Overstuffed Brain?

Hellloooo boys and girls!  There was a comment posted on my wall about remembering procedures and various disorders and illnesses and the nursing care associated with these so here is my response. :) 

When it comes to pathophysiology I do my best to understand the disease holistically, meaning that I look at the overall picture and how it affects the body and the person.  I study for exams and then I feel like the information kind of disappears. The only way information seems to stick is when I do it in clinical. This the same for patho as well as skills. The more and more I do them in clinical the better it sticks in my head. I def have my moments where I'm in clinical and asked a question and I just stare at the teacher like..WHAT?!?!?! Never fear, happens to everyone, but the nice thing is once you know the answer to that question you won't forget it! I feel like once I have learned about a disorder (ex. diabetes) it's hard for me to visualize it until I care for a patient who has diabetes and can put my care plan into action. Clinical is where most of my learning takes place and sticks.

I also find that it helps if I do specific reading prior to going to clinical. For example I recently just completed a rotation on maternity (video coming soon!), before going to maternity I brushed up on post partum readings that I would need to be responsible for. Example, knowing complications of a vaginal delivery and a c section, knowing what kind of assessments need to be done and how to perform them, how to care for a newborn and how to assess newborn, what kinds of things to look for on the newborn. Very basic breastfeeding..etc.etc..anything you feel would be relevant just come prepared. You also learn things on the unit as well which will help pull all your theoretical learning together. I  brush up on skills before going into every semester especially if I feel like a certain skill is more likely to come up that I haven't performed before.  I hope this rambling helped answer your question 'It's Me :)' Have a great weeks guys!! xoxoxoxox. .

Orthopedic surgery...whhhaaatttttttttt ;)

So I became a little video happy and actually filmed two videos in one night but the by the time the second one was all edited and ready to be uploaded I was too tired so I let it upload overnight and it's up! This video is about my experience in Orthopedic surgery and some things I feel that every student should know. Below are my tips listed in the video for more elaboration pleaseeeeee watch the video :)

• NVA : Neurovascular Assessments

• These are so important I just cannot even stress how important it is to know the neurovascular status of your patients limb that was operated on. If your patient had a R knee replacement  you want to make sure that the blood vessels and nerves passing through the operating site are still intact and working fine and that blood going all the way down to the tips of their toes so you check for warmth, sensation, movement, circulation and pulses. You are always comparing one limb to the other to ensure that they are both equal
•  Knowing your surgery:
• Make sure you know what suregery your patient had and the potential complications so you know what to watch out for and where to focus your assessment. 
• Knowing your complication:
• For most orthopedic surgeries I came across the following complications that I was always monitoring for : pain assessment, watching for compartment syndrome, urinary retention, decreased healing and constipation (especially for patients on opioids)
• Knowing your drugs:
• This tip goes for all rotations but especially for orthopedics because you are handing out a lot of antibiotics, opioids, anti emetics..so you need to know what they are, what they do, what other drugs they interact with and also what their side effects are. Don't be afraid to go look in a drug guide if you are ever doubtful!
• Know your precautions
• Each orthopedic surgery is going to come with a certain set of precautions (the way the pt can or cannot move) depending on the type of surgery that they had. It's your job to not only encourage your pt to adhere to these precautions but to also enforce them and help your patient in doing them. It's for their own good! 
• H-T Assessments
• Doing a head to toe assessment feels fairly comfortable in your 2nd year but always do a very thorough assessment that way you have a baseline and can be alert to changes in your patients status as some patients statues can change very quickly post op. 

I hope this was useful for you guys!!! The link for the video is below and let me know what you think  by commenting here or on my video:D

Clinical Tips for Orthopedic Surgery!

Hey school...Stop stressing me out!

A VIDEO! See, I told you guys, it's finally here. This video was a request from youtube user MissNessax3 and she asked about how I handled all the stress from nursing school and kept myself sane. So the link to the video is below and here is more of a blurb.
The one thing I forgot to talk about in this video is how your prefessors can actually help lower your stress level (even though they cause it in the first place...go figure) If you are feeling super overwhelmed with homework, tests, papers, quizzes and all the looming deadlines then it's always a good idea to shoot your teacher an e-mail and ask if there is anyway you can have an extension. I have used this in the past before and have usually been given the extension that I have asked for. It also helps if you have a good track record with that teacher and are always participating in class or on time etc. etc.

ALSO! Don't forget that you have friends in the program with you who are most likely facing similar challenges and you can always turn to them for support! It's nice to get a study buddy involved and have them study with you and complete assignments together and just keep each other on track in general. Nursing is SUPER stressful, trust me I know, and it feels like you're never going to finish but slowly and surely we will all make our way to the finish line and when we do it's going to feel GOOD because we know how hard we worked to get there. So take a day for yourself here and there, stay organized so you're not stressing out about missing assignments (check out my organizational video for that) and make sure you do a little bit of homework every day and you'll be just fine :D Happy Friday boys and girls!!!

Stressed Out Nursing Video

wooooo

Today I swear it...a video approaches...I actually sat down and brainstormed....

School Approaches Surgical/Maternity

Hellooo there fellow nursies. School is approaching. My 4 week practicum in Surgical and maternity are coming up Oct20. Let me tell you guys that I am not AT ALL thrilled about maternity. Pregnant women about to give birth kinda freak me out and I'm scared I'm going to drop a baby. Eeeekk! Half of my fellow nursing friends are doing the surgical/maternity rotation right now and have had nothing but good things to say about it but I still would rather run off the ER and hang out there for 2 weeks......weird hey? Oh well, to each his own.

And before I forget, I have twitter which I update more frequently than this so if you're interested in following me follow me @mandeepg88
And@!! I WENT TO VEGAS. And it was fantastic. The weather was beautiful the pool parties were amazing and the nightlife was fantastic although now I am very aware of how much it hurts to wear heels for longer than an hour :| LOL. I spend my days in scrubs and sweats and running shoes so this was a shock for my poor little feet. But I loved getting all dressed up because we spend majority of our time dressed down. I don't know about you guys but when Im up at 5am getting ready for a 12 hour clinical day or school I don't really feel like getting all crazy about my hair/makeup. Ugh.
I know I always say this but hopefully a new video soon? You guys have no reason to believe me at this point. :( Till Next time!

waaaahhhhhh

So, since I'm not in school I currently don't have anything nursing school related to talk about, so I suppose I'll chat about whatever else is on my mind. I personally feel that after a breakup the healthiest thing to do is make sure you are super busy and distract yourself so much that you forget. And thats exactly what I did.  After my finals for the summer semester were over I jumped into working full time at my job and before/after work I hit the gym. I hired a trainer! He's wicked! I'm hoping to be in the best shape of my life by christmas so I've altered my diet and workout schedule which honestly isnt that difficult because when all I do is work and workout I don't have any excuses. Lately I've become a bit addicted to exercise. Sundays are my one rest day of the week and the whole day I'm just waiting for Monday to roll around so I can be back sweating it out on the elliptical or stepmill or training with weights with my trainer.  This has been my distraction from my breakup and safe to say its worked. Another remedy? VEGAS!!! I'll be heading over to Vegas in a little under 2 weeks and I am excited beyond belief! I've never been there and am ecstatic to hit it up with my girls for a weekend. I've also started watching True Blood and I'm only halfway through the first season but I LOVE IT!! I need something to do because school doesn't start for me until Oct 23. 2 months with no school leaves me with too much free time...maybe I should make a video for you guys soon! Possibly tomorrow...for now it's time for me to go to bed. Good night! <3

Year 2 complete

Yes, so, it has most definitely been awhile since I've typed a blog post..I feel like every post I write starts off with this sentence..The summer semester is now over making it the official completion of my second year...well after the 4 weeks of clinical in the fall but classes are all done!! IT FEELS SO GOOD! This semester was a tough one filled with lots of group projects and papers and exams all due very close together but I got through it. :D This semester was academically challenging as well as on a personal level. This semester came with many personal challenges, the death of a close family member, the end of a relationship...it was a lot to work through and it all happened near my finals. Life moves on and all I can do is take what I learned from the past and keep the memories and try to put my life back together. The support systems we have around us play a crucial role in how and if we chose to move on. This is something that we see all the time in our clinicals. The patients with the visitors and families to go home to seem to do much better and be in better spirits than those who unfortunately don't seem to have a family surrounding them 24/7 or anyone waiting for them at home. Without my family and friends I don't know where I would be in terms of support. I lean on them so much especially my sisters! Aren't siblings like a 24/7 support hotline. This post has nothing to do with nursing except for IM DONE YEAR 2 AND ONLY 2 MORE YEARS UNTIL COMPLETION. I'll be filming a video soon.I just don't know what to talk about.

I also realized a couple of days ago how much I loathe working in retail after having a dream about throwing things at customers who walk into the store 5 minutes to closing..OMG GO HOME AAAHHHH.  thats all people.

awesomeness

I have something so awesome to tell you guys......READY?

BSc NURSING has been chosen as the TOUGHEST course among all the courses including MBBS, BCOM , Bca, IAS , IPS and ENGINEERING ; by the Guinness Book of World Records , on 18 MAY 2011 . It has 64 university exams + 130 series exams + 174 assignments within 4 years (max 1000 working dys ).

 

BEAUTIFUL. I am now the smartest person. ever. muhahahahhaha

No Life?

Hellooo,
So yes, I know it's been a couple of months since I have updated you guys :( I'm uploading videos more than I'm uploading my blog but I have enabled this mobile uploading thingy on my phone so maybe in between classes I can update you guys. The main subject of this entry will be my serious lack of a life. waaahhhhhhh. Nursing students have no life. Is this true for you? In between school, work, homework, and HOCKEY....NHL :) my life feels stretched too thin. So I did the unthinkable...well for me at least...I cut back my hours at work..nooooooooooooo. I hate seeing a smaller paycheque. Sucks. Oh well. I think the lack of a life is more noticeable for sure  during the summer months when everyone is out and about and facebook statuses are being updated about long walks on a beach or enjoying beautiful days and the only beautiful days I enjoy are my early morning drives to the gym. EW. Also below is a lovely picture for you guys. My crappy traffic ridden drive home from school. Exactly what you need right? UGH.  SUCKS

Also! I uploaded a new video. Link is below. Make sure you guys check it out :)

Organizational Video!  

Assignments and tissue boxes

Hey guys!
So, I got sick. Lovely. It slowed me down enough to make me think about forgotten blog :( I've decided to do something for you guys! I'm going to try and make a blog entry everyday and even if it doesn't include words at least I can snap a picture of something I did that day and comment on it...let's see if I can keep this up. Today's picture of the day is below and it is NOT a pleasant site. Being in the nursing program doesn't allow for a lot of sick days. Calling in sick to clinicals is one thing because you aren't allowed to be in the hospital when you're sick becuase they obviously don't want you infecting other patients but missing classes? This kind of sucks because you can't spend the whole day lying in bed and sleeping and recovering. This morning I chose to sleep in and miss my morning class but had to go for lab (which in my opinion was pretty useless) where I learned about pressure ulcers and classifying them..soooo funnn....NOT. My time would have been better spent lying at home recovering..seriously. Anyways after coming home and lounging around on the couch for 2 hours I decided to do some researching for a presentation on shock. The picture below tells you what my work area looked like on my bed....this lead me to conclude that when in nursing school....tissue boxes and assignments will always go together. That's all for now! Have a good weekend everyone :)

Notice the many used tissues...this pile only grew as time went on

I don't know about you guys but having a cute design on your tissue box makes things a little better..:)

Endoscopy?

Hiiiiiiiiiii.
Alrighty, so I'm back after a long hiatus of studying hahaha. So go check out my newest video on youtube if you haven't done so already called "Mid semester update" to catch up on what I've been doing this semester.  Clinical has been super fun as always and this past week I was able to go to Endoscopy...for those of you who don't know what it is..it is when there is a camera and it it inserted into your mouth or your anus and the Dr can check out your colon or GI tract and see if anything is out of the ordinary. Lots of fun. So I went down to endoscopy and observed and to be totally was honest was incredibly bored with that I saw. I DO NOT want to be a RN in endoscopy. Although their job there is important it seems very repetitive and could potentially get boring...I'm still loving the idea of working in emerg and just found out today that I AM ABLE to my preceptorship in emerg!! :D This excites me a great deal because just like I felt that nursing was my calling I feel that emerg is my calling. It's nice every now and then to be reminded why I went into this career field because it reignites my passion and drive for nursing. love it. This is such a grammatically poor entry but whatever....That's all for now I think...I'll let you guys know when something new comes up :) Good bye boys and girls!

To prep...or not to prep?

Sooooo, I had my first actual class of the semester today. We had some pre reading that needed to be done before we went to class. I found out about the pre reading on Wednesday. Class is on Thursday. But I forgot to do it and went to class thinking oh well, its the first class of the semester, I should be fine! But no, this class just jumped right in! Today was my lab class where we learn all of our new skills and today we were building on a head to toe assessment. I was so lost when our instructor started talking about all the heart sounds and S1 and S2 and so forth. I must have looked really confused because I'm more than certain that she knew I didn't do my prep :( And to make things even better we had a little game where we answered questions about the pre reading......HOW AWESOME RIGHT? I'm being sarcastic incase it isn't evident. Ugh, what a day. So I currently just finished reading all the material I was supposed to have already read and am now about to do next weeks prep. Moral of the day? DO YOUR HOMEWORK. lol. Fail on my first day back. oh man. I am extremely happy to be home and anxiously waiting for the clock to hit 7:00pm so I can watch the season premiere of Jersey Shore....yes I know what most of you are thinking......but I like it! It's my little guilty pleasure. Muhahahahha...alrighty, I'm off to continue the prep. Good luck to you guys! Don't forget to check out my youtube channel! Links on the side!

Semester 3 Prep

Hey guys!
I know I know, long time no talk! The holidays became excruciatingly  busy and I had no time to breathe let alone sit down and film and edit a video :( But I am back and have already started school. I am currently uploading a video for you guys and once it's up I'll post the link to youtube below!  I had my first clinical class of the semester and I LOVED IT! Being back in the hospital and just thinking about helping all the patients and learning new things and improving and developing my skills is soooo exciting. I am well aware I sound like the biggest nerd ever but I just can't help it. Clinicals excite me, as they should, seeing as how this is going to be my career for a very long time :D I got a bunch of new subscribers on youtube and if you guys are reading my blog then thanks for subscribing and I hope my videos are helpful for you guys :D  I'm going to try super hard to continue making videos throughout the semester. Hopefully once a week or every other week. That's my goal. I'm going to try and blog at least every other day. Okay! That's all for now! I have clinical prep that needs to be done :( Good night! See ya laterrrrrr.

Semester 3 Prep Video!