Blog posts August 2009

Eventful Day at Practicum

Nurses in BC get a lot of great education before they go out into practicum, especially into the hospital. If you are in school, pay special attention to the CVA and dementia classes. You will come into a lot of it in practice.

From my practicum experience today, all I can say is it's very important to try and understand the underlying cause of certain actions. A post-CVA patient may have inappropriate behaviors, even compative behaviors. These are not always because of the patienthaving a mean spirit. They could very well be sweethearts. They could also be watching themselves exhibiting these behaviors without knowing how to stop themselves. They have actual damage to their brain that can cause them to lose their self control... These may or may not be temporary.

Sometimes, their verbal communication is much different from their physical. For example, they might be yelling or cursing at you, but they're being gentle and listening to you when you ask them to do things. They may be perectly fine and cracking jokes while at the same time muttering disturbing words.

That's the basic theme that I had for today: Reasonings behind certain behaviors.

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Fish Hat

I dumbly realized that I was using a bulky weight yarn for my older sister's hat rather than a chunky weight. Essentially, I'm knitting a hat fit for a giant. I'm frogging that project and starting over once I pick up some better yarn.


In the meantime, I've started working on a new project for my little sister: A Fish Hat. I saw this design way back in December and knew I absolutely had to make it for my little sister. She's 7 and would very much enjoy it. I finally picked up some yarn for it - purples, grays, and pinks. It will be really interesting, but I think this project will start off super slow. I'm still some-what of a newbie to knitting in the round.

I picked up my yarns at Walmart (hurray... ) For under 10 bucks for 4 skeins. They are Bernat brand, which is a favorite of mine.

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Royal Victoria Marathon

I was looking forward to running my first marathon or even a half marathon this year, but I let my running-self go. I have a few classmates that were able to maintain their cardiovascular health throughout our program and they have signed themselves up for the Royal Victoria Marathon.

I realize that there is an 8 Km road race as well, but to top off my terrible fitness, I have no idea what my preceptor's hours are going to be like or what days I will be on. I'd like to avoid taking time off preceptorship as much as possible.

Anyway -- just a head's up! There are only a few weeks left to sign up and be promised a shirt as well as an entry fee discount.

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Orientation Complete

Orientation went well. There isn't really a lot to say about it. We toured a few floors and went over some ground rules. My group was fortunate enough to be assigned our own patients for tomorrow. Some groups are just shadowing staff this week.

I'm excited to see how it all goes tomorrow! I'm not too sure what to expect... Our last practicum was quite different from this one! Our instructor is split across two floors, so she won't always be there for us and there is a high expectation that we work with the staff. That means that a good deal of our experience will depend on the staff actually wanting us there. We better make ourselves super useful tomorrow!

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Orientation

Mom and AThere's nothing I love more than when my daughter wakes up before I have to leave in the mornings. This is one of the reasons why I love orientation days: they always start in the later morning.

I actually took the time to take some pictures... I try to take pictures of my daughter and I whenever I get the chance. It's amazing how seldom a mom and her children are photographed together by other people, so I took the initiative to take pictures of us together. Next time, perhaps I wil wear makeup... haha

I'm pretty darn excited to start orientation today! This will be my very first experience with working in a hospital setting. I say "working", but really it's unpaid work/learning. Weee!

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Knitting: A Hat for My Sister

I didn't have a lot of time to knit during the 10 months of theory, but now that I am entering the last practicum, I will have some more time to spend knitting things. It's only August, but it is never too early to get a start on your Christmas (or what-have-you) gifts.

I have just casted on to make a hat for my sister. If you are on ravelry, you can see these links. If not, create an account and add me -- NurseJoc. This is what I'm making for my lovely sister... Whom is also an SPN:  Robin's Egg blue Hat

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A New Beginning

After 10 long months of constant homework, studying, and stressing out, I am finally about to enter into my last practicum as a student Practical Nurse. This practicum is the first one that will be taking place inside of a hospital. This practicum is around 6 weeks long and I will be jumping into preceptorship after the practicum is over. Come November, I will be a Practical Nurse... Unfortunately, I won't be taking the licensing exam until January since that is when the exams will be held. Boo!

I am about to start re-training for a 5 km race. 5 km doesn't seem like a long race, but I smoked for 10+ years before I finally quit for good -- and I do mean quit for GOOD! I've bounced back and got my life into a healthier routine filled with weight lifting, team sports, and running. I haven't been running for a while due to my hectic schedule and overall stress level.

I will blog about my running adventures, my practicum (sans any patient references), and life in general. Thanks for popping in!

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