Psych Exam #2

I got an 82.

I don't know how I did it, but I did it. There definitely had to be some Divine intervention because when I walked out of that exam, I really felt like it didn't go well. AT ALL. I felt way better about the first exam, and ended up with an 82, so I was convinced that this didn't bode well. I thought that there was no way I had gotten anything higher than a 78 at the very most. But I got an 82. I was stunned.

From what I have heard so far, 83 seems to be the highest exam grade, and that was from a guy who got a 92 on the first exam. Other people who did really well on the first exam saw significant drops in their grades on this exam, and even people who didn't do well on the first exam saw them as well. I stayed the same. I just can't even believe it. This was a hard exam.

It's amazing how an 82 can seem mediocre one minute and make you feel like you're intelligent the next. That's just how I roll, I guess.

I had my first clinical last Thursday, and I have to say, it was very interesting. All we're supposed to do is walk around and talk to patients all day and attend group therapy meetings with them. We have learned a little bit about"how" we are supposed to talk to the patients, but to actually talk that way is another story. It's pretty hard trying to think ahead in your brain, figuring out what you should be saying next while you are trying to listen at the same time and not seem distracted. It's also hard to talk to people about "difficult" topics, such as suicide, which is what I had to talk with one of my patients about. I was on the more difficult unit. There are two. One with patients who are less aggressive and with mood disorders such as depression. The other unit is patients with psychosis (break with reality), which consists of mostly schizophrenic patients. We did have a bipolar person and a couple of depressed patients because the calmer unit was full. But I have to say the experience was very interesting, and very sad.

Its hard for me to deal with schizophrenia. After learning about the disease, I've learned that the onset of this disease is usually late adolescence to early adulthood; most commonly, college-aged students. Because this disease has NO cure, and a lot of the patients are not responsive to treatments, I find it hard to see these young people, with their whole lives ahead of them, succumb to a disease where they live their life outside of reality, engaging in constant, daily battles with their hallucinations and delusions......to live like that for the rest of your life......it's just hard for me. It makes me very sad.

But, the disease is very interesting, and I actually have a neighbor who lives in my building who has some type of schizophrenia. I like learning about it. I just don't like seeing it in real life.

Whoa. That got deep for a minute.

Anyway, Psych is going well so far. I am learning a lot and its very interesting, but I don't think this is the type of nursing I see myself doing. It seemed like all the nurses did all day was chart. While as my past rotations have shown me that a nurse is constantly charting, it seems like there was a lot more interaction with the patients. Now it's not like they don't ever interact with the patients, and it's not like there isn't anyone talking to the patients all day. There are techs walking around constantly talking to the patients and whatnot, but it just seems like the nurses do nothing but charting.

Well, that's all for today. Stay tuned. Clinical #2 coming up this Thursday. 2 weeks of school left and then it's summer break!! Woo hoo.

Psych Exam #1 Results

Two weeks into my six week Nursing Psych class and there isn't a whole lot to report. My hospital clinical time doesn't begin until June, and I have only 3 hospital clinical days, so there hasn't been anything to report about there. My first exam was today, so until now, there just hasn't been much to talk about.

I had thought that I studied pretty well for this test, so I was a little taken aback to see that I got an 82. An 82 is considered a C (83-91 is a B, 92-100 is an A). While this is still a decent grade, I am nervous because the second test is supposed to be more difficult than the first, and in order to get a B in the class I will need to get an 83 and 84 on the next two exams or some combination of
167 points within the next 2 exams. The good news is that I need a minimum of 68 on the next two exams to pass, which I think I could pull off.

Clinical begins June 3rd and my next exam is June 7th. So look for more updates then. Only a little over 4 more weeks until summer break. Can't wait!!

The Waiting Game

begins.

Today I sent out my scholarship package to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the Health Resources and Services Administration's Nursing Scholarship Program. According to their website, the program is competitive and there are usually a lot of applicants:

EXPECTED NUMBER OF AWARDS
The NSP for the 2010-2011 school year is expected to be very competitive. The Program anticipates more applicants for scholarship awards than there are funds available. It is expected that 500 awards will be made for the 2010 – 2011 school year.

PAST AWARDS
In FY 2009, NSP received 425 eligible applications and made 189 initial awards and 15 continuation awards.
In FY 2008, NSP received 340 eligible applications and made 169 initial awards and 5 continuation awards.

If selected, I would find out by July 31. If not, I should hear something concrete by September 30. I suppose that is in case those who are selected either turn down the scholarship or do not provide their additional documentation in time.

Today I also completed my online application for the Tylenol Scholarship Program. If selected, I should hear something by July 15th.

It looks like the month of July will be a test to my patience, well at least the last 2 weeks of July anyway.

And so the waiting game begins.

Peds Is

now officially over! It was fun while it lasted, but it is over none-the-less.

Today was the final. I studied hard and at times I probably hardly studied. I made some big mistakes during my second test that ended up costing me my B for the class. But I am proud to say that I got an 86 on my final, which is a B and is very good, especially since the grades I've been hearing coming back have been a 90, an 88, another 86, an 85, an 84, an 82, an 80 and a 78. So overall I did very well. And while I didn't actually get a B, I can know that I have "B" knowledge in my brain. I just have to remember how to use it sometimes.

I have a week off and then psych begins. It's summer term now, which means the class is a little shorter; only 6 weeks. But then....oh my.....after this next 6 weeks I will begin my long awaited 2 month long summer break. TWO MONTHS OFF! Only 7 weeks and counting.........

Peds Clinical Days Are Over

My Peds clinical days ended abruptly on Wednesday during post-conference when my instructor advised us that it would be our last day in the hospital. You see, next Wednesday was supposed to be our last day in the hospital, but apparently JCAHO, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, will be in the hospital checking things out. And apparently, the hospitals don't want students around (for good reasons, and its not just this hospital.....some of the other Peds clinical groups at another hospital had the same issue). So instead I have to meet at school and watch a few videos. While I am happy to be out next Wednesday by 1pm instead of 6pm, I feel a bit jipped that that could have been my very last pediatric experience ever, and I didn't even know it until it was over. I was actually looking forward to another hospital day, and while watching movies is great and all, you just don't get the same learning experience as you would in real life. Everything is always different in real life.

And so there it is. My Peds clinical days are over. I'm still not sure of the role Peds may have in my future, but it still is a contender. I still have a year of rotations to figure it out. But for now, my Peds final is in 9 days, in 16 days Psych begins, and in just over 8 weeks I will begin my long awaited and definitely needed 2 month summer vacation. I'm almost half-way there!

Failing

It's not something I like to include as part of my vocabulary. It's something I had hoped to completely elude during my nursing school journey. I had seen so many people fail exams, and subsequently fail the classes and I did not ever want to be a part of that group. Unfortunately, I am a part of the group.

I have officially failed my first nursing exam. 11 exams down, 16 more to go. 10 passed, 1 failed. Sigh.

Passing is 73 or higher and I scored a measly 70. Wow. I'm not sure I even have words.

Now, the upside to all of this is that I am still passing my class. In fact, I only need a 65 on the final to pass and apparently, according to the teacher, the next test is supposed to be easier. She has said that the first and last exams people tend to do well on while the second test is supposed to be the zinger. A zinger it was.

Just about everyone had a drop in their grades; some more than others. I can count on two hands the number of people I talk to regularly that failed. I haven't even talked to everyone yet, either. Its going to be an interesting Monday.

I will admit that I am being hard on myself. I know that it's not the end of the world and that best of all, I am still passing. It could be worse. It could be a lot worse. But I know that I can do better and that is why I am so upset. I should have done better. I can think of 6 or 7 or 8 mistakes at least, that should have been correct answers. I don't like to make excuses, but I can't help but think that maybe this had something to do with not getting much sleep the night before. I had went to bed at almost 2am, then woke up at 5am because my poor Nate had a bad dream and then after getting back to sleep at 5:20am, I got out of bed at around 6:15am after hitting the snooze every 5 minutes since 5:45am. So essentially, I had about 3 hours of sleep. Not a good night's sleep the night before an exam. Heck, not a good night's sleep for anything. But like I said, I don't want to to try to make excuses. I made some stupid mistakes and I hope that I have learned enough from them to not repeat them again.

So here I am, dusting myself off and moving forward. I'm admittedly not the best student in the world, but it's gotten me this far. I am going to try my hardest to study as much as I can over the next 2 weeks. I am studying for a 95 on my final. That would earn me a B for the class. Is it possible to get a 95? Yes. Is it probable? No. But if I don't try for a 95, then I certainly won't get a 95. And at the very least, I will pass Peds.

Peds Clinical Yesterday

My clinical yesterday was pretty uneventful. I had 2 patients: a 2 year old boy with asthma and pneumonia (in both lungs) and an 11 year old girl with stomach issues. (sadly, the 11 year old is probably 4 inches taller than me) While I was at lunch, my 11 year old got discharged and was on her way home. Ironically, it seemed that I had more down time with 2 patients then the previous week with 1. at any rate, I find it funny that right before clinicals, I find myself dreading going. I'm not sure why, but I do. I don't know if its the fact that I can't just stay home and hang out, or if its a fear of what the day may bring. But I find once I walk through the hospital doors, I am fine. There really wasn't much going on with my patients except that my 2 year old had to be on constant oxygen via a mask otherwise his oxygen saturation levels would drop below normal levels. They were watching him and repeating tests to decide whether or not to move him into PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). As of when I left the floor last night, he was not going to be moved to PICU.

In other news, I found out from some friends who have my lecture teacher as their clinical instructor that the highest grade in the class was a 90, which is also a B. And after talking to others, it seems that mostly people scored in the high 70's, low 80's. I know someone who got an 89, 2 people that got an 86, one person who got an 85 and then two other people who got an 84 like me. We have about 55 people in our class, so I suppose this means the test was hard if the scores are as they were??? Not sure. But I am still proud, and relieved, that I got a B. Now I am just working on trying (since I haven't started yet) to study ahead of time for my next test. I really slacked off with the first one and I didn't really look over any of my notes until the last few days. I heard the second test is more difficult than the first, and I certainly don't want to lose my B.