busy days
The pace of classwork and clinical work has definitely picked up. The past few weeks, I've spent every spare moment just keeping my head above water with the reading.
The summer was a relative walk in the park compared to the pace of classes now. In addition to lots of reading, there has been a lot of discontent with grades on exams. The average scores for tests have been in the high 70 percent range. Many classmates have felt that some test questions are unfair. However this type of exam is the reality we will all face next summer when we take the NCLEX, the national nursing licensure exam.
The most exciting part of the program for me is definitely the clinical experiences. After just five or six weeks in a unit, you feel like you know everyone there and are part of the routine. However, every patient and every experience is so unique, that I could do the same assessment 100 times on 100 patients, and learn something new each time.
I continue to be amazed by how much we are allowed to see and do. The past rotation I've been in labor and delivery, postpartum care, and in the newborn nursery. What have I done there? Just about everything. I've seen c-sections and tubal ligations, and I held the forceps on a circumcision (not the prettiest of procedures!). I've seen amnioinfusions, induced labor, epidurals, and watched amniotic membranes being ruptured. I've learned how to read fetal heartrate strips for late, early, and variable decelerations. I've helped new moms nurse babies, and done vital signs on newborns. I've been a part of families' lives for a few hours as they've given birth. It is an amazing experience.
The summer was a relative walk in the park compared to the pace of classes now. In addition to lots of reading, there has been a lot of discontent with grades on exams. The average scores for tests have been in the high 70 percent range. Many classmates have felt that some test questions are unfair. However this type of exam is the reality we will all face next summer when we take the NCLEX, the national nursing licensure exam.
The most exciting part of the program for me is definitely the clinical experiences. After just five or six weeks in a unit, you feel like you know everyone there and are part of the routine. However, every patient and every experience is so unique, that I could do the same assessment 100 times on 100 patients, and learn something new each time.
I continue to be amazed by how much we are allowed to see and do. The past rotation I've been in labor and delivery, postpartum care, and in the newborn nursery. What have I done there? Just about everything. I've seen c-sections and tubal ligations, and I held the forceps on a circumcision (not the prettiest of procedures!). I've seen amnioinfusions, induced labor, epidurals, and watched amniotic membranes being ruptured. I've learned how to read fetal heartrate strips for late, early, and variable decelerations. I've helped new moms nurse babies, and done vital signs on newborns. I've been a part of families' lives for a few hours as they've given birth. It is an amazing experience.
posted by Judith @ 4:35 PM
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