There's no crying in nursing

Is it still Tuesday? It already seems like it's been quite the long week. This Friday is my first test. I'm trying to prepare, but the amount of information is so overwhelming! Today after lab I met with my mentor. It was so helpful. We went through my notes and discussed some of the main concepts, important buzz words, types of test questions, etc. I know that this test will probably be the easiest as far as content is concerned (note pharmacology will be on test two.....), but just getting used to the types of questions will be a challenge. They are basically all application questions where you are given a scenario and asked to choose the best option. ALL of the possibilities could be correct, but you have to know which one is best. This is how the questions are posed on the NCLEX exams so they start us off testing this way. I know, I'll thank them later.

Today we had lab instead of clinical. That means I still had a long day, but it was in the lab at school instead of in the hospital. We were taught how to perform a sterile dressing change....on a sweet potato. I really wished I had had my camera. I did google "sterile dressing change on a sweet potato". ha! Nothing came up. Clearly I need to photo this and post it to the world wide web. It's hard to imagine, but we went were put in groups of four, given a baked sweet potato that had been cut down the middle and "junk" had been squirted and sprinkled on it (think cake decorations), to mimic it being a wound. An oozing icky wound. Anyone grossed out yet? Yeah i may be scarred for life in eating another baked sweet potato. It gets worse. We had to proceed just like it was someones leg or abdominal wound, packing it with saline saturated gauze and covering it with 2x2 gauze squares and then taping it down. It was really good practice because there is a lot involved when creating a sterile environment and keeping your gloves, materials, etc from becoming contaminated. When in doubt, wash your hands. Words to live by!

Lots of studying to get done. The pug is feeling a little neglected. When she's in trouble she goes under the table with her toy. Usually she's tearing the stuffing out of her toy and thinks I can't get to her under there.