I am officially a nurse!!  I passed my boards on February 27 and now bear the coveted title of RN.  It's been a few weeks now and I still feel like a student, although it boosts my self-esteem when the women on my unit say, "Oh, Kim can help.  She's a nurse now."  So I get to do fun and interesting things now, like starting IV's, signing for blood products, taking and giving reports, and transporting patients. 

The best part of all is signing my name.  I know, I know. I spent five years in nursing school just to be excited about signing my name.  Well, when you get to add credentials after your name, tell me that you aren't proud and excited about it.  So now my signed name is Kim (Last Name), RN, BSN.  Wow.  Doesn't that look AWESOME???

I've been out of hospital orientation now for several weeks and have been in the cardiovascular recovery area.  In short it's basically a pre- and post- heart catheterization area.  Patients come in and wait to get taken to the cath lab and then they come back and recover there.  Yesterday I had a patient that required emergency open heart surgeryand I was able to see it.  That has been my dream since starting nursing school.  My nana had quadruple bypass six years ago.  That surgery was the catalyst to my career decision.

I have been on a mission since the beginning of school to see an open heart surgery, to know what the patient goes through while they are on the table.  And it happened yesterday.  It was by far the coolest thing I have ever seen.  I saw the heart and and what goes into a bypass.  I looked right over the patient's head and into their chest.  What a marvel the body is, to be able to be opened like that, and to see the heart beating was just, in my mind at least, a miracle and the realization that this person't heart was literally in the hands of the surgeon.  I was so amazed that I could barely pay attention to the doctor as he explained the surgery to me while he worked. 

To see the surgery was a dream come true.  I know now why patients have such pain.  Not only is the sternum (chest bone) sawed through, but they get veins sewn to the heart to create the bypass.  There is a lot of rustling around of the organ and a lot of trauma to the heart. But it saves lives.  And I finally got to experience it. 

Thursday, March 13, 2008 4:59:39 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] | 

Last week while preparing for a prayer service motivated by the recent tragedies at NIU and other campuses, I googled “Campus Shootings” to find any updated information. The results were saddening. The list of incidences - too long to really process - included numerous shootings that I had heard nothing about. In fact, as the news broke about NIU, so many people seemed to be hearing about the tragedies at Louisiana Tech, Mitchell HS (Memphis), and Green Jr High (CA) for the first time.

Remember Columbine? We were shocked, stunned, and glued to radio or TV wondering what could have motivated such a violent act. I’m not sure which is the greater tragedy – that children and young adults are shooting one another or that we’ve become so numb to the idea that we don’t even find these events “newsworthy”.

Why do children (why does anyone!) have access to these weapons? When did we decide that disagreements should be solved by shooting each other? Where have we failed in treating and caring for those with mental illnesses? How does anyone end up feeling this isolated?

I know there is no ONE answer, but when will we at least begin to address the issues?

Thursday, February 28, 2008 3:45:02 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [2] | 

In January, Lourdes College received $10,000 from the Christ Child Society. The funds will go directly toward the continuation of Lourdes’ Life Lab and Theater Vision educational outreach programs. 

The Lourdes Life Lab offers grade school children an opportunity to learn about life cycles and the environment through school-day field trips and summer camps. The Lourdes College Theater Vision program provides curriculum-based theater arts education opportunities for school groups and home school students in pre-kindergarten through college.

Christ Child Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to reaching out to teach, motivate, clothe and care for children in their communities. Today, Christ Child Society has chapters in 17 states and has over 7,000 members.

Monday, February 25, 2008 3:56:24 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] | 

• Check out these professional photography tips from Photo Works, Inc. to help you get started!
  

Please include your name so we can give you credit for your work.  You'll also want to be sure you have permission from any other individuals who appear in your photos.

For more information and updates, please visit LourdesWorld.com and click on the orange "Join the Fun" graphic on the right-hand side of the page.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:04:00 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] | 

• What are your thoughts and feelings about recent shootings on college campuses?
• Which Presidential candidate will you vote for and why?
• What social and political issues do you feel passionate about?
• How do you feel about the investigation into steroid use by professional athletes?

Friday, February 15, 2008 11:46:51 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] | 

So this is my very first blog as an alumnuae of Lourdes College.  Wow.  Where do I begin?  Well, first things first.  I am fresh out of school as of December 2007.  I received my RN-BSN and couldn't be happier with the education I had at Lourdes.  I will be taking my boards in March, and then I will be a very happy camper because I can finally be a real nurse.

Right now I'm working at The Toledo Hospital in the Nurse Intern/Residency program.  I just started last week and I am still in the school frame of mind--for example, remembering my patients' information so I can write my client report forms, thinking that I'm still in clinical and have to fit homework in somewhere...it's not quite set in yet that I am finished and I don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

I am rotating through several different units at TTH.  Right now I'm in the ER for the next three weeks, so if any of you guys go to the ER at Toledo between the hours of 6:30 am and 7 pm, be sure to look me up.  :>)  I don't really know how I feel about being in the ER because that was just an area that never thrilled me to pieces.  I can sum it up in two words: organized chaos.  I've only been there for two days and it's insane.  I don't know how people function like that, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to get stuff done, and then you turn around and you have another patient to take care of and now you have to drop what you're doing and get that person admitted while the other person you were taking care of first is complaining that you're taking too long.  WOW.  It is insane. 

So I function right now as a lost puppy dog/nursing assistant.  I spent most of Friday running after a 6 foot 2 inch nurse whose legs were as long as I am tall, and wheeling people to x-ray or CT scans, and helping people out to their cars or to the bathrooms, or doing damage control to keep people calm.  Chaotic. That's what emergency rooms are.  It's exciting at times, boring at other times.  I haven't been there long enough to make an educated decision about whether or not I like it.  I know that I'll be much better once I get onto the intensive care units, which is where I will end up once the residency is over in nine months. 

For now, I must get back to studying for my NCLEX.  I don't want to fail and have to pay another $275 to take the test again.  So in essence, I am still in the school mode with all this studying.  Old habits die hard, I suppose.  Peace.

Sunday, January 27, 2008 12:41:43 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] |