New semester :)

Last week was my first week of Nursing 350/351, also known as my third semester in the nursing program. This semester we start clinical right at the beginning of the semester instead of waiting until lab is over, so I started clinical on Wednesday of last week already! We still have lab for 7 weeks though, we just have lab and clinical at the same time. In lab this semester we learn how to hang IV's, give IV push meds, insert catheters, do dressing changes, and inserting NG tubes. Lab is pretty interesting, at leas the things we are learning are things that we will actually be doing during our clinical rotation this semester. Last week we learned to hang IV's and give IV push meds so that was kind of cool since we got to actually spike and hang the bags and learn to prime the tubing. Yay real nursing skills.

This semester I am doing my first Med. Surg rotation and mental health, starting with Med. Surg. My clinical rotation for the next 6 weeks is at St. Mary's Lack's Cancer Center in Grand Rapids (The pic is of the hospital). I really like the hospital and LOVE my instructor. I have heard a lot of great things about her and about the experience that people have had on the floor that I am on so I'm really looking forward to it. The floor we are on has a variety of patients that we will be taking care of. There are many patients with cancer, but also a lot of patients that are in the hospital post-surgery for things like bariatric surgery, and colon, lung, and abdominal surgeries. This week we had orientation on Wednesday and just got a feel for the hospital, learning the computer charting system, taking a tour, and filling out paperwork. Then Thursday we just shadowed a nurse to get an idea of how they do things and how their day goes. I really love the floor and the nurses are GREAT. I think I am going to learn tons from this rotation, which is really exciting. This week we start taking on our own patients (Scary). So hopefully that all goes well. We shall see :)