First of all, it was so exciting to be in scrubs; I know that sounds lame, but for someone who has wanted to have her very own scrubs for like 6 years now, it was the first time I felt "real" in regards to medicine. I liked my clinical instructor and my group right away; we all get along really well and have a good time while still learning the skills we need. Today we were only learning how to properly make beds and bathe patients, which isn’t the most exciting, but it sounds like what we’re going to be doing most, since our rotation is at a nursing home (more on that later). It wasn’t as boring as it seemed like it would be in watching the preparation DVDs, and I actually got the hang of everything pretty quickly. Considering how unsure of my abilities I was this morning, I think I can get away with not sounding too conceited by saying that I’m proud of how well I did, with the skills and with asking/answering questions. We also practicing transferring patients from the bed to the stretcher, bed to chair, etc., and I got to say "On my count: 1, 2, 3" like they do on TV ;) The clinical was from 8-12 and 1-3:30, and the time actually went really quickly; I’m so excited to be doing hands-on things that are directly relevant to what I’ll be doing in nursing (did I mention the scrubs?!). Of course it's naive to judge an entire semester, much less career, based on one day of clinicals, and I'm sure there will be times I'm not as enthusiastic about it, but I've trusted my instincts so far, and it would take a lot to deter me from nursing at this point. That being said, I’m already overwhelmed by the amount of out-of-class time required for these classes, but it’s nice knowing how much it paid off today, and once I get into a routine, maybe I’ll get less stressed. Maybe ;)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Clinicals - Day One
Today was my first day of clinicals (note: today's class was in the College of Nursing's Clinical Simulation Lab; our in-hospital rotations don't start for 4 more weeks while we learn basic skills), and it basically confirmed that nursing is right for me. I was so nervous on the way to class (puking on my clean scrubs would not have been good haha), but once we got into our groups and started working on skills, all of my apprehension was gone. I had been worried about being unprepared, but I was actually one of the most prepared, having watched the skills videos and brought all necessary supplies, which was definitely a confidence-booster.
First of all, it was so exciting to be in scrubs; I know that sounds lame, but for someone who has wanted to have her very own scrubs for like 6 years now, it was the first time I felt "real" in regards to medicine. I liked my clinical instructor and my group right away; we all get along really well and have a good time while still learning the skills we need. Today we were only learning how to properly make beds and bathe patients, which isn’t the most exciting, but it sounds like what we’re going to be doing most, since our rotation is at a nursing home (more on that later). It wasn’t as boring as it seemed like it would be in watching the preparation DVDs, and I actually got the hang of everything pretty quickly. Considering how unsure of my abilities I was this morning, I think I can get away with not sounding too conceited by saying that I’m proud of how well I did, with the skills and with asking/answering questions. We also practicing transferring patients from the bed to the stretcher, bed to chair, etc., and I got to say "On my count: 1, 2, 3" like they do on TV ;) The clinical was from 8-12 and 1-3:30, and the time actually went really quickly; I’m so excited to be doing hands-on things that are directly relevant to what I’ll be doing in nursing (did I mention the scrubs?!). Of course it's naive to judge an entire semester, much less career, based on one day of clinicals, and I'm sure there will be times I'm not as enthusiastic about it, but I've trusted my instincts so far, and it would take a lot to deter me from nursing at this point. That being said, I’m already overwhelmed by the amount of out-of-class time required for these classes, but it’s nice knowing how much it paid off today, and once I get into a routine, maybe I’ll get less stressed. Maybe ;)
First of all, it was so exciting to be in scrubs; I know that sounds lame, but for someone who has wanted to have her very own scrubs for like 6 years now, it was the first time I felt "real" in regards to medicine. I liked my clinical instructor and my group right away; we all get along really well and have a good time while still learning the skills we need. Today we were only learning how to properly make beds and bathe patients, which isn’t the most exciting, but it sounds like what we’re going to be doing most, since our rotation is at a nursing home (more on that later). It wasn’t as boring as it seemed like it would be in watching the preparation DVDs, and I actually got the hang of everything pretty quickly. Considering how unsure of my abilities I was this morning, I think I can get away with not sounding too conceited by saying that I’m proud of how well I did, with the skills and with asking/answering questions. We also practicing transferring patients from the bed to the stretcher, bed to chair, etc., and I got to say "On my count: 1, 2, 3" like they do on TV ;) The clinical was from 8-12 and 1-3:30, and the time actually went really quickly; I’m so excited to be doing hands-on things that are directly relevant to what I’ll be doing in nursing (did I mention the scrubs?!). Of course it's naive to judge an entire semester, much less career, based on one day of clinicals, and I'm sure there will be times I'm not as enthusiastic about it, but I've trusted my instincts so far, and it would take a lot to deter me from nursing at this point. That being said, I’m already overwhelmed by the amount of out-of-class time required for these classes, but it’s nice knowing how much it paid off today, and once I get into a routine, maybe I’ll get less stressed. Maybe ;)
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YAY! I'm so excited that you loved your clinicals and that you actually do things that they do on the TV. Haha. Oh, and cute scrubs.
ReplyDeleteP(dot)S. I'm legitimately thrilled that your tag-line is "wiping butts and taking names." I understand it may change in the next two years, bur for know, I feel important. :)