lauren

A Peak at Pediatrics and Updates from the Adult Medical Surgical Unit

2008-09-14T11:31:00Z

Working 40+ hours a week for three months during the summer prepared me very well for the introduction to the pediatric unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. I remained so busy on the day, night, and swing shifts that working with one patient in Pediatrics for 8 hours seems extremely minimal and most times rather slow. The Children's Medical Surgical Center at the Hospital which cares for infants and toddlers is where I will spend the next 5 weeks in clinical rotation. As a nursing student, I am responsible for assessing vital signs, administering medications, and performing clean-up care. Often times the parents are at the bedside. Thursdays and Fridays I spend 8 hrs/day on the unit.

Tuesdays and Saturdays, however, I continue to work on the Adult Medical Surgical Unit as a Technician. The pace is quicker, I have greater autonomy and responsibility, and working with adults is a very rewarding and stimulating interaction. Working 20 hours a week as a Technician also qualifies me for a tuition reimbursement program through the hospital. So long as I commit to working at JHH after graduation for two years, ½ of my senior year tuition will be reimbursed. Some of my classmates are taking part in this program, others are wary of the time commitment. Staying busy and focused on clinical work excites me, so working while simultaneously completing course works fine and prepares me well for the transition into the world of the RN.

This past night on the Adult Med/Surg floor:
I provided palliative care for two hospice patients; continued education on retrieving electronic charts; moved an active TB patient to a private room; inserted catheters; sent off urine samples; evaluated lab results in relation to liver and kidney function; performed a slew of vital sign assessments and a series of EKG’s; monitored telemetry units and assessed abnormal EKG tracings; transported a deteriorating cardiac patient down to the CCU; comforted a bunch of frail hands while IV’s were inserted or removed; and chatted with family members visiting the unit.

This past week in the Pediatric Clinical:
A clinical buddy and I shared the care of a 23 day-old baby girl with complex cardiac complications; transported the little girl down for an echocardiogram; administered medications through a nasogastric feeding tube; administered nutritional feedings through a gastric tube; I researched Croup, Tetralogy of Fallot; reviewed some pharmacology; and practiced listening to wheezing, stridorous lung sounds, and heart murmurs.

Activities in and around Baltimore over the summer

2008-08-12T01:37:00Z

1. Work

2. Visit Fort McHenry

3. Attend Baltimore’s very unique annual “Artscape”

4. Road trip up to Philadelphia for the Mütter Museum of Anatomical Awesomeness

5. Take the Marc Train to DC

6. Spend a day at Delaware’s Eastern Shoreline

7. Explore Harpers Ferry, hike the AT, and catch a view of three states- MD, VA, WV

8. Go Hiking on the Maryland Heights and the Appalachian Trail

9. Visit Baltimore's Museums- Art, History, Culture galore

10. Wear sunscreen and have fun outdoors

Q&A: Summer work as a Nursing Student at Johns Hopkins Hospital

2008-07-11T16:10:00Z

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.

What Makes a Good Nurse? The Voice of a Patient

2008-06-03T23:01:00Z

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.

Nursing School can be fun!

2008-04-29T01:16:00Z

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!

A Blog-Worthy Experience in OB

2008-03-30T14:00:00Z

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.

Day #2 in OB:

2008-03-22T17:03:00Z

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…

Half-Way...

2008-03-09T13:09:00Z

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.

What Stimulates Your Receptors?

2008-02-03T13:34:00Z

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.

Babies and Religion: Four Credits in Two Weeks.

2008-01-17T11:46:00Z

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!

Ski Clothes! Not just for the slopes! Baltimore and SON Advice

2008-01-02T01:52:00Z

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!

Other ways to procrastinate for finals...

2007-12-12T00:23:00Z

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

Grub for Grubs and Orange Marmalade Mucus

2007-12-09T16:21:00Z

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!

Trachs, Suctioning, and Catheters, Oh My!

2007-11-16T09:58:00Z

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.

One Freudian Slip and then $200 later…

2007-11-05T01:05:00Z

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.