Weeks 1 and 2----Fall 2011 Begins

So school has begun again!  It has not been easy to adjust to not being on break anymore...but I am surviving.

The first week left me pretty crazy and overwhelmed...as most first weeks do.  It always seems like there are a million things that need to get done and that you will need to do....and NOT ENOUGH TIME or brain capacity to do it.  Clinicals, exams, outside shadowing, etc.

The worst part of this program is that they don't have a very organized system.  After we started the program they put us in all these outside classes and require us to do all this outside work that they did not inform us of before we started the semester, let alone the program.  There are even things they spring on us the week or day of.  It can get REALLY frustrating.  But this is how it was over the summer too.  And so we have learned to just roll with the punches.  Cause there is nothing we can really do about it.  So we just learn to deal.

I have a pretty crazy schedule these days.  I either have a LOT of free time...or no free time at all.  Because of this...in order to get a bit of motivation on weeks when I have three days of no classes...but tons to do...I have gotten myself a job.

I'm not a huge fan of it.  It pays dirt and is really difficult to fit into my crazy schedule.  But at least it gives me something to do on empty days.  I work at the library cataloging...which is similar to my old job at the BYU library so that is nice I guess.  But its not the BYU library...so I am a little bitter about it.

Classes are difficult to attend since they are only ever Thursdays and Fridays.  It makes it hard to jump back into 4-6 hour lectures after 3 days off...or 3 days of clinicals.

I am currently enrolled in Pediatrics, Nursing of the Childbearing Family (OB) and Nursing of Adults (Med/Surg).  I also am in a terrible class called Psychosocial Issues in Nursing.

Momentary rant about this class.....it is a PRE-NURSING course...that the powers that be decided we had to take.  This was not decided until right before classes started this fall.  If we had taken it at the beginning of the program, maybe we would have appreciated it more.  But at this point it is simple common sense things that we have already covered in other nursing classes.  And to top it all off....we are in this class with  PRE-NURSING students.  Think about it......Accelerated students....all with one, many with more that one, previous degrees and who are a third of the way through with their program, mixed in with college FRESHMAN who are simply investigating a nursing degree!!!  Not beneficial for either group!  We terrify the little ones who are 5-10 years younger than us...and they drive us COMPLETELY crazy.  Alright...rant done!

On a more cheerful note........I LOVE OB!!!!!!!!
This week I was able to do a rotation on the post-partum floor.  This includes mothers who have just delivered as well as the well-baby nursery.  AND I LOVED IT!!!!!  Everyone there is healthy and happy.  It is a slower paced floor so you actually have time to talk with your patients and chart!  NOVEL!!!  I also really like the other nurses on the floor.  They are really great teachers....as they have to be since their primary role is teaching new mothers.  So someday who knows....I may end up on a PP/OB floor!