Struggles of an international student

Second semester

tatanoel — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:20:00 +0000

I’m in my second semester thanks to God, and I ended up getting a “B” in my Fundamentals class, I have no idea how………I know I haven’t written in a long while, but this semester is the craziest and busiest semester ever!! For my last Med-Surg midterm test I studied for a whole week, and I still got a “C”. That’s really bad for me, specially considering the effort I put into studying and learning. But well, that’s how life is sometimes. This Monday I’m gonna check with my professor the test to see what I got wrong. I’ll see if I can write some more another day. My clinicals have been great, though.

Long two weeks

tatanoel — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:52:21 +0000

As you can see, I haven’t written anything in two weeks! So, I’m going to start where I left off. Of course I’m not going to write about each and every day, but I’m going to write anything I remember, so it may get somewhat messy.

One of the last things I said is that I did my Math/Pharmacology test and finished with the class. Well, thanks to God I got an “A” on that class. I also did my Business class test that same Monday and also got an “A” on it. On my Fundamentals of Nursing test I had gotten a “B”, but then the teacher made some mistakes, so she changed it to an “A”. So far, so good.

In my clinicals I’ve been doing good. We have been doing care plans and assessments on the patients, as well as practicing critical thinking and care plans for our final test. I got to do an inital assessment on one of the patients at the hospital. Now, I’m not sure if last Friday was going to be the last day on the floor because our teacher wants us to practice with the care plans our last day, and since we don’t have class this coming Friday because it’s Thanksgiving, then we’ll have to do our care plans the Friday after the next. It’s only one more Friday to go on site and then the test.

On both my Health Assessment class and my Fundamentals Skills lab, we already took the last test. I passed them both. We are still going to have classes for the next two weeks, but we’re not going to be tested on those topics individually. It’s all going to be included in the Fundamentals of Nursing final exam. Thanks to God the semester is almost over and I’m doing good in my tests.

Today, I took my third Fundamentals of Nursing test, the last one before the final. This test was horrible! It had almost nothing to do with the power points that my teacher sends and nothing to do with the topics we see in class. My teacher expects us to know things that maybe she hasn’t even explained or mentioned in class. The test deals more with critical thinking and logical answers to questions of real life situations. The problem with those questions is that if we don’t have guidance as to what to answer, then the answers can be relative to what anyone thinks is best. Well, I thank God for helping me like always and just hope to have done well. After taking the test, I came home, ate, and did some calls that I needed to. Then I went to the post offcice to send a payment (long story), and then I went to my business lab, where the only thing I did was to examine the Champions League games for tomorrow and Wednesday so I could change my fantasy game players. After that, I went to my business class and then came home.

Last week

tatanoel — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:49:48 +0000

I haven’t written anything in a long while, since last week! So, I’m going to start with last Monday. That day I had a test on my Fundamentals of Nursing class. I thought I did well. In my Math/Pharmacology class it was our last day of class, so some students brought breakfast to share with the class. We ate while we had the lecture. After that, I went to my fundamentals test and then I came home. I went to my business class in the afternoon and I think that was it.

On Thursday, I had my Health Assessment class at 8:00am and we got to use the otoscope and ophthalmoscope for the examination of the head, ears, eyes, nose, and throat. That was cool. After that, we had a test for my fundamentals skills lab about medication administration. I did well. After that, I went with some classmates to the hospital to pick up the assignment and do the homework. This time I really dressed well, and my assignment was a lot shorter than the one last week. I stayed there until like 5:40pm though. I came home and then went to music practice.

On Friday, we went to the hospital and also had the opportunity to do a health assessment on a patient. We also had the opportunity to draw blood samples for lab tests and to start two IV lines. I didn’t get to start the IV lines because my teacher gave that opportunity to two of my other classmates. So, my teacher took me to draw a blood sample, but the lady didn’t want to get stuck by needles again because she said that some people had already tried and they had stuck her many times. My teacher explained to her that the IV line that she already had was not made to draw blood, so it was difficult, but she was going to try. She tried a lot and then finally got the blood out, so I only put the blood into the test tubes and learned that process well. After that, we did the glucose tests again and then we went to eat and then post-conference.

Today I had two tests. My final Math/Pharmacology test was today at 7:00am. I think I did well. It was pretty easy. After that I went to my Fundamentals of Nursing class, and I was falling asleep yet again. She gave us the grade for our last test, the one I thought I did well. I didn’t do as well as I thought I did. I got a “B”. I want to see the key to that test because I got many wrong answers. I don’t know why. So, I want to double check that. But well, after that class, I came home and studied for my Business class test. I ate, studied, and then went to take my test at 5:00pm, but I got there late because I hadn’t finished studying. Then I went in like at 5:10 and finished my test at 6:40pm. I came home like at around 7:00. I think I did well on the test, plus I had some extra credits. That helped. After that I came back home, ate, and came to the computer.

Real hospital work

tatanoel — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:13:06 +0000

So, I haven’t been able to write all this week since Monday because I’ve been running everywhere and doing everything this week. On Thursday I had my Health Assessment class and we had a test. I didn’t even know we had a test that day. I thought the teacher had moved the test to next week because she didn’t go over one topic in class, so I thought I heard her say that she was going to move the test for next week. Apparently, she didn’t move it, so she tested us on Thursday. It was easy though. We only had to do a complete abdominal examination on a classmate. After that, I went to the hospital with some of my classmates to start the pre-assignment for the clinicals. I started my care plan by studying my patient and writing his history on my care plan. I thought I was going to have trouble because right before leaving, the doctor told me that the patient was going to be transferred to another hospital, so he wouldn’t be there on Friday for me to examine him. I thought I was going to have to do everything over again with another patient. So, we came back to school for our fundamentals skills class, and she went over medication administration again. We only stayed for a short while listening to the explanation and asking questions. After that I went with some other classmates back to the hospital because I hadn’t finished my pre-assignment and I thought I needed another patient. Fortunately, when I got there, my teacher told me not to start over with another patient, but to do both patients in the same chart. So, now my care plan is all mixed up. One part belongs to one patient and the other part belongs to another one.

On Friday, I went to the hospital, and we already started the real job. We had to do a complete health assessment on a patient, document our findings, and help the care partner with the patient care. We also learned to do the glucose test for the diabetic patients. Each one of us got to do one glucose test on a patient. That was cool. After that, I finished writing up the information for my pre-assignment and I got home really late and really tired. It was a long day.

Test results

tatanoel — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:30:03 +0000

I was falling asleep yet again today at my Fundamentals of Nursing class. I came to my friend’s house late in the night and slept only 3:30 hours, woke up at 6:00am and got ready to be there at 7:00am. I went to my Math/Pharmacology class and she started the new topic. This new topic is kind of complicated, but I know that with reading, practicing, and studying it’s going to be easy. Our teacher also gave us the grades of our last test. I got an “A” thanks to God. After that class, I went to my fundamentals class at 9:00am. I probably fell asleep for at least 10 minutes. I couldn’t concentrate well, so I’m going to have to study well for the next test on Monday; it includes 5 chapters. After that a classmate gave me a ride to MDC-Kendall and I took the bus to my house. I slept for 2 hours, woke up to eat, went to the computer, talked with my family through Skype, and then I came back to MDC-Kendall for my business class. I came early because I need to complete 10 hours at the business lab. So I need to start coming here for at least an hour each day that I have classes here.

Hospital!!

tatanoel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:26:32 +0000

Thanks to God today was my first day at the hospital!! Woohooo!! Even though today was only orientation day, I’m really excited that we could go and see where we are going to be working and meet the people who we’re going to be working for. I got there at around 7:50am and my teacher was already waiting for us at the cafeteria. She started to explain us what we are going to be doing, when we will start our assignments, and a few hospital rules. We asked lots of questions about our assignments and she also made us review the care plan for the homework. After that, we went for a tour of the whole hospital and the areas that we are going to be using most of the time. We also went to the floor were we are going to be working and met the people there. She told us that next week the whole department is going to be transferred to a new building, so we went for a tour of the building. It was really nice! We saw the patient rooms, the nursing stations, and so many other things. After that, we finished and then came home. I slept for two hours after coming back, then ate lunch, and then came to the computer.

Injections

tatanoel — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:13:32 +0000

Well, today was a great day! I woke up at 5:10am, just like every Thursday, went to school and got there at 7:30am. I started my first class, Health Assessment, at 8:00 and it was fun because I had already practiced those skills from what I learned from the book. My teacher also talked about breasts and regional lymphatics, which we weren’t supposed to see, but she included it on the content. Then we went to the lab to practice what we had learned. Right after that I found out that my skills lab teacher wasn’t coming because she is sick. I was disappointed because today we were supposed to learn about parenteral medications (injections), and I really wanted to learn that. So, afterwards I found out that our program director, Kathy Thomas, was going to give us the class so we wouldn’t get behind. I was really happy! She actually got everything out for us and gave us a short talk about syringes. Then she started explaining us how to inject using manequins. She taught us the different techiniques and even gave us lots of syringes so we could start practicing! She also gave us syringes so we could take home and practice! I am so happy she gave us the class today. The best thing of all is that we did this all in the morning, so I could come back home early. I got here at around 2:35pm instead of the regular 5:30 to 6:00pm. It was great!

Horrible test

tatanoel — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:03:56 +0000

So, I woke up at 6:00am today, after having gone to bed at 12:20am. I had my math/pharmacology test starting from 7:00am to 8:15am. It was kind of annoying. It had 30 questions and lots of them were of the same kind. It included long calculations and repetitive problems. I really didn’t like it. I also forgot to study something that she taught but was not on the books, and she included it on the test. At the end I think I remembered half of the problem. Maybe I’ll get half-credit. I think I did ok in the rest of the test. I just have to wait for next Monday now to know my grade. After that class, I went to my fundamentals class, in which I was falling asleep, yet again. Thanks to God a classmate gave me a ride to Miami Dade College-Kendall to take the bus to my house after that class. I came home early, put the chicken to thaw and fell asleep for an hour or so. After I woke up, I went to start cooking, went to Publix, ate, and then I prepared to go to my business class at 5:00pm. After my business class I just came home, had dinner, and came to the computer to check my e-mail.

Great news!

tatanoel — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:34:49 +0000

So, yesterday I couldn’t write because I came from my clinicals really tired and hungry. So I just ate lunch, checked my e-mail and then went to sleep. I woke up to study and then went to youth group. After that, I had friends staying over at my house, and we watched videos and played for a while. Then I went to bed like at around 4:30am and woke up today like at 11:00am but stayed in bed until 12:00. Yesterday morning I went to my clinical at 6:40am. I had to wake up at 5:10am in order to catch the two buses and then get a ride with a classmate. I was really happy yesterday because our teacher gave us great news! We were not going to go to a hospital to practice, but she got us a spot at the hospital. Thanks to God, we’re starting the clinicals in the hospital next week. The day at the nursing home yesterday was not that busy. There was not much to do. So, towards the end, we just went to a Burger King nearby and started to do some critical thinking exercises.

Tired

tatanoel — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:31:30 +0000

Today I was so sleepy because I stayed up until 11:30pm yesterday watching my soccer team lose. Well, you can’t have everything in life. So, I got to my health assessment class on time and we just talked about the thorax. Then we went to the lab to practice listening to the lung sounds on each other. After that, I waited for my next class that starts at 1:00pm. I started to read the lesson for the day, but I fell asleep. Then I woke up to eat, and then I went to my skills class. It was interesting. We talked about giving medications, especially oral. After that I came home, took a nap, then checked my e-mail and then went to music practice.