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Q: What exactly is my title or position in the hospital for the summer?
A: I work as a “Clinical Associate” on a general medicine floor at the hospital. A Clinical Associate is similar to a CNA, but the work involves more technical tasks related to the recent nursing curriculum. For example, checking blood-glucose levels, attaching telemetry leads, and conducting EKGs. Q: What does the job entail? How do I spend my 8 to 12 hour shifts?
A: The job usually begins with a transition between staff members reviewing report on the 18 bed unit. Nurses and Clinical Associates sit in the staff room listening to voice recording from the nurses on the previous shift regarding the status of each of the 18 patients on the floor. I take this time to assess which patients I will be working with, who will need blood sugar testing, and the times and frequency of vital sign measurements. My work entails bedside care for patients: Measuring vital signs 1-4 times per shift (heart rate, blood pressure, respirations, temperature, and oxygen saturation) Communicating between staff members for changes in physical or mental status Measuring blood sugar levels (3-4 times per shift) Tracheotomy care and suctioning Pressure ulcer prevention Wound care and sterile dressings Taking out and flushing IV lines Hanging Normal Saline for infusions Enteral Tube feedings Inserting and removing urinary catheters Fall prevention interventions Freshening them up for morning or evening care Changing linens Assisting with ambulation Assessing intake and output Q: Is the work full-time or part-time?
A: My work this summer is full-time, 40+ hours/week. I also have the opportunity to work overtime as a “sitter” for patients who are on continuous monitoring. There are different units in the hospital who look for “sitters” to be with patients just to ensure their safety when nurses, doctors, or other staff members are out of the room. Q: What are the hours?
A: As mentioned previously, the work is full-time and the hours are divided between 8 and 12 hour shifts (which turn into 9 and 13 hour shifts by the time I finish my work and pack up my bags). Some weeks I work 4 full days and have 3 days off, other weeks I work three very full days and then enjoy 4 days catching up on rest.
I work both night and day shifts. The night shift is probably my favorite because there are less people on the unit, the lights are turned down lower, and the atmosphere seems a little bit calmer. Also, as a Clinical Associate, I have more responsibilities since fewer staff are scheduled for this shift. Q: Would I do anything different if I had to apply for summer work again?
A: NO- I love the experience that I am gaining working on the general medicine unit. The staff is warm and welcoming, answers every question I present, and appreciates the help that I can offer. This experience is giving me a huge lead for the upcoming curriculum and clinical rotations in the fall. I highly recommend working in a hospital as a Clinical Associate to gain experience, confidence, and knowledge. This job is helping to make my transition from a student nurse to a full RN a bit smoother.
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She dug through the pretzel bag searching for just the right
one as her husband fondly looked on. “It’s the little things,” he whispered, as
I watched their interaction from the edge of the bed. My patient’s husband
predictably drove to the hospital every morning to arrive promptly at 10:00
with the coveted bag of pretzels from Trader Joes. His wife eagerly awaited his
visit and told the nurses not to flirt too much with him, after all, he had been
“taken” for 47 years. Since being
diagnosed with a mysterious tumor in the posterior lobe of her brain, this
woman began to rely more heavily on the devout support of her husband and enjoy
the little things in life a bit more, as the extent of her future was unknown.
Sitting next to her on the bed, I assessed her vitals
beginning by gently squeezing my blood pressure cuff around her thin and frail
arm. Counting her respirations, I heard wheezes and saw muscular strain upon
breathing. She was losing weight and her condition was deteriorating. When
asked how her condition originally manifested itself, she stated that her
friends and family commented on the development of odd behaviors. “It was a
team effort,” she said. “Without my husband, friends, and family, I wouldn’t
have known. What scares me most, however, is what will happen in the future.
The doctors just don’t know what’s going on.” I sat near her on the bed,
patting a homemade quilt that a friend knitted for her. Her hand met mine, and
I gave it a warm squeeze, and let her interpret the kind and supportive meaning
behind the gesture.
Her wedding band caught in the folds of the quilt. She
gently unhooked the fabric and looked onward at her husband. “Remember when you
gave this to me?” She turned toward me and mentioned that she looked a lot
better when her proposed to her than now, as she wrapped up her small body in a
loose hospital gown and thin bathrobe. Her husband pulled from his wallet the
pictures from when they were “going steady” and bragged about how lucky he felt
dating the most beautiful woman in town.
A knock on the door interrupted the flashback down memory
lane. The doctor on rounds entered the room and explained the next brain
imaging test to be performed. He briefly addressed what he hoped that the
results would show and touched lightly on the next step in treatment. As he
exited the room, a sigh slipped from my patient’s lips. “These doctors are
good- they are knowledgeable, professional, and they know their tests … I just
wish that they would find something so that I could go home.”
As I gathered some of my equipment from the
bedside, I
looked at my patient and said, “So, your doctors are checking up on
you, your
husband never leaves your side, but what can I do as a nurse to help
you
through this process?” She met my eyes with a soft and compassionate
look and
said, “A good nurse, honey, looks at pictures from my youth, listens to
me tell about
important parts of my life, and takes the time to remind me that I am
really
a person, and not just a patient in the hospital. Just keep on doing
what you are doing.” A little bit of time, patience, kindness, and
compassion made a unique difference in the health and healing of this
woman in the hospital bed.
Physical assessments and patient education are critical in
nursing, but this profession also allows for very personalized attention at the bedside which
may just be the healing touch in the recovery process- be it physical, mental,
or spiritual.
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Birthday parties make school fun...  The
spring babies (now adults) in my class are
celebrating the aniversaries (again) of their 21st birthdays... one
more year of wisdom and knowledge to add onto the chapter book of life.
Surprise parties, picnics, and planned celebrations sprinkle the
weekends
during this final spring term. Unwrapping surprise presents and delving
into decadent
birthday cake makes the end of the year a little less tortuous.
 I cannot say enough positive things about my classmates. The students
have made this experience and transition well-worth the 2,700 mile plane trip
across the United States.
Birthdays are a time to celebrate one's life, and I am so fortunate to share these
fun moments with incredibly interesting and compassionate students (and future RN's) who will make a tremendous
difference in the world. 
Here's to another year of life, and one year completed (with one more to
go...) in the SON! 
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Thursday:
8:00 AM: A 19 year-old Hispanic Woman comes into the unit for a scheduled C-Section. She speaks no English. With a few years of undergraduate Spanish and a recent medical terminology course under my belt, she's designated to be my patient for the day.
8:30: As a translator, I help the nurse complete her assessment information and prepare her for the operating room.
9:00: I orient her husband to the recovery room, assist him in gowning up for the operating room, and explain what will happen during the procedure.
9:30: My patient and I are in the OR with the scrub nurse, resident and attending anesthesiologist, and resident and attending surgeon. As my patient receives her epidural, the attending anesthesiologist explains to me step-by-step what the resident will do to administer the pain medication. I help to translate this process to my patient.
9:45: I gown myself in sterile scrubs and gloves to assist in the operation with the surgeon and resident. Elbow to elbow with the surgeon, she explains to me the process of the cesarean. Layer by layer my patient is sliced open. Upon reaching the uterus, one last precise incision is made and the bag of water is ruptured. My gown is soaked in amniotic fluid, my hands and wrists are covered in blood.
10:04: The attending pulls out a 38 week-old baby boy. My hands catch part of the baby and cradle him as the umbilical cord is cut. The attending surgeon pulls the uterus out of the woman’s abdomen while cleansing the patient’s inner cavity. She points out to me the ovaries and the fallopian tubes. I help the attending and resident by retracting the initial incision’s edges while my patient’s uterus is sewn back together and returned to the abdomen.
10:45: My patient is stitched up, her baby is in a bassinet nearby undergoing initial assessments, and the surgeons are leaving the OR. I speak with my patient about her delivery, ask her how she is feeling, and reenact the sensation of catching her baby from the uterus, and how beautiful his little face was.
11:15: In the recovery room, I assess the vital signs of my new mom, put a warm blanket on her, and explain to her how to use her patient-controlled anesthesia pump.
11:30: I wrap up her new baby in a warm blanket, bring it to her chest, and we both admire his soft features and tiny body. He sucks on my finger.
11:45: A lesson in breast feeding- My new mom never breast fed . I teach her how to cradle his head against her chest, which sounds to listen for to assure that he is suckling, and I explain the importance of her own milk during the first few hours of the child’s life.
12:00: I recognize the phenomenal opportunity that I have as a nurse to support my patient. I was at her side from the moment she walked in the door to the unit until that priceless moment when her baby suckled from her breast for the first time. For a 19 year-old woman, these moments are scary, anxiety provoking, and extremely personal. As a nursing student and her advocate, I educated and comforted my patient while simultaneously acting as her voice and translator.
Why I chose nursing? For priceless experiences like these: using the Spanish language to coach a fearful young patient through the process of receiving an epidural and catheter; the opportunity teach her the process of breast feeding; and the ability to sooth this new mom’s worries by assuring her that I’ll be at her side through the entire process. The way I felt today is how I want to feel the rest of my career in nursing.
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Day #2 was supposed to
be more
eventful than the previous day’s introduction to the floor. I dreamt
about
helping a laboring mother through her contractions, coaching her
through
breathing, and wiping the beads of sweat from her brow. Day #2, however, was
surprisingly
one of the cleanest days of all my clinical experiences (including
psych…). My
clinical instructor assigned me to follow the nurse in triage for the
8-hour
shift. Triage, as I learned over a grudgingly long shift, is not
consistently
synonymous with action and excitement. With my hands ready and waiting
for
feeble little babies to come into the world, I kept watching the
entrance to the unit for the admittance of any pregnant woman. No
baby-catching fun came my way. Similar to the laboring
woman, this second shift was full of waiting and anticipation. Unlike
the
mother, however, I remained clean, dry, and left the hospital without
entering
into parenthood.
While patiently waiting for
for moms and babies to come through triage, I went through
some flashcards to learn OB terminology and
techniques for reading fetal heart rate readings. The courses in this program
rely on students to be self-motivated learners (AKA independent self-teaching
and learning to master concepts). It helps tremendously to carry around
flashcards or notes to review a few facts or figures at any time. Many students
feel crunched for time and stressed before tests; using some down-time in between
classes (or in the clinical setting) helps to overcome some pre-test stress and
use well the unexpected free time.
To recap: Day #2- no babies, no blood,
amniotic fluid, sweat, or tears. Really, the only gunk (and it wasn’t even
bodily) that came my way was from the janitor sweeping the floor clean of lint.
When babies do come my way, I will be prepped (thanks to quick moments of
flashcard review) with more knowledge about their physiological entrance into
the world and what pharmacological interventions may be necessary to sustain
their fragile bodies in the beginning of life. Alright, spring babies! I’m
waiting…
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Spring has sprung and spring break is knocking on our front
doors... really breaking the door down. We are all ready for our
upcoming ten days of freedom.
This term is half-way through. It's notorious (and now I
understand why) for the intense work load with pathophysiology,
pharmacology, OB and Psychiatric Nursing rotations. I just finished my
Psych rotation and will begin OB after the break. The experience in the
psychiatric unit was tremendous. My clinical instructor's contribution
to our learning was priceless, and the interaction with patients was
humbling. Each day I left the unit with a broader sense of what
happiness, joy, and suffering means to different people. Here are some of my favorite snippets of information from pharmacology and pathophysiology flashcard* land: 1. The length of the human kidney is comparable to the length of a business card. 2. Tuberculosis may be in any part of the human body, not just the lungs. 3. Periwinkle isn't just the pretty little flower- It is also used therapeutically in medicine as a pain reliever. * Flashcards make the difference when studying for tests...A very effective technique for memorizing different medications. What I've learned from fellow students:
1. After fleeing countries of origin during civil wars, taking
tests in the university setting really isn't a big deal. What a valuable
perspective to keep in mind when it seems that the world is ending after a bad test!
2. Balancing family and school is a challenge. When I think
about how busy I am with school, I remember my peers who take
care of their children, husbands, or wives as well. My perspective on "busy" changes.
One of the nurses on my psych unit mentioned how she raised her two
teenagers while getting through nursing school. She would sit in her
car to study. 3. I can travel around the world just by
listening to classmate's stories from their international experiences.
The greatest lessons that I've learned during this program actually
come from my fellow students. From years of travel, teaching, and learning
in different parts of the world, they bring to this program unique
perspectives on how to live life in a manner that respects their
happiness and health.
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This answer depends on whether you are in a Psychiatric
Unit, Pathophysiology class, or the Pharmacology lecture. In the Psychiatric
Nursing Unit, the patients know exactly how to push your buttons, whereas in
Patho and Pharm, we study this activity on a cellular level. Throw into the mix
a visit from Body Worlds and we have a hands-on presentation of the human body (receptors included)
dissected and plasticized for your viewing pleasure.
Going into week three, students have completed 32 hours in a
clinical rotation (16 hours 2 days a week)- either catching babies in OB
or getting their buttons pushed by patients in Psychiatric units.The three classes that accompany clinicals are Pharmacology,
Pathophysiology, and either Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing or Maternal/Child
Health Nursing. The other 152 hours of the week go immediately to memorizing
drugs, and understanding the inner workings of your body from a pathological
perspective. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we start at 8:00 am and end in the
early afternoon. The material is much
more engaging, but the effort required is comparable to the undergraduate level
anatomy and physiology course x 3. Thursday and Friday we gown ourselves in scrubs or uniforms and get a feel for the real-world 8 hour work day. At
the end of Thursday, I go to bed about 8:30pm, wake up early on Friday
and start all over. With a great clinical group and super instructor,
the time passes quickly. Outside of the university, a classmate and I completed
another educational outreach program to the Hispanic Women of Baltimore. This topic was "All
you ever wanted to know about Nutrition" (from a gringita who confuses her
Spanish vocab of Sodium with Sulfate… “Be very careful of your sulfate
consumption….errr, sodium?") Teaching and interacting with a smaller group of
non-English speakers humbles and excites me. It keeps reminding the little
travel-bug to keep the passport nearby for international nursing
experiences.
As mentioned earlier, the Body Worlds Exhibit came to the Science Museum
at the Inner Baltimore Harbor.
The Student Government sold tickets and 200 SON students/family
members/significant others were awed and amazed (or turned away) by the
intricate inner-workings of the human body. After reading about
arteriosclerosis in the textbook and then seeing it in the aorta, I think twice
about the detrimental effects of inactive lifestyles and fat/cholesterol
consumption. Take home message: Take care of your body and it will take care of
you! It’s really amazing!
Life here is good. It's very full of drug knowledge,
pathophysiology, and therapeutic nursing in mental health. Wisdom from past
students reminds us that that this term is the most stressful, but definitely feasible.
Set aside other social or academic engagements and FOCUS. Get friendly with
your flashcards and find some study buddies.
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Yes, there you have it. The beauty
of “Intersession.” Students knock out some of the credits that they need to
take care of during their 5 week winter break. Intersession, then, is
essentially summer school in the winter. Instead of having a month or two to
complete the class, students really only have two weeks. What does that time
frame say for how long one sits in the classroom? How does Monday-Saturday
8:00-12:00 or 2:00 for two weeks sound? Fortunately, I loved my classmates and
the instructor that taught both classes.
the first course was Nursing the Neonate which
introduced me to all things related to baby/umbilical cord/amniotic fluid. For
the final at the end of the course, our class of 25 students separated into
smaller groups and each had to resuscitate a baby going through a re-enacted
code. The second class that nurtured my mind during this “vacation” was a new
course called “Faith and Health Systems.” The instructor incorporated speakers
of various faiths to introduce the class (again, about 25 students) to the
basic tenets of their faith and how it relates to healthcare. It was really
enlightening for us to learn so much more about how diverse yet interrelated
the world’s religions really are. One day we had a Buddhist Monk come in and
teach us to meditate. We also had a Rabbi talk to us about Orthodox Judaism and
the importance of abiding by the Torah, and Kosher food regulations (some
speculate that these food rules were early health regulations.)
Both of these classes were excellent breaks
from the normal classroom setting during the academic year; the small class
size allowed for intimate and reflective conversations (often times while sitting
on the floor in a circle). I had a very positive experience with Intersession
this year. I learned a tremendous amount about babies and different faith
systems. The credits were an added bonus. It was also nice to have a couple of
weeks to warm up my brain for the next term… pathophysiology, pharmacology,
psychiatric nursing, and maternal/child health nursing.
Wheeeeee… now that I know how to resuscitate a baby,
meditate, and recognize Kosher food, I’m ready to go into another term!
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Baltimore gets cold. The furnace in my house is broken. It's January. Brrrrrrr.
If you come by, bring your ski clothes.
Before 2008 begins to take over and completely washes the last
year from our memory I'd like to share some advice I learned from the
last four months of 2007 in making the adjustment to school at the JHU
SON:
- Don’t
by your books new. Contact students in the class ahead of you for copies
of used first-year books.
- Choose
to live near a shuttle line. Driving to and from school is a pain and
parking is expensive. Taking the shuttle to and from school is safe. Let
the bus drivers be the aggressive ones behind the wheel.
- Take
Intersession Courses if you need to catch up on credits. There are two
weeks in between first and second term that are dedicated to classes. The
credits are attached to spring term, so the expense is not exponential.
Summer school would be more expensive.
- Take
the Community Outreach Class if you even remotely interested in learning more about
Baltimore.
It’s a one credit class offered fall term. I learned a tremendous amount
about the city and gained a much broader view of the community.
- If
flying out to Baltimore,
be aware that luggage gets lost in airports. Always put your name, phone
number, and destination address inside your bag.
- If the
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing seems like it might be where you see
yourself for the next two years, speak with some students about their
experiences. Everyone is different in his or her own perception of school.
If you come by my place, bring your ski clothes and bundle up!
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1. Make papersnowflakes for your neighbor's Christmas tree 2. Clean your bedroom floor with spray bleach and individual papertowels (since there isn't a mop in the house) 3. Clean all the stairs in the rowhouse with individual papertowels 4. Make a new neighbor friend 5. Make him or her some papersnowflakes 6. Go look at Christmas lights 7. Think about practicing lab skills down in the basement on the ironing board (just thinking...) 8.
Get up from computer, walk across clean bedroom floor, down shiny
staircase, and out the front door to deliver papersnowflakes to
neighbor
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We are swinging into finals!!! Students are all tired of writing and reading but must get through one more week before being able to fling ourselves into vacation! This last blog post before the break includes some of the mischief that we’ve all been up to in between flipping through chapters in our textbooks and cleaning out tracheostomy collars.  
To address the subject line of this blog:
Any of you ever used the word GRUB to indicate food for yourself? “I’m hungry… gotta grab myself some grub…”
Well, during one of my classes this week, the concept of maggot therapy was introduced as an effective method of tissue debridement in the medical setting. Will any of you ever use the word grub in reference to your own meals? Maybe that word and food is just northwest slang…. Along with food… it’s amazing how many associations patients make between what is founnd in the food pyramid and symptoms in the human body.  Orange-marmalade mucus, cottage cheese-like clumps on the tonsils, and walnut or almond sized glands in the genitalia are all pretty accurate descriptions, but have eliminated those foods from my diet. Needless to say, when the lump in the body closely resembles closely the food on a dinner plate, people look at their nutrition differently. When the fork picks at the clump of spinach on the corner of the plate, the mind can't quiet separate the similarities between the cecum and colon to that particular clump of green leafy nutrition. I’m already a vegetarian (anatomy and physiology restricted my meat intake) and my options for food are dwindling quickly. Carrots and oatmeal are still safe. Tofu, however, is very vulnerable to being compared to a venereal disease. On a lighter note, Baltimore got some snow! A nice break in the action.
 When only one person has gloves, be creative and share! Even though the Nobel Peace Prize was recently awarded to Mr. Al Gore, the Johns Hopkins University has some incredible candidates with tremendous potential for changing the world and making a positive impact.
Two of my classmates who are returned Peace-Corps Volunteers are working with recent refugees from Uzbekistan and some of the surrounding countries to ease the process of assimilation and access to education and healthcare. They teach, touch, and connect with this population by utilizing their proficiencies in Uzbek and Russian. Preeettty cool, huh?
If any of you readers have an interest in Gerontological Nursing, look up the EXPERIENCE CORPS project on the Hopkins website. It’s led by some of the top researchers on aging at this university and is making a huge impact in the local schools and in the elderly population. It incorporates the aid of elderly adults in the local elementary school classrooms that are short-staffed for help. Children benefit with higher math and reading test scores and less detention time. Older adults are seeing an increase in physical, social, and cognitive abilities.
Just recently, a classmate and I put our minds together and created a class about Gestational Diabetes. The class was taught in Spanish for some of the Hispanic Women in the Baltimore Community that are at risk now for developing Diabetes Type II (speaking Uzbeck is pretty cool and more unique than Spanish, but it's hard to measure up to that standard!) We had a tremendous turnout and look forward to reaching out to this community in the future. In January, we’ll organize a class on Nutrition and the importance of physical fitness. The experiences that we have outside the textbook are what make this education extremely unique.
I'll be back in the beginning of January for more classes, so the next updates will come then. For right now, I'm counting down the days to being back on a pair of skis in Oregon with my Dad!
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Well there you have it. With a little help from the Wizard
of Oz, I sum up the last couple of weeks in Nursing School.
Add in a few tears from laughing, crying, and you have a group of students that
have progressed through three months of studying, testing, and learning
together. On the homefront, the three of us girls have found a little mouse
named Henry living in our snug quarters. Henry managed to avoid the numerous
mouse traps in the upstairs, downstairs, and basement, but ate all the peanut
butter off of the triggers. Any suggestions from the audience on how to take
care of mice? I am 110% supportive of getting a cat, but with an allergic
roommate, that idea just might not work out so well.
So here I sit, sending greetings from my little bed in
a 9x9 bedroom. I’m nearly overdue for my
bi-monthly commitment to blogging, and slightly out of commission due to a sore
throat and progressing fever. One of the advantages of studying at a healthcare
institution is the personal access to thermometers, gauze, tape measures, etc.
Knock yourself out with medical supplies. My lab partner and I took each
others’ vitals yesterday afternoon and decided that it was time to go home
after assessing our cold/flu-like symptoms… now if I could only prescribe
myself a little something other than a mug of tea with lemon juice, honey, and
apple cider vinegar. Maybe I wore myself out from all that tracheotomy
suctioning in the lab…
Some of the recent highlights:
Our
clinical rotations have finished for the term. In January, Thursdays and
Fridays will be 16 hours of rotation in either OB/GYN or Psychiatric Nursing. We
may request our clinical locations, but won’t know for sure of our placements until
the end of the term. Our clinical instructors will again be nursing
professionals that lead us through theses different fields of nursing and help
us find our nitches and successes. At this institution, my the instructors are for
the most part all Ph.D. professionals, and top researchers in their fields.
This level of instruction and expertise is really priceless.
From the classroom: Test #3 from
Principles and Applications
is done with, a third set of lab sign-offs are out of the way, and a
group
poster presentation for the Nursing Trends course was successfully
completed.
The poster presentation encompassed 5 weeks of compiling recent
research on a
certain nursing topics. My group scored high on the project which
was a relief- (How did we manage to pull of a decent grade? Good Riddance, I don’t
know.
Sometimes it can be very challenging to work with other people that
have
different priorities on how to manage time. Welcome to the real world.)
Other recent news from the past
few weeks: a guest visit from Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner, a
movie night hosted by the Gerontological Student Group that was well attended
by other students and researchers from the Nation’s Center for Aging (located
here at the Medical Campus), and I began work with the Hispanic Community as a student
Health Educator along with another one of my classmates. For the Health
Educator Program, my classmate and I will work with a Nurse Educator and plan
programs that focus on preventative measures to promote optimum health with
limited resources. Our first class will be taught in Spanish about Gestational
Diabetes.
Thanksgiving Break is approaching
very quickly! Some of us are heading back to homes in different parts of the
country, but the majority of the class will stick around Baltimore and make use
of ourselves in a local soup kitchen for part of the Thanksgiving Day, and then
work up our own progressive dinner going from house to house of classmates. We’ll
have 5 days of no classes. I feel a DC trip in my very near future. $14
dollars, a 45 minute train ride, and I’ve set myself up for a day of culture
and fun.
The rain has started here and it
seems to dampen and quiet parts of the city. The leaves are starting to fall
off the trees and it seems that the onset of winter is just a few weeks away.
With daylight savings time, it is also pitch black at 5:00 pm and not light
again until 6:30 am. I’ve started to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier just
to catch a little more sunlight. Last night my roommates were a little startled
when I was in bed and asleep by 8:00. It’s time to get in some good rest and
recuperation time. This move across the country has
required a tremendous amount of self-growth, interdependence, humility, and
flexibility. I’m so happy to be amongst driven and motivated individuals
who value health, wellness, and other people.
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 I may not write the best care plans
or score the top marks on exams, but I do know that I can win a costume
contest. The School
of Nursing balances out
the rigors of course work with fun and games. On Halloween, our wonderful
Student Government hosted a day of food, fun, and costumes to celebrate the day
of imagination and mischief. With a little help from my roommate, we put
together a nightgown with Freudian terms adhered on with double-sided tape.
Voila, we had a “Freudian Slip.” There is nothing quite like wearing jammies
all day at school with the words “Your Mom” and “Psychoanalysis” written on
your bottom. The students had some very ingenious costumes… my favorite was the
group of gentlemen in my class gowning themselves in oldschool nursing garb.
With wigs, fake moles, make-up, and heavy nursing gowns that reached the floor,
they graced our presence and presented themselves as the traditional nursing
women. My class is a group of imaginative, intellectual students with a superb
sense of humor. I am so lucky to study with these individuals! Life as the
Freudian Slip was the highlight of the week and truly delightful, but with the
highs come the lows… the lows came and drained part of my bank account as well.
Bummer dude.
Yep, the bank account went down an
unexpected grand amount of $199.00 due to a screw in the wrong place at the
wrong time. It could have been anyone’s tire, but it just so happened to
literally screw over me, my bank account, and my tire. As the gentleman at Baltimore’s friendly
Honda dealership suggested, “Well, sweetheart, don’t drive through construction
areas anymore.” What a simple suggestion. Too bad life isn’t that easy. The Johns Hopkins Medical Campus is currently surrounded by construction. Maybe that same man
will write my instructors a note indicating that I missed class because he
wouldn’t allow me to drive through the construction areas.
I left Libby the car in the greasy
hands of some Honda experts, and walked myself out of an otherwise pretty sketchy
neighborhood. A friend of mine gave me directions over the phone on how to
arrive at the nearest JHMI shuttle stop and get to school. Too bad I don’t live
closer to a shuttle stop…. I’d gladly ride daily and let the school’s shuttles
pay $200 for their new tires.
After fixing the car, the rest of
the weekend was sacrificed to group projects. One of the assignments required a
tour of a previously unfamiliar Baltimore
neighborhood and an interview with some of the locals residing in the area. My
friends and I drove to a neighborhood that has housed some of the Baltimore natives for
their entire lives… Guess who was volunteered to be the driver? Oh yes, it was
me. The screw lady. Let’s see if I can find some other fun sharp object in a
foreign neighborhood to put in my tires. I
wasn’t too enthusiastic about navigating my way through unfamiliar territory,
but learning about the surrounding community outweighed the inconvenience of
driving. Immersing oneself in the surrounding community is truly one of the
most valuable parts of this education. There is so much destitution, but the
citizens have such a heart for where they live. One of the most inspiring parts
of the day was seeing an older abandoned building turned into a Head Start
School and funded by a local sorority. We saw only one market (and we really
had to search for it) but ran across 14 Churches. As students, we are very
fortunate to live in better parts of Baltimore;
this assignment required us to leave our comfort zones, explore, and learn.
When the four of us walked into the market, we were the only Caucasians and
attracted some looks. On our way back, we walked a little too near a drug deal
and also attracted some looks… We quickly said ‘hello’ and went on our merry
way very quickly.
So here I sit in
front of my little laptop with Pink Martini trying to learn IV Solution
Administration... school never stops here! There is always something to
be studying, reading, reviewing, or regurgitating for an exam or
sign-off. It's a good experience, but very busy.  
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While faithfully respecting my 10:30 pm bedtime, eating healthy, and maintaining a moderate level of exercise, I still find myself at confused, in tears, or utterly exhausted due to the stresses of school and personal expectations. Whatever stress relievers students have in their bag-o-skills, I’m sure that they are reaching in and utilizing them. My classmates and I come from different paths of life, but we are converging at an intersection and traveling this challenging, yet supremely rewarding journey together for the next two years. Some of the best advice I have received lately has come from a group of supportive peers and staff that have only been acquainted for 9 weeks. Friends’ and professors’ words of wisdom offer encouragement and charge up that internal battery that says “keep going.” Getting through the nursing program is a challenge that involves not only academic success, but personal growth and emotional transformations. Fellow nursing students share tears, joys, excitement, and miseries while connecting at a different, and maybe more intimate level than would be expected in other long-lasting friendships. Life in Nursing School is an emotional rollercoaster. Caring for others is humbling and nerve-wracking because a mistake or a failure in the world of health care involves someone else’s life. Before coming to JHU SON, the majority of us were accustomed to doing things correctly the first time, excelling in academics and extra-curricular activities. It is excellent to be at this institution, but the learning curve is steep and instructors are sure to notify students when something isn’t completed in the correct fashion. The educators in the school and the clinic absolutely expect the most from the future nurses that they invest themselves in. My only advice for incoming students would be to fasten your seatbelt, because you are going for a ride…
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My name is Lauren, and I am an
Oregonian by birth, but nomadic by choice.
I spent a snippet of time
in Denmark, traveled for
three weeks across the US in
a VW van, lived for a year in Brazil,
and studied Public Health and International Studies for three years of
undergraduate work in the Willamette
Valley. How did I end up
in Baltimore? A
friend of mine who had previously spent two years in Lesotho,
South Africa
as a Peace Corps Volunteer recommended the school. He highlighted the city's
diverse setting, and endless opportunities to be involved with international
health. I applied, and with some financial assistance, I was able to make the
move from Oregon to Maryland in order to study.
Life here is an adventure. My little
feet have been hotsy totsy for learning, traveling, and helping other people.
The city of Baltimore and the Johns Hopkins
University will be home
for the next two years. What about after? International Service in the Peace
Corps (can't wait to be a "gringita" again), followed by work as a
nurse practitioner along with a PH.D. (Yes, I like school so much I will stay
in it forever). The Johns
Hopkins University
is an excellent fit for me and the experience is priceless.
Here I am, 8 weeks into the BSN program, and
I find myself amidst the top researchers and health care providers not only in
the nation, but in the world. I am supremely happy. The Johns Hopkins School of
Nursing teaches all aspects of nursing, but expects its nurses to be future
leaders and researchers. For my goals and aspirations, this institution is the
right place to be. The students here are well-traveled, mature, educated, and a
pleasure to work and study with.
What has been going on here?
Well, where should we start… how about the day I went to
the gas station and overflowed the tank? Gas started guzzling out of the tank and onto
the concrete. My college budget didn’t include paying hydrate the concrete. (In
Oregon,
someone pumps the gas for the drivers. I blame my inexperienced gas-pumping
hands on Oregon's
gasoline regulations.) I could also highlight the incident with my
canister of pepper spray imploding in my backpack. Ah yes, that was a memorable
day as well. Nothing like seeing the entire second floor of the school of
nursing hacking, coughing, and teary eyed. We know that the spray works! While
washing that backpack and cleansing it of potent chemicals, I managed to
simulate snowfall in Oregon
by washing a spiral notebook full of clinical notes. It was tucked into one of
those secret backpack pockets. Oops. Forgot to take it out. My navy blue
hospital pants came out with a lovely, snowy speckled appearance. Life here is
truly unpredictable. 
Even with some of these fun little wrinkles in life, I've had an extremely
positive experience with the people in this city. When I got lost driving and
ended up on a toll road a number of miles from my destination, the attendant
directed me home, accepted my pitiful toll donation of $1.52, and supplied me
with the necessary pass to turn around and head home. Getting around can be
tricky! A very generous neighbor took pity on me and dropped off a number of Baltimore/surrounding
area maps that now live in the glove compartment of the car. There really is no
excuse for getting lost (other than my eyes are so tired from reading I'd
rather be disoriented in a strange city rather than scan another piece of
text). :)
School is good. There are
tremendous amounts of reading, writing, documentation, and clinical lab
expectations. It's an excellent group of students and professors to be working
with. My hospital days are wonderful as well. Right now, there is little
that I am able to do as a student, but I love the patient contact. It's the
most enjoyable part of the healthcare experience. I am eternally grateful for
my health and vitality.
As extra-curricular activities go, I joined the
Student Government Association at the SON, and will hopefully take part in
Programa Salud, an outreach program to the Hispanic Community in Baltimore. A group of
students will administer vaccinations, do routine TB testing, and complete
general health assessments. I have a class beginning that will focus on
the health disparities in this city; this group of students will gain a greater
understanding of the various factors that contribute to the city's diversity
and development. The teaching emphasis will be on Public Health. The
Geriatric Interest Group will also take up a portion of my time...
There is SO MUCH TO DO here… it's really hard to
say no to certain activities! I think the majority of my class is looking
forward to a break when we can all take a deep breath and not feel so crunched
with deadlines and expectations. The 8 weeks that I have been here have been
some of the most exciting days of the past few years… there is always a new
adventure around the corner, and every day presents a different challenge. The
stories that I share are similar to other students' experiences. We all are going
through some quirky adjustments and just cannot help but laugh about it all!
Laughter keeps the heart and soul happy. ![]() 
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