another week down, 7 to go...

It's Saturday morning, and I am currently relaxing in Washington DC! Amy (my roommate) needed to come down for the weekend to watch her brother's dog while he and his wife were out of town, so we thought it would be a fun escape from Baltimore. Not that I don't love Balmer (as locals call it) but it is nice to have a change of scene for a couple days. And aside from that -- I've never been to DC before! So we are planning to go out and tour the monuments today (hopefully this rain will die down... arghh) and then head out to Georgetown later this afternoon. I am SO excited! Expect some pictures to be posted later this weekend or next.

This week was a bit hectic with all our scheduled assignments and tests, and it's only going to get worse from here on out. We had our first exam in P&A this past Wednesday, and everyone was a bit of a wreck studying for it because we didn't know what to expect. It's an interesting process - you take the exam, hand it in, and then go over the answers right after so you know what your grade is. And of course it's a bit anxiety-provoking... and with all the "Type A" students in the class, you hear people rattling off their scores or arguing with each other about the validity of some of the answers. I'd almost rather not be there for that part... I felt that I prepared adequately for the exam, and it really didn't help to hear everyone complaining and stressing afterwards. But all I am concerned about is what I know and, more importantly, how much I understand it, so I am trying to tune out the rest of the class who feel that getting straight-A's is the top priority. The most important part of being in school is preparing for the patient interview, assessment, and treatment. I am studying in order to better serve my patients -- it doesn't matter what GPA I get as long as I am confident in using the information I am learning.

Up until this week, we had been focusing on nursing prinicples and the fundamentals of patient interviews, but now we are starting to learn more basic skills that we will use in our physical assessments. In P&A and HA, we started to learn about the respiratory assessment, including listening to breath sounds. I had been pretty familiar with all the skills we have been practicing so far (vital signs) because of my experience as a CNA, but this is new territory for me. Our school is well-equipped for teaching, though, and I am SO grateful for that. Our lab instructors are very patient with us and want us to understand this material, and on top of that, we have simulators that are some of the most helpful tools as we are getting our bearings. I know with more exposure and experience that this will all become more natural, but initially it's been such a benefit to have simulators. Basically, we have this high-tech robot that simulates everything for us to observe and listen to. Sim Man, as we call him, can breathe, with chest movement and breath sounds (in addition to many other life-like actions) so we can listen to what normal and abnormal breathing sounds like in order to help us recognize it in our patients. I can't tell you how much this has helped me! We are so lucky to have him - not many schools are so fortunate. Next week is cardiac, and I am looking forward to learning the normal and abnormal rhythms. Side note - we learned this week that patients that go into asystole (flat line) CANNOT be shocked with paddles, as we see on TV so often! I found that interesting... there needs to be some sort of electrical current running through the heart, no matter how irregular, because the shock will send it back into a regular rhythm. It cannot "jump start" a dead heart. Interesting, huh? I'm looking forward to the day that I can watch Grey's Anatomy and analyze there medical jargon and techniques... :)

I think that's all I really have for you today... my mind is a bit exhausted, and now I have to look ahead to the 2 exams, quiz, and paper that are due this coming week! Now it's off to explore DC!