Another manic Monday...

Clinicals are in full swing and going about as well as can be expected. It's been a challenge to even do the things I used to feel competent doing as a nurse. All of a sudden, starting IV's, putting on EKG pads and writing orders seems like rocket science! I could have sworn I was an ICU nurse for two years! We've had so much information shoved at us in the past 5 months, it's scary to realize how little I knew. Trying to retain all that new knowledge is another story....

Dealing with the different personalities has definitely been interesting. The sad thing about the medical profession is a lot of practitioners "eat their young". Don't get me wrong though, there are plenty of wonderful, knowledgeable, friendly CRNA's and MDA's out there, but many times the bad ones overshadow the good. I can understand how frustrating it might be to deal with a new group of students every year, but you think these people would realize that before they sign a contract to work at a "teaching" hospital. I try my best to just take it with a grain of salt, smile and nod, and check any ounce of competence I may have at the door.

Research is one of the most pointless, useless, time-wasting classes I have ever suffered through. What have I learned? That I hate research. Enough said. (I also advise anyone who is reading this that might be considering going to UTC to take this class before starting anesthesia school and also take it somewhere else!! just make sure it is the 4 hr. class)

The other 3 classes are bearable, but studying is a constant in my life. I feel guilty if I sleep past 8 am on the weekends, take more than a 10 minute shower, or spend more than a few hours away from my books/notes. I don't even think I have any clothes to wear this winter, but I have no time to shop! (I will have to make that a priority in the next few weeks)

Sadly, we have already lost two classmates due to personal reasons. If the rest of us can just make it through to January, hopefully things will begin to look up. Everyone always asks how school is going and my answer is usually some version of "it sucks". Then I get the dreaded "It will all be worth it in the end"....I know that, or else I would have quit already, seriously. I just try to remind myself that this too, will pass.

Back to the books!

Not enough time to think of a snazzy title!!

Clinicals are in full swing and with four classes on top of that, our plates are pretty full! My first week in the OR in children's was much better than I anticipated. I actually liked working with the little ones and the fast turnover meant there was never a dull moment. I intubated several kids, mask managed a few and even got to do a caudal (pretty much an epidural for a child). Although I wasn't sure of what I had done until it was over with and I started breathing again!

Last week and for the next 5 weeks I'm in the main OR at Erlanger just trying to learn the ropes and figure out all the crazy personalities....and there are lots of them! I think most of our anxiety revolves around our CRNA/anesthesiologist team that we are assigned to for the day. Let's just say that some are less intimidating than others. I've mostly been doing hands-on "skill work", IV's, intubations, mask ventilating and a little bit of charting. Once we get deeper into our pharmacology class and start learning more about the anesthetic drugs we can focus on the 'big picture'....until then I just try to get the tube in the right place and stay out of the way!

Early to bed....early to rise

My days of sleeping in are almost over! I've got to learn to function on 6-7 hours of sleep (if I'm lucky!!) instead of my usual 8-9. Clinicals start Monday so it'll be up by 4:30 for clinical days, M, Tu, Th, Fri...and 5 on Wednesdays (my "sleep in" day!). So we got our clinical schedules and of course I start out in the children's OR, by myself....there will be a senior student there, but no one else as virginal as me!! My senior "big sis" who was assigned to me at the start of the program was nice enough to take time out of her day this afternoon to show me around the children's OR (TC Thompson) which helped to ease my anxiety to some degree. I've never worked with kids much less even intubated an adult yet, so it should make for an interesting week! Hopefully, just like nursing school, I will be able to look back at laugh at all the silly little things I stressed over, but for now I think a little Xanax wouldn't hurt!

We were told today that interviews for the new class have already been set for November (letters haven't been sent out yet though)...it seems strange that it's almost time for interviews again! How time flies!

1 semester down....6 to go!

Summer semester is over, and fall classes resume August 17th. I'm trying to enjoy my last real break between now and graduation. Of course Daniel starts back to school Monday so while my classmates are at the beach, I'm stuck here in Gadsden!!! I've come to terms with it though. I've got a whole week to get some shopping done, not to mention this weekend is AL's tax free weekend!

My second day in the OR wasn't much more exciting than the first...I did start an IV, put down an OG and chart, but no "tube dance" yet. I'm sure I will have plenty of opportunities come fall.
Grades have been posted for the summer, and here is my "report card":


Semester: SUM 1 2009
NURS THEORY- B

ADV HEALTH ASSESSMENT-A

ADV HEALTH ASSESS LAB- A


Semester: SUM 2 2009
DIVERSITY/ETHICAL ISSUES- A

AD ANAT/PHYS NUR ANESTH- A

INTEG HEALTH SCIENCE NUR ANEST- B


I can live with those grades, especially since a "B" is now an 85-92 on the grading scale!

Fall is reportedly the most stressful semester of the program and I've heard things will finally start to "click" around April of next year...if I can make it til then, I've got it made! I'm not much of a morning person, but that will soon change. We will have clinicals for 4 hours a day, 4 days a week from 7-11 am. Although our scheduled start time is 7am, we are required to have our rooms set up and ready to go by 7, so for the first few weeks we will all be getting to the hospital around 5 am. (every week day except Wed.) On Wednesday mornings we will get to sleep in and won't have to be at Erlanger until 6 am! Wednesday mornings are set aside for clinical conference (discussion of cases, etc.) The afternoons are reserved for class time and the schedule is as follows:

NURS 501 NURS RESEARCH W 830-1200
NURS 543 AD ANAT/PHYS NUR ANES II TH 1230- 300
NURS 545 PRIN NUR ANES PRAC-BASIC W 130- 400
NURS 581 AD PHARM FOR NUR ANES I M 1230- 300

I've heard most of Research is online but we will still meet every other week, so this gives us Tues. and Fri. afternoons off. I guess I might have to become a coffee drinker too!

1st Day in the OR

Today was my first "official" day in the OR...a sort of mini-clinical before the real thing in September. My day was mostly observational, and I came in at 11 so the morning rush was over. I received some good advice: "Learn something new every day, even if it's only where the restroom is!" Here is what I learned today:

1.) At Erlanger, OR rooms 1-12 are to the right of the surgery board, the rest are to the left. I learned this after my instructor told me to go observe in room 6 and started walking down the hall to the left.

2.) If your CRNA tells you to sit in the breakroom for 5 minutes while she runs a quick personal errand, your instructor WILL happen to walk in the breakroom and ask "Do you need something to do?"

So, even though I didn't get to intubate or place an LMA, I learned two valuable lessons. Hopefully Tuesday in the OR (the 6:30-11 slot) will be more interesting!

So much to do....so little time

We are 4 weeks into the second summer semester, and busy would be an understatement. This semester we are taking Anatomy and Physiology, Integrated Health Sciences, and Diversity and Ethics (another one of those blah! classes). For the first three weeks we had a test every Monday and Thursday so every spare moment was spent studying...including 5-6 hours on Saturdays (I didn't even study that much for NCLEX!). We start "clinicals" tomorrow so the tests are starting to slow down, just adding new kinds of stress. Our rotations from now until August are mostly observational and include the OR, PAT (pre-addmission testing), PIV (starting IV's in pre-op), a day in the pharmacy and a day in the anesthesia workroom in the OR.

Our professors continuosly warn us about the "personalities" we will encounter in the OR once we start rotating through which is another point of stress.

Our class as a whole is very cohesive and hopefully our ability to work together and pull each other along will be greatly beneficial in the long run. Rachel and I have already made some great new friends and try to find a little time here and there to be social and get away from the books for a little while.

3 classes down...many more to go!

So it's already time to start the second summer semester this coming Monday the 22nd which includes: Integrated Health Science for Anesthesia, Anatomy and Physiology and Ethics. Seven weeks of those classes then Fall semester starts...


The first several classes weren't bad, Theory surprisingly turned out to be pretty easy just boring. Assessment was a good review of the things I'd forgotten from nursing school. Haven't received final grades yet, but hoping for all A's!



Since we only had class two days a week, we had some free time to explore Chattanooga and even had a chance to go to Riverbend a couple nights. We listened to Train, the B52's, Montgomery Gentry and the Commodores along with some local bands.





We are finally settled into the apartment and love it so far, although it's about 20 minutes to downtown and school, we like the area. Haven't had any neighbor troubles yet, and the pool is great for those hot southern summer days! Chip has even been to visit a few times and has actually behaved himself for the most part!

So my embroidered lab coat, which was a requirement by the school, got it's first use for our Assessment final. (We had to complete a pre-op assessment like the ones we will be doing at Erlanger...except I do believe this one was a little more in-depth than any pre-op assessment I've ever seen.) So I'll leave you with a picture of my fancy new coat...I've only got about 24 hours to enjoy a little free time before we start back to class!