Oh Happy Day!

I am officially a Registered Nurse!

Last Monday I took the NCLEX, state board exam for Registered Nursing. I was unable to get quick results, and I thought I had to wait 30 days for results. I got a call from my mother-in-law stating that there is a large envelope from the State Board of Nursing. On the front it said "Do not bend". I told her to hang on to it and I'll pick it up later, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Jeff came home and I told him about the letter. He said he would pick it up and bring it back home. I told him it was like a mission call, and I had to open it. So we packed up the kids and drove to their house. I opened it and there it was, my certificate as a Registered Nurse. I couldn't believe it. I really thought I did not pass the test when I walked out of there. I was sick to my stomach. Thankfully it was not all in vain. The past 2 years have finally paid off. I am proud to say, I'm a Registered Nurse. Now I just need to get a job. :)

Nursing School Graduation

Nursing School Graduation Day

Today has finally come. Two long years of late nights studying, group study, early mornings dropping kids off at daycare, driving super long hours to school, and then 1 1/2 hours to clinicals, and spending time away from my family has finally come to a close. I can't believe the day that I had been waiting and hoping for has finally come. Before the ceremony, it didn't seem real. Once we walked on stage, it finally sank in and I realized I was finally graduating nursing school!

It was a wonderful ceremony. After a few teachers spoke, we had our significant others pin us with a nursing pin. My pin had RN with a medical symbol. Jeff and the kids came up on stage and they pinned me. After he pinned me and I gave them all hugs, Drew didn't want to get off stage. Everyone thought he was so cute...I do too. After that, we had candles (battery operated) in a lantern. We lit them to symbolize Florence Nightingale when she took a lantern with her to the battle fields to help the wounded soldiers. With our candles lit, we said the Nurses Oath. Afterwards, there was a slide show of our time throughout nursing school, and our families. Surprisingly, I didn't cry once through the ceremony. I must have been too excited for this day to come.

Too see the entire posting, check out my other blog.

My first cervical check

Tuesday morning started off with a bang. As soon as I arrived on the floor, I scrubbed up and put my sterile gloves on. I got the knitty-gritty information on a patient who was just about ready to deliver. My preceptor told me I was going to do my first cervical check. I was very hesitant, because I had not done one before and unsure what I would be feeling. She told me to stick my fingers in and she'll tell me what I'm feeling. I put my 2 fingers in her va-jay-jay and I felt something hard a couple inches up. My preceptor told me that was the head, and her cervix was fully dilated. Thankfully the woman had an epidural, so she didn't feel anything below her stomach. She delivered within 45 minutes of coming on shift.

I assisted her in her breathing and encouraged her to push during contractions. After the baby was delivered, I assisted with fundal checks (massaging the uterus), and watching for hemorrhaging. With the baby, I took it to the warmer, performed an apgar score, administered a Vit. K shot in the leg, ointment in the eyes, foot prints, PKU test, hearring test, and anything that needed to be done I did it. I also did a ton of teaching to the mother for her and her baby.

I really enjoy the OB. I hope that there are more births in the next month so I can have lots of experience.

OB precepting

On Monday, I started my first day of precepting in OB. I am working one-on-one with a nurse. She is teaching me how to monitor frequency, variability, and duration of each contraction. There is so much to document during labor & delivery, and she showed me how to do it all. Now the hard part is to remember and document correctly.

I took care of a patient most of the day. Right before my shift was ending, she was going into the active phase of labor. My preceptor allowed me to stay with the patient and see her through the delivery, and postpartum care. She was real tough. She declined an epidural, and had only one dose of fentanyl. She delivered a sweet baby girl. I assisted with monitoring the woman for bleeding, and assisted with the care of the newborn.

I had such a great day, and ended up putting 12 hours in that day. Can't wait for the next one!

I passed 5th quarter

Today, ended another quarter of nursing school. I took my final and did very well, and actually increased my percentage in the class. I walked out of there with a B and feel so happy. I went out with friends to lunch to celebrate. I then went to pamper myself and got a pedicure. Just in time for my trip to CA.

I am looking forward to next quarter....after a nice vacation. The first half of the quarter, I will be in lecture and taking tests. Then I start my preceptorship, which I am very excited. I have put in 3 separate requests, but I don't know which one I'll get. We'll see.

For now, I'm spending time with my family and vacationing.

Another use for Vics VapoRub

VICKS VAPO RUB - INTERESTING

During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. A new way to use it -and it works, I've tried it with 2 of my kids- And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent,
heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong
prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soot hing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

Just happened to tune in AM. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.


You'll be amazed how it works and how effective it is. Just give it a try.

Funny SNL skit about incontinent people

This is the very funny Oops, I crapped my pants skit from SNL. It is way too funny.

Please wash your hands

If you've ever seen someone not wash their hands after using the restroom, or you yourself may be guilty of this once in a while....this link might make you or someone else think twice about skipping the handwashing. It is an amazing story you just have to see.

Another day in the ED

Like I said last quarter of my Emergency Department (ED) rotation that it was my favorite, and it still stands as my very favorite rotation yet. I'd like to preface with the famous words of Chris Farley in Tommy Boy, "That was AWESOME!"

Really, it was. I went on a Friday night and morbidly hoped something bad would happen to people so I could see and help out in any way. Well, bad things did happen...unfortunately for the pts, but great for me. I assisted a male RN that night. Here is a few things I saw and did that happened:


1. A man sawed his middle finger about 1 1/2 inches long and it was open, oozing blood with bones and tendons showing. The distal portion was just hanging, and it obviously needed surgery. I IV-pushed some pain meds. I irrigated and flushed his open, gaping wound to clear debris and other particles out of it. It was a little messy, but so cool. Surprisingly, I didn't get queasy.


2. A woman fractured her tibia and I wrapped her leg in an ortho stirrup binder that hardens and stabilized the leg until her surgery 3 days out. I had only seen it done once before, but I got a chance to bind, wrap and secure her leg.

3. I started an IV (the 1st try), on a patient. She was going to have a lumbar puncture to test her cerebro-spinal fluid. I watched the MD poke, dig and finally find a spot where CSF fluid leaked out. When it comes out it is a clear liquid and about the same consistency of blood. I took the samples to the lab which came up negative.

4. An elderly gentleman needed a Foley catheter in. I took the assignment and went to work. The normal Foley tube is pliable, and it wouldn't go all the way through to his bladder. He had a large prostate. With a sterile technique, I used a Coude catheter. The tip is curved and firm. With a little elbow grease, I successfully got the catheter in and was able to measure his output.

5. I did a respiratory assessment on a little 1yo with RSV. Not much else, but it was great to hear the baby's lung sounds and breath sounds.

6. I helped clean a "mentally challenged" pt's briefs. He was a very touchy-feely kid. Luckily he tried to kiss the male RN and not me. :)

7. And finally, the winner of the night goes to: A trauma patient with a respiratory code!
The patient came in from the ambulance. He was breathing, but unconscious and not responding. I arrived to the room and it reeked of stale urine. The man was unconscious for at least 1 day, maybe 2. He had soiled his pants and it was disgusting. With the foul urine smell, he had stunk up the entire ER in a matter of minutes. In the ambulance, the paramedic tried to intubate him, but went down his esophagus and was putting O2 into his stomach. When I saw him his stomach was so distended it looked like it was going to pop. The MD tried 2x's intubating him, and another MD was ready with scalpel in hand to give him a tracheotomy. Good for the patient, the MD finally got the ET tube in. Once they put an NG tube in, his stomach became much flatter. They needed all hands on deck. I couldn't help because in a code/trauma situation, I as a student am unable to help because it is not within my scope of practice yet. So they asked me to record everything they did to the patient, including meds given and the amount and the procedures performed. I documented all the MD's orders for meds and labs to perform. Also I had to take vitals every 5 minutes on the guy. They were able to stabilize him and bring his O2 sats to 92% up from 78% at its lowest. He stabilized and was sent for a CT scan and then to ICU. It was quite exciting in that one room. It took over an hour and it was impressive of how the doctors and nurses worked so quickly and calmly under all that stress.
Working in the ED is something I think I can definitely do in my nursing career. Let's just see how I like OB and I might change my mind.

My day in Outpatient

Last week, I had another rotation. This time it was in outpatient surgery. This is where pre-op prep takes place for minor surgeries, such as cataracts...etc. I say cataracts, because the nurse I was assisting took only the 'eye' patients that day. This was my day to shine as I put in every IV possible.
The day before my friend went to outpatient. She tried to give 6 IV's, but none would take. She was so bummed that she was 0/6, and I thought, "that's not going to be me." Well I started the morning off on a bad foot. In outpatient, they give lidocaine to the IV site to numb it up. On the floor, they don't do that. I've started many-a-IV on the floor and for the most part it's no problem...as long as there's a good vein to poke.
I gave the first patient lidocaine right next to the vein, where the nurse instructed me to put it. Unfortunately, it moved the vein to the side and my line got all screwed up. I was unsuccessful. The second time I did the same thing. After that I thought, "It's the curse of the nursing student!" I thought surely, the third time must be a charm. Right? Well, I asked the nurse how to avoid moving the vein like that and I placed it just below where I wanted to place the IV, so it didn't move the vein to either side. Well, I was successful, but my hands were shaking. :)
I had many other opportunities and at the end of the day I was 6/10. I'm not completely proud of myself, but I am just so glad I wasn't 0/6 that day.
Now that I have had so much more experience and practiced with my dexterity and how I like to do it, I have a much better handle on it and I'm so ready to give more IV's. Anyone want to volunteer?