Life has always been enjoyable... participating in church, running around with amazing friends, returning to school after my layoff at Huntington Learning Center. Since many joyful moments go unnoticed, I thought I'd blog about my new experience learning to be a nurse! Because of HIPAA, patient names & clinical sites will be kept anonymous. These next 12 months are a blank slate for me, so I invite you on this journey with me. Much love to all my supportive friends & family members!
I gave my first injection this week. After the "moment," my clinical instructor told me to relax; not question myself. I hadn't spoken anything before/after giving the injection, so I asked, "Were my non-verbals that loud?!" Evidently my nervousness, anxiety, and apprehension were showing through my actions. Hee hee. One theme my instructors consistently tell me is that my knowledge base is strong and vast, yet my confidence is lacking. I agree. If my performance is not perfect, it’s WRONG! Well, that’s my opinion anyway. I worry about not doing a good enough job (i.e. administering injections, rendering physical assessments, etc). One day I know that my skills will hasten and my confidence will surge! It just may take two years to get there!
I must acknowledge my blessings in this program. I am lounging in my cushy bed in a beautiful, roomy home, resting before a long day of study. Did my parents or grandparents have this opportunity in their professional career? Did they have the opportunity to delight in tranquility while jockeying for financial prosperity? I believe they did not… they faced uphill battles in order to provide for the family; to ensure that my life would be more manageable than theirs. I am VERY appreciative of their love and their hard work to outfit my suitable lifestyle. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be in this lovely setting, enjoying the view from the White House. I will be sure to pass this blessing on to the next generation in our family.
God has provided all of these sensational provisions in my life. He is equipping me and gifting me in order to make my life an investment for His kingdom. Divine opportunity only comes from Him.
I am a newbie. There’s no way around it. The jargon is new; the definitions are new; the environment is new… I feel like a fish out of water in this nursing program! All of the information/ education is fascinating, however. I’ve been intrigued and in awe from day 1. On these enthralling adventures, I’ve come across some unforgettable moments:
During a day at clinical, a lady in the quilting room got to know a few of us in casual conversation. She taught us about how “morning soil” produces larger-than-average crops. She explained that morning soil is actually a human urine specimen taken first thing in the morning, diluted, and poured over plants as fertilizer. Evidently, our first urine specimen of the day is saturated with nutrients & vitamins – plant food!! This lady exclaimed it works far better than Miracle Grow! We have been invited to view her garden… to see the larger-than-life plants. (I’ll be sure to watch where I step…) She also told us about a new lifestyle diet fad called “Get Your Game On,” that turns dieting into a competition against other individuals. Sounds entertaining.
As I was leaving a nursing home from a clinical experience, a female resident asked me, "Have you seen my husband? I'm his father. And he's in a lot of trouble!" How precious.
I've learned all sorts of info... some of the odd stuff I've learned is from my pharmacology teacher (drug stuff – not “farm” stuff!). Primarily, there are lots of people taking lots of medicines ... and I'm on zero. It really causes me to reflect on how being on God's team really relieves life of a lot of stress... stress that (if not placed at the foot of the cross) can lead to hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, etc. I'm so glad we have Jesus! Today I walked into the hospital for the 1st time, and I sensed so much indifference, despondency, & gloom. I don't know if I can go a day working in a hospital without crying. I really wish all of them could hear the messages of hope we hear in church weekly! (The hospital stirs up feelings of sensitivity & philosophy in me!)
These were the questions posed to us for our Communications clinical. It gave me a chance to put my faith into words. The picture I included is of a little 8-year-old girl named Akiane who heard God's voice in her backyard while looking at dandelions. She had zero faith until that moment and was "told" [by the Holy Spirit] to draw for Jesus. I encourage you to Google her story!
Meaning & Purpose
In my life, I’ve chosen God as the most powerful thing which gives my life meaning and purpose. Purpose comes in the form of opportunities given to me to serve other people, both strangers and acquaintances. I have meaning because a free gift was given to me that doesn’t demand payment back. That free gift was forgiveness of my sins that had accumulated through the years out of selfishness and ignorance. The Lord offered His son, Jesus Christ, to be brutally martyred on a cross through mutilation, flogging, and asphyxiation as a sacrifice for my sins. Without this event in history, I would still be living for self, concerned about no one, socially immoral and destructive. I acknowledge this event as a love offering and feel only reverent and humble. It causes me to only want to direct the attention of others towards this phenomenal moment in history.
To say that finding joy and peace in my life are simple things is to underestimate the dynamics of both of these things. Simply put, I find joy and peace in the quiet of the day, in solitude, and reflecting on the blessings of life. (“He leadeth me beside the still waters” –Psalm 23.:2) I consider my blessings to be:
The house I live in, because a single mother with her crippled son in a third world country is living in a mud hut.
The car I drive, because others’ mode of transportation is walking.
The supportive friends I have, because some teenagers feel isolated and ostracized.
Running water, because people I visited in the Dominican Republic had bathtubs, but used them as storage units because of the lack of flowing water.
I like that I am extremely considerate of others, because it forges trusting lifelong relationships. I see the potential in others and discreetly try to motivate them to reach those potentials. I am driven out of a love for God, and because He loves His children on this earth, I love them too. Since He asks me to shepherd them, I consider it an honor and perform it with joy. I find that my consideration for others translates into my personal strengths as I have been told I can be extremely hospitable and throw awesome parties. I also remember in undergrad having the pressure put on me to be as professional as possible and extinguish any unprofessional habits in order to establish a successful business. I’ve worked hard on myself and have pushed myself to extreme limits of delivering quality professional service, only to find that in most instances, others have not worked equally as hard. This becomes evident in my experiences with bad customer service and professional attitudes.
Interconnections:
At the present juncture I am proud of myself for all the accomplishments I’ve made in life, for how far I’ve come, and for the networking I’ve formed in Louisville (politics, church culture, economy). There are some highly resourceful people in my life who have helped guide me along spiritually, mentally, educationally, physically, and professionally. I wouldn’t be who I am today without those people who poured themselves into me. I feel confident in my life skills because those who have performed those same life skills as my role models displayed them with such perfection, dignity, and integrity, I plan to hold to these skills permanently.
I consider social outings to be things I pursue for my own personal interest. I can’t afford to travel right now, so I spend most of my free time building the friendships I’ve already established. It’s really important to me to build a strong network of supportive friends because I know when life becomes challenging, it’s those people I count on to pull me through. So right now my social life holds a high value to me. I am abnormally blessed in the friend department. What this means is, I attend a mega church that has a ministry for my age group and currently has around 500 young adults. I’m friends with a large majority of them and because we share a common faith, it’s easy to say I know 80% of their personalities. This helps to form unique bonds that are beneficial to each party. I have a pool of friends I can count on to help with any task imaginable. Asking for help is easy because my friends are always more than willing to help whether I need it or not. They also know the house I live in has an open door policy for anyone to make themselves feel at home.
Today in school, the teacher encouraged us to share songs that had special meaning to us. We were to pick one and play it on the overhead screen in class. The song I shared was one the DJ played at Bible & Beach 2010: Timbaland and JoJo "Lose Control." I showed the video clip of the kids dancing to this song. Our Southeast kids ROCK! B-)
"People have cognitive abilities to discern situation that put them in jeopardy or keep them in safety. This is referred to as judgment."
Not So Obvious, but Fun:
"For surgical asepsis purposes, sinks have been designed to be controlled by foot pedals." Rock on!
"Body temperature is usually at its lowest around 3am and highest between 5am-7am. [A study by Beaudry et al. (1996) suggests once-a-day fever screening of afebrile patients at 6pm. This would ease burdens on staff time and limit the disruption of sleeping patients during the night.]"
A nurse worked with a client who was unable to communicate because of a brain tumor. He sat up in bed, rocking back and forth and crying out in pain. His distress was not alleviated by pain medication. The nurse reported that she climbed up into the bed, rocked him, and sang lullabies to him like she sang to her son. He relaxed, became quiet, and "nestled" into the nurse's arms. He was able to sleep a bit later and died in his sleep that night. The nurse said that never before or since had she been moved to do this and talked about the importance of trusting your intuition. "I guess God must have directed my actions that day. He put me in the right place and time and gave me the courage to step outside the practice ... to care in a special way." (Communication in Nursing, 2008)
“Safety Alert: To avoid medication errors, always label syringes with the name of the medication & dose after you draw up the dose. Deaths have occurred when unlabeled medication has been injected into the wrong client.” ~Fundamentals of Nursing book
Jeez, I’d much rather waste medication than waste a human’s life! It’s sad that this had to be inserted into our text. I would just toss the unknown medicine in the trash. just sayin.
"Proper handwashing is the single most effective method to prevent nosocomial [hospital-related] infections." ~from Fundamentals of Nursing
...such a simple lesson, yet so often over-looked. I would assume it prevents most illnesses in the home, too.
There is more to hand washing than you think! We've been taught a 12-step process to hand-washing. My beef is, "why didn't they teach this in kindergarten? Why am I now just hearing about the proper Hand-Hygiene Technique?!"
Who knew I would learn how to knit during my nursing clinical today!
One of the main themes we are learning is that Communication is the #1 reason that medical failures occur (i.e. accidental death, medicinal mix-ups, etc). So, we are to practice "communicating" with the community as one of our clinical opportunities as a way to prepare for the medical industry.
Women at the clinical site taught me and several of the other nursing students how to knit today. I learned how to cast a (long-tail) slip knot and knit my first row of thread! We knitted for an hour & it completely relieved me of stress. After knitting 3 rows I felt that I was a well-accomplished knitter. I think I'll return to this same group of knitting ladies next week! You know... to "communicate"!
Our clinical instructor wants us to study up on the topic of Spirituality. He doesn't know that I'm highly involved in church and live with seminary students! lol
Findings show that people who attend religious services on a regular basis have better health outcomes, have stronger immune systems, have lower stress, and recover from hip fractures and open-heart surgeries more quickly than do less religious people. Elders with religious faith seem to be better protected from cardiovascular disease and cancer. (p.187)
I love evidence that a life with God is more beneficial than a life without Him. More evidence to come!
Well, I'm coming from the business world... Director of a company. I attained this position directly after graduating college in 2005 – a rare opportunity for newbies fresh out of college, I’m sure. Nonetheless, I loved my job, working for families whose children were struggling in school or needed to enhance their academic skills.
As director, I presented individualized educational diagnoses for each student who enrolled into our learning center. I developed personalized plans designed to fill in the gaps of a child’s deficient academic skills. All of my professional gifts/strengths/interests matched this position perfectly; it was a match made in Heaven. And then, the economy shifted downward... and we went out of business in 2008.
Although this job was perfect in my eyes, it did have its sour notes. For instance, my responsibilities included meeting monthly sales quotas. For those of you who have never been in sales – you’re not missing anything! Enrolling into Bellarmine’s Nursing program will forever alter my professional future – a future that will never include sales AGAIN!
I’m frustrated to have to start all over again on the corporate ladder. A starting nurse’s salary will be less than my prior salary. On the flip side, I am extremely excited at this opportunity to learn a skill that will be useful for the rest of my life! I pray that my gifts/strengths/interests will again be perfectly matched to clients in the medical field. I am thrilled when others benefit from my assistance; it’s almost as if I experience a professional “high.”
Having a Choleric ("Red") personality, I feel confident that I know my strengths and weaknesses and will use this knowledge to actively pursue the right destination in the medical field. I already sense that the Bellarmine Nursing Teachers are well-equipped to cheer us on to greater territories! Let the games begin.
Stephanie H.
Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management
Summa cum Laude, Sigma Beta Delta, Alpha Epsilon Delta
