Latin praise

I am delighted to report that I have been invited to join Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society for nursing! I am very very happy about this as it was one of my goals in completing this program. All my hard work and studying has paid off! Yahoo! The Quinnipiac chapter of the honor society is called Tau Rho. If you care to learn more about Sigma Theta Tau, go here: http://www.nursingsociety.org/aboutus/Pages/AboutUs.aspx

This week escaped me

Hi all,

So this week flew by faster than the blink of an eye. Classes have really heated up and we are in the middle of midterms, so most of my time has spend reading and studying and not sleeping. But now I will in fact go to sleep, and hopefully tomorrow I will be more coherent and have something slightly more meaningful to post!

Oscar Watch

Tonight is the oscars. I have always enjoyed the oscar telecast and look forward to it every year. This year I have only seen one of the movie nominated for Best Picture (Go Juno!!!) but I am sure I will enjoy the evening none the less. I just to get really really into it, having oscar parties with home-made ballots and would serve food "inspired" by the nominated films. Sometimes this was easy (Chocolat) and sometimes more difficult (A Beautiful Mind). And Jon Stewart is hosting, and he is my hero, so I am very excited about the showing. Now I just have to get some solid studying in before it starts. And because of the snow day, I have class tomorrow at 8AM, so I hope the show ends before midnight. Okay, wish Ellen Page good luck tonight!

SNOW DAY!!!

Yahoo! No classes due to large amounts of snow on the ground. But poor Jane had to go in. You know the saying, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, not gloom of night..." And I guess I should enjoy it while I can cuz you certainly don't get any snow days at the hospital. Sometimes they don't even let you leave. Okay, I think some hot cocoa is in order!

What I learned today

I learned a new term today. For severe pain experienced during ovulation. Ready for it? Mittelschmerz. The pain part, that's not funny. But the name? Makes me giggle.

Another day, another clinical

So today I actually got to see some patients in my community clinical. What's nice about community nursing is the schedule is a LOT more flexible. In the hospital, you have to be there 7 on the dot, and then are frantically going about your day trying to give your meds on time, get your assessments on time, your reporting on time so that you can finish everyone before the next shift comes in. In contrast, today we got to the office at 8:30, chatted for awhile, left around 9-ish for the visits and took our time. There was no mad rush, no frantic thoughts in the back of your mind like "I need to go hang that blood in the next room, and then Mr. Smith is due for dialysis in 10 minutes" while your patient goes on and on about their granddaughter. With community, you have the time to listen to their stories about their grandkids. And it's nice. I love the stories. Cuz the stories are funny, and moving, and heartbreaking, and frustrating. But they are all about people, and sometime what they need most in the world is someone to talk to. And that can inspire us to do more good.

Exciting news

With all my venting and catching up I did on my last post, I forgot to mention some happy news!
I am delighted to report that I have already been offered and have accepted a nursing position for after graduation!! I will be working at The Hospital of Central Connecticut on the Medical Telemetry floor (meaning they have been diagnosed with some medical condition like pnuemonia, GI bleed, DKA, organ failure, etc but also have an underlying cardiac condition that requires them to be on a heart monitor.) This is the same floor I did my internship at over the winter break and absolutely loved it there.
I guess the feelings were mutual cuz on my second to last day, the Nurse Manager tracked me down on the floor to ask me how I had enjoyed the internship. When I told her I had a great experience, she replied, "Good, because I set up an interview for you tomorrow with me and the Director." And that interview went well, cuz 15 minutes after, the manager tracked me down again to tell me "to be sure to call HR to set up a follow-up interview to discuss payroll and benefits, and that they would be expecting my
call."
So I did, and had a great chat with HR and left with a job offer. Which I have now accepted. And let me tell you, it is a HUGE relief already knowing I have a job lined up. And now I can sit back and relax as most of the other students are frantically getting letters of recommendations and updating their resumes. (Kinda like the feeling I had when I got accepted into Colby's early decision program).
So that makes me happy. I really love the hospital. It is the perfect size for me It is not gynormous and overwhelming like Yale or Hartford (or Mass General) but not a tiny rinky-dink neighborhood hospital. Everyone on my floor was really friendly and supportive (which sadly is not always the case with new nurses), and the hospital really values education and has a great tuition program. So I am very very happy about this. Plus several of my friends from school who also did the winter internship program also got job offers (on different floors). So i will have some freindly faces with me throughout the orientation. Yay for me!