You dream of range of motion exercises at night.... and wake up actually doing range of motion exercises!

Yup, that was me. Our first clinical skills check off was this week, and though this was the most basic of the skill check offs we will ever have, we were all a little nervous. I enjoyed a late study group the night before and fell into bed exhausted. As I frequently do the night before a test, I dreamed of the material I needed to know the next day and awoke in the middle of raising my arm over my head, 'exercising' my shoulder.

Passed my first set of clinical skills!

In every group there seems to always be one person who can't help but try to stir up some drama. Is it from boredom? Does it make them feel more important, or noticed? As the person who prefers to sit in the back corner and be noticed as little as possible, I can't answer these questions.

We have one in our class. At first I thought it was going to be horrible sharing class with this person for the next 18 months. But then I realized that most others in our class seemed to share in my frustration with this person. And then, it was almost as though they realized that they weren't making any friends with their abrasive nature. They started being a bit quieter, less apt to force their way into every lecture and finding fewer nasty comments to throw out about our fellow class mates. It was really nice while it lasted.

The quiet is over.

Instead we are having to endure more and more harsh comments. Cutting down of more students. It just makes the whole class roll their eyes as this person interjects yet again. Some class mates seem to be more sensitive to this than others. More than a few students have received e-mails letting them know that the class as a whole did no agree with this person, and trying to smooth any hurt feelings that may have been caused.

A friend went to one of our instructors to get their opinion on what was going on and to ask if maybe an effort should be made to try to get the rest of the class to not be so frustrated by our pot stirrer. The conversation didn't mention names or identifying statements but the instructor did interject that she had seen the behaviors that were frustrating us, and asking my friend not to try to calm the class down, but to allow this person to dig whatever hole they were going to dig and live with the consequences.

Fair enough.

I'm so glad that I genuinely enjoy the company of the majority of my class mates.

Yesterday was our first clinical orientation. It felt a little weird, the group of us in uniform, touring the facility as though we belonged there. As is typical with many nursing programs, the organization is patchy at best. The head of the facility was asking our clinical instructor what we hoped to experience while in their facility... and our instructor had no idea. It all feels very fly by the seat of their pants. Surprisingly, I'm one of the students having the easiest time just going with the flow. Getting worked up about it wont make them any more organized, so it just isn't worth getting upset. So, in two weeks, my clinical group will head in and experience clinicals for the first time!

Our first few test scores are coming in, and so far I'm doing well. Really well! I'm not worried about failing out of my first quarter of nursing school anymore, and it feels good!

One of the questions I hear asked a lot... and a question I had myself is: How different is the nursing program from pre-reqs? Is the work load a lot more?

My answer: It's nearly impossible to explain to someone just what being in the nursing program is like. For us, the work load is intense. I compare it to your worst, most crazy, hell week from A&P... that would be your coasting week in nursing school. There is this whole new level of homework to do, projects to collaborate on, and tests to study for. One of the big differences between pre-reqs and nursing school is that in my pre-reqs the instructor tried to balance the work. We generally did not have a big test, and big paper or project all due at the same time. In my nursing classes we frequently have a few major things due all at once, and for multiple classes. An example of this would be coming up in 3 weeks. We have a major paper due Wednesday, as well as a test for that class. The class later in the day has the ATI test. The next day we have another major project and presentation. And we have 2 clinical days, 8 hours each, on Monday and Tuesday, so we can't plan to have any time to study on those days.

We are learning to lean on each other to get through. This is something that our instructors have noticed, and are thrilled with. The 2 classes preceding ours have not been nearly as cohesive as our group has already become. We have a group e-mail list that is in nearly constant use. study groups, help with a homework question, proofing of papers... cheering each other on. I like this very much about our group!

There is no quicker way to make a bad impression to your clinical instructor than to show up to orientation at your clinical location over 30 monutes late, not in uniform and your only excuse was not knowing where the facility was.

Thankfully, I made no such error and can now feel fairly confident that I'm not the most dislilked student.

It's hard to believe we've completed a month already! On the other hand, I can't believe it's only been a month!

Last week was a quadruple stress, with 3 tests and a research paper, plus our normal weekly homework. The stress was palpable in class Wednesday morning, and there was crying in the hall after the test. Not me, thankfully. I didn't do as well on that first test as I had hoped, but it was enough to pass with room to spare.

So, even though we have another midterm this week, we are all feeling like we have less of an impossible task in front of us. Just our normal homework, reading and studying for one test... doable!

I think things are about to take a turn towards slightly more challenging in our clinical labs. We've gone over washing our hands, throwing our paper towel away, making the beds (with mitered corners!), bed baths, range of motion and vital signs. Next lab will show us how to do a head to toe assessment, and the week after we will be clinical skills checkoffs.

Why, yes I am! This paper has sucked every last drop of motivation out of me. I only have my conclusion, a little revision, and my references page left to do. Logically, I know I could finish in less than 2 hours.... but I'd much rather not.

Kids are fighting, must go play mom!