About Me

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Phoenix, Arizona
Growing up my initials were OP, which was pretty cool in the 80's, right? Then I got married and my initials got updated to match our very texting obsessed era that we now live in (and shake our heads at)...OMG. For those who are texting illiterate, I'll spell it out..."Oh, My God!". I pity the girl whose initials are W.T.F. (I won't spell that one out. You can Google it or email me for an explaination on that one!)

2.03.2010

About something other than food....

Current coffee table reading material.

Nursing school.
It's not as relaxing to talk about as my cooking adventures.
But I want to tell you all alittle about it.
I'll start with the most important detail.
April 12.
That's when my final is.
Ahhh...I just have to sit and savor that detail. Seriously, I'm sitting here, staring at that sentence and I feel so warm and relaxed when I focus on that one little detail.
Until that date I have about 50 test and assignments to complete. I constantly tell myself,


"One day at a time. One assignment at a time.

You can do this. Just get things done, one thing at a time."

Here's a little excerpt of something I had to do this week. Guess what we are studying?

Disturbed sensory perception: auditory
r/t
auditory hallucinations as evidenced by
pt states “the medicine never makes the voices go away completely.”

Goal:Pt will contract to seek staff assistance at any point the hallucinations become distressing / intrusive to her functioning .

Intervention:
Assess for changes in pt affect, behavior, anxiety or agitation. Maintain an open, supportive and safe nurse-patient relationship to foster pt seeking help. Daily ask the pt directly if she has had or is hearing voices and what she is specifically hearing.

Goal
Pt will daily give a 1-10 scale rating to the level of intensity the voices are to her.

Intervention:Teach how to use the 1-10 scale and allow pt frequent opportunities to use the scale. Teach pt to recognize when medications and interventions are effective in controlling the intensity of intrusive thoughts.

Goal:Pt will verbalize 3 triggers to the hallucinations and 3 ways to avoid those triggers by 2/1.

Intervention:Provide nonthreatening conversation and group process time to assist pt in discovering stressors and needs that may underlie the cause of the hallucinations. Help pt identify ways to decrease stressors that trigger the voices. Help pt define past effective coping mechanisms or discover new ways/activities that are effective in distracting from the voices. Encourage participation in games, music, religious services and craft times.

Goal:Pt will verbalize voices are not distressing or intrusive to her daily functioning by 2/1.

Intervention:Encourage pt’s taking daily antipsychotics and group therapy classes. Monitor pt for possible need to titrate meds or needs for prn’s. Help pt identify when the voices are distressing to her by offering feedback on assessed nonverbal s/sx agitation.
.
Goal:
Pt will verbalize 2 community activities or resources that she can turn to after d/c that will help minimize or avoid triggers to her hallucinations by 2/1.

Intervention:Assist pt with creating a list of the activities/events/resources she has used in the past that have helped reduce/avoid her triggers. Provide 3 community resources/events that pt can utilize after d/c that she has identified as ways to reduce/avoid triggers.





Yeah, I know, it's long. But it's only a fraction of the entire assignment. And, I'm kinda proud. I think I did a good job.



We are studying Critical Care and Psych this semester. Going really in-depth about the heart and the mind. Facinating. I feel challenged and competent and professional. A far cry from how I felt last semester....that would be, um, bored, underminded, powerless, ineffective.



I wish I could put into words the specifics of what I am enjoying learning about right now but I'm still processing the new information so I'd just sound unintelligent if I tried to summarize anything right now. Pretty much, I'm learning how to be a nurse in the ICU and that's pretty cool. I start ICU clinicals at the end of February and will do 12hr shifts every Saturday for 7 weeks. After April 12 I will start a 90 hr preceptorship at a hospital (hopefully in the area I selected-NICU). I will complete that rotation by mid-May and then I'M DONE!



Well, almost.....



I will have to take the RN licensing exam after I graduate. It must be important because it costs $500 to take it!



So much work to be done in just a few short months. I am learning so much about myself through this. Just how strong mentally, emotionally, intellectually am I? What expectations do I have for myself and how do I feel about myself when I don't meet those expectations? I don't have many answers except for one....YES! I'm gonna be SO glad when I am done!



One day at a time.

(now you know why I like to talk about cooking so much)

1 comment:

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

Good for you! Think of how awesome it will be when you are DONE! Great career, people always will need nurses. You'll never be out of a job. :-)