starters, I'm in class three days a week, one day in clinical and one day off.  Monday I'm in class from 11am to 7:30pm with a one hour lunch break.  Wednesday and Thursday I'm in class from 9 and 8:30 until 5:30 with a 3 hour break on Wednesday and a one hour break on Thursday.  Now, that may seem like a lot- yes, it is, but the classes are mostly so interesting with so much information that by the end of it you wonder where the time went.  Friday is my day off where I run around Takoma Park frantically trying to catch up on the errands I haven't been able to do because I'm in Baltimore all week. 

I commute.  From just outside DC to Baltimore.  It takes exactly one and a half hours, door step to door step, in the morning and typically 2 or 2.5 hours getting home in the evening.  I walk or get a ride to the metro, metro to Union Station, take the Marc (a commuter train that runs from Charm City to DC), and finally a shuttle that drops me one block from the School of Nursing building. Coming home, I spend more time because the shuttles don't always move on time and sometimes my timing is off for the train. 

Do I like to commute?  Well, mostly, yes, I do.  I spend my time reading and catching up on notes, time that most of my peers lack because they have distractions when they read at home.  I, on the other hand, can do nothing else but sit (well, maybe sleep, which I do sometimes), but mostly I read and it gives me a good environment to do that.  Also, Dan got me an ipod so I can zone out and on those occasions when I'm just too burnt out on reading, I download a TV show and can watch that (isn't technology great?).

Anyway, back to the schedule.  Tuesdays are game day.  We head to the clinic and practice all that we've been learning in class.  Mostly just the assessment stuff (read: noninvasive).  We take vital signs, get histories, talk with our patient and observe the nurses.  Right now we're in a rehab center with lots of stroke patients who are working with physical therapy to learn how to walk again.  I've also had the opportunity to go on rounds with the wound care team where I got to see numerous bedsores in a number of different stages of recovery.  It's all very interesting and eye opening.  I love time with my patients though; I've been very fortunate to have very welcoming and open patients willing to help me learn on them and with them. 

I just signed up for classes for next term, it looks like I'll be doing my labor and delivery rotation just in time to catch all those spring babies! 

Kathy