Week 12 Almost There!

What?

This week we did not have class so there isn't much to say there. I am not going to be able to go to the conference in SLC, although I wish I could have.

Here are a few pictures from our service learning project that I forgot to post a couple of blogs ago. We really did have a lot of fun teaching these kids about nutrition.

I still need to get a move on with that paper. It is my job to begin it. Unfortunately I have to work in the morning so the paper might have to wait until tomorrow night or Saturday morning to get started.

I also learned this week that I definitely DO NOT want to be a psych nurse. I had a bad experience at clinicals due to a break down in therapeutic communication. I almost had a table flipped on me because another nurse spoke with a patient in the wrong way. That environment is a little bit too violent for me. 

Now What?

There's not really too much to say at all this week. I kind of feel like a broken record. I am definitely ready to have this whole project done with.

Now that I know I don't want to work in psych I can focus in on other areas of nursing that I am interested in. I feel like I can make more informed decisions about my career because I attend these clinicals. I don't remember if I said this before but I had a really really good experience with a CRNA at Timp hospital the other day. He really kind of took me under his wing and talked to me through an entire surgery. I might look into doing that in the future. But that is far in the future so I have a long time to consider it.

So What?

This semester is almost over and I feel like I have learned a lot. But I have also learned (mostly through ATI testing) that I have a ton left to learn before I graduate. I am excited for the next semester. I am really looking forward to complex disorders and mother-baby.

Hopefully my next blog will be titled "Service Learning Project is Complete!"

Week 11 - Relief....Well Kinda

What?

We finished our service learning volunteer hours and this has been the first week without that looming over my head. I had a paper to write and a couple of tests to do this week so I did not really focus on the service learning project. It was nice to not have to think about it for once this semester. I have most of the documentation of the project and I need to get started on writing the paper. My group is going to help out with the paper once I get it started. Unfortunately, I know that starting a paper is half of the battle. It is one of the hardest things, but it will get done.

In class this week we talked a lot about what life will be like when we are nurses. Most of what I remember is discussing finding jobs and the things we have to deal with (i.e. death) when we do work in a healthcare environment. I found this to be one of the most interesting classes we've had this semester. The fact that it was outside was not too shabby either.

So What?

So now I have to get off my lazy butt and start writing this paper so that my group can have a solid foundation for the paper. We also need to get together to discuss and practice how we are going to present our project to the class. I will admit, I am a little nervous about the presenting.

I find it very important to think about life after school. I have often thought about where I need to position myself professionally to reach my ultimate goals. I know that I want to go on to be a nurse practitioner of some sort but I need to figure out a specialty area so that I can work in that direction. My biggest problem is that I keep jumping around. One week I think I want to be a CRNA so I think aobut ICU jobs and the next week I'll think about being a CMA and look into labor and delivery jobs. The sometimes, out of nowhere, I think about being a pharmacist. I'm not quite sure where that one comes from.

Now What?

Now I will need to plan a time to work on my paper. I find that I get my work done best when I plan a big chunk of time to work on it. I think that working on something for hours at a time helps me to maintain focus on that one task. I think that I will be more successful with this project if I plan the time well.

I will also continue to explore my options of grad school. I don't have to decide what I want to be right now but I do need to consider all of my options so that I can best position myself in the correct job to get to where I'm going. I have already begun that process by working as a CNA at IMC. This has put me into a position where I can more easily get a job in a hospital as an RN. Even though it's hard to work like this and go to school, I do not think I will regret it.

Week 10- Finally Some Service Learning Hours!

What?

We completed the volunteer/teaching portion of our service learning project! It is an amazing feeling to be done with it! I have worried about it all semester. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. We taught several classes at American Fork High School about nutrition and reading nutrition labels.I thought that the students would be very difficult and that we would not have enough activities/lecture to fill the entire 80 minute blocks of the classes we taught.

We learned about essential oils in class this week. I have thought about getting some to help me relax but I didn't just want to buy some at a big retailer because I was pretty sure that those oils would not be as effective. I was surprised at how many oils there are and how many things they can do.


So What?

I think I learned a lot about myself during this teaching experience. I learned that I am not as shy as I thought I was. Speaking in public is really getting easier for me and I think that's because I have to force myself to do it all the time in my classes. I also learned a lot of organizational skills necessary for preparing lessons and activities for learning activities. It is definitely a lot of work and I gained a lot of respect for my teachers.

I learned that maybe essential oils are not for me. I have always been very sensitive to smells. Strong smells in particular give me very bad headaches. After being around the essential oils in class I learned that I might get headaches, not relaxation from using essential oils.

Now What?

Now all we have to do is finish up our project by putting together our presentation for class and writing our paper. I really do feel like the hardest part of this semester is over. I also believe that now I can be more confident in my abilities to present information in front of large crowds. The beginning of this project was a nightmare but now I am actually glad that I had to do it. I feel like I have grown a lot and learned a lot about myself by doing service learning at American Fork high school.

Since I don't believe the essential oils will work for me, I will have to find other ways to relax. I hope that when I do find a way to relax I will have far fewer headaches. Maybe I should start doing something like yoga. My parents did that for a while and they seemed to really like it.

Only 1 more month to go until 2nd semester is over! Only 1 more year until we're all registered nurses!

Week 9 - Preparing, Preparing, Preparing!

What?

We officially start preparing our lesson plan tomorrow morning! I'm starting to get more nervous the closer we get to actually doing the project. I'll be glad to get it over with. Then it will just be writing the fat paper and preparing for the final presentation. Those bits won't be so hard, I think. The hardest part of this project was simply finding one to do. Now it's just a matter of doing it and everything will be great!

In class we talked a lot about alternative medicines and health care provider's attitudes toward these types of care. There was a lot more of a heated debate than I expected. I'm not really sure where I stand on the subject because I have never really tried any kinds of alternative treatments.I have wanted to try them, though, so I think that now may be as good of a time as any to learn about these treatments.

So What?

So now I can stop worrying about this service learning project!

I do think that alternative treatments are something I should be knowledgeable about because a lot of people use these treatments and a lot of people have strong opinions on the subject. These treatments may also help me and my health. I think what I really need to focus on is reducing my stress level. I should figure out where to buy the essential oils for a good price and make time in my schedule for other activities such as yoga.

Now What?

Now I need to push through the last bit of the semester and get this project done. I am excited to be able to blog about something other than stressing about the project.

Now I need to find the time and energy to put into trying new methods of health care. If I can find something that works well for me then I may just become a firm believer in alternative treatments for common ailments.

Week 8 - Halfway There!

What?

The semester is halfway over and the only hours I have so for the service learning project are prep hours. I wonder if I could count the 6 weeks of looking for a project towards my hours....probably not. We got word from the teacher that we are working with that he wants us to teach about reading nutrition labels and important nutrients. This is a different from what I originally thought we were teaching but that's okay. I think that teaching about nutrition labels will be more challenging than teaching about eating disorders but I am up for the challenge.

We mostly discussed the test in class this week. I think that it helped a lot to talk about it because it helped to clarify the rationale behind some of the questions that I got wrong; even though most of those were dropped.

So What?

Reading nutrition labels is really important for young people to understand. Being able to read nutrition labels can help people to make better decisions about the food that they eat. When healthy habits are started young they are easier to maintain throughout the lifetime. I think that we will also bring in the nutrition facts of foods from popular restaurants. I hope that this will open the eyes of the kids to what they are really consuming when they eat their favorite foods.

I'm glad I got to see the questions that were dropped on the test. It made me more confident for the next test.

Now What?

I really need to brush up on reading nutrition labels. I was looking at a nutrition label the other day and I could only remember a few of the main points of reading labels. I think that it will also help to prepare more than enough material to cover the 80 minutes of each class. I would hate to run short of things to do and have a class of 30 teenagers just staring at me. I'm going to spend some time practicing the important points of the lecture. I often get nervous when speaking in front of people so I think that practicing will help calm my nerves and help me to remember everything I need to teach.

Now that I know the rationale behind a lot of the questions I can direct my studying in a different way. This will help me to do better on the next test. I think that I will have less anxiety about the next test as well because I already know the testing style.

Week 7- Not Too Much Goin' On

What?

Well we haven't started our service learning project because we are waiting for the teacher to tell the exact subjects he wants us to educate the students on. We have a couple of weeks left until we teach so it won't be so bad. I'm a little bit nervous about teaching high school students but I think that since there will be three of us there we will be alright.

We didn't have class this week due to the birth of a baby so there really is not anything to discuss in that area. I can't wait to go over the test so I can see how to improve for the next test. 

I just can't wait for this semester to be over so I can look back at how much we really accomplished. I'm really excited to move forward in the program and learn as much as I can before I get to be a nurse!

So What?

Well the "so what?" on our service learning project is that we actually have one that has not fallen through! So that's exciting, given our past luck. We can get this huge part of our grade done with and stop worrying about it! I swear I have spent more time worrying about hat project than I have spent worrying about every other assignment in all of our classes combined. But it will be over soon and my group will do well. That is my new mantra.

"So what" good is the test review? What a silly question! Test reviews are always useful in learning the professor's teaching and testing style. I will have a better idea of how to study for the next test.

The good part about moving on in the nursing program is being one step closer to my goal! Not to mention being more prepared for that ultimate goal!

Now What?

Now we wait. We wait for the high school teacher to send us the subjects so we can prepare our lesson plans. We wait for the day of our actual teaching (which is still undecided). We wait until we have enough information to write our ten page paper. We wait to prepare our powerpoint presentation. We wait to present our project in our final. We wait for the test review. We wait for the semester to be over. We wait to graduate from the nursing program. We wait for success.

Now we wait.

Week 6 - Finally!

What?

We have a service learning project! Our contract is signed and we're ready to start! We're going to be teaching a couple of high school health classes about eating disorders. The teacher will approve the material we prepare and then we just go teach. I think it will be several 80 minute class periods. I'm pretty stoked because I am so stressed out from looking for projects that I would have taken any that come my way.

We didn't have class this week so there's nothing to talk about there. I wasn't too happy with my test score. I will just have to study harder for the next one.

So what?

Now that we have a project to do we can get our experience in service learning. I always thought about what it would be like to be a teacher. I never really considered it because I really did not like k-12 school. I don't know if I just went to bad schools or what. I also really don't like public speaking. I know that it's a little bit different when you're the teacher and you're in charge of the class but then you get everyone complaining at you when they don't like your style of teaching or they don't like the grade they get. I just don't want to deal with it. At least with this project I won't technically be in charge of the class so I'll only have to deal with the public speaking bit.

I was kind of hoping that our service learning project would be in a field that I enjoy or am interested in but since that is not an option this far into the semester I will test out my skills as a teacher. I hope that there will be more opportunities to explore my interests/passions in the future.

Now what?

We're going to have to start gathering our information for the powerpoint and activities we'll be doing in the classes. It seems like it will take a lot of work but we do have 10 hours worth of prep time that we need to fill anyway. Hopefully it doesn't take too much longer than 10 hours because that is already a lot between all of the other coursework we have to do this semester.

We're also going to have to get started on that 10 page paper we have to do along with the service learning. I am not really sure that we'll have enough information to fill up 10 pages worth of writing but it will all work out in the end, I am sure of it.

I always have to remind myself that when all of this hard work is over, I'll be a nurse. That is the most exciting thing of all.