Can’t believe I have just completed my first class! Only that much closer to those initials after my name. Now as for my first week of Health Assessment at National it was not only exciting but very busy. I was excited because my class would now be on campus, I’m not one that prefers online classes, I can focus better if I’m forced to sit in a classroom. To add to the excitement I finally got to meet my classmates which I may add for the most part everyone was nice. And ready for the best part, there are about four other Latinas in the class! That’s right we are moving right up in the medical field! I’m excited to finally not be the only Latina in class and I am excited to get to know them. As you can tell there was a lot of excitement during the first week of class.
Let’s begin with my class schedule I have a lab class as well as a theory class, I was scheduled in the pm half of the class. Which means I have lab twice a week from 4:00 – 9:30 pm and theory class twice a week from 3:00 – 9:00 pm some Saturdays from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. Don’t worry the class doesn’t seem as long as it sounds. Since this program is accelerated we had a lot to cover. The first week of class we covered about eight chapters then had a quiz scheduled the following Monday. As for lab we actually get hands-on practice, which this is the best way I learn. What we learn in theory class we apply it in the lab, I feel that the time I don’t get to spend on studying, I am able to reinforce the information and understand it in the lab.
In this first week, we started learning and practicing hand washing skills, pulse, temperature, and blood pressure as well as introducing ourselves to patients. This was a review for me as I have worked in the medical field for over a decade. But never the less the medical field changes all the time so I took in all the information I could! For lab, you are to show up in your scrubs, white shoes, white socks, and hair nicely pulled back. How excited was I to be in scrubs again, a fun fact one of the many reasons I chose the medical field was because I didn’t have to worry about what to wear on a daily basis. I did that for many years, wearing professional attire and did not enjoy it.
For lab, we were scheduled to go to a nursing facility where we were to interview and practice our communicating skills with a patient. We would use this information to then write a health assessment paper. Unfortunately, we did not get to interview a resident so we were partnered up and were to write our paper on each other in addition to adding a genogram. This I feel was similar to charting so it wasn’t difficult. We also had a small trip to the sim lab, where we practiced a few things on a simulation manikin. They talk, cry, bleed, and tell you their pain. I can’t wait till we can really practice our skills on these guys! We also practiced taking blood pressure on him as well as CPR.
One thing I forgot to mention was assignments and homework, we don’t really get assigned homework but we do get a few group projects. Our first group project was due the first week of school. We were to pick a topic from a list we were given and do a power point presentation where we would later present in front of the class. We have two of those projects due in lecture as well as a health assessment paper that we are to do on a person of our choice, and one other paper that I can’t recall. Luckily there spread out and normally due weekly. See nursing school is not as bad as everyone makes it seem. I was also able to take one of the weekends off to throw my Godson a birthday party. So don’t believe all the negative things that are said, you have time to spend with your family, you have time to work, you have time to spend with your significant other. As long as you manage your time you will be successful in nursing school! You got this!
The Latina Nurse 