Nursing School Starts Back Up!

Well, school has started again. We've been going now for a four or five weeks and I am starting to get back into the swing of things. I've started adjusting to the schedule and have adjusted to not seeing my family as much. I must say though, although this year is just as challenging as last year, it isn't as stressful and chaotic as last year. Don't get me wrong, it is still hard and very time consuming but I feel like I can breathe a little bit easier this year.


This semester my clinicals are at Renown in Reno. That means getting up every Monday morning at 3:45 AM so that I can be to Reno on time. After a brief stay on the Orthopaedics floor, I have now become comfortable on the Neuro-Sciences floor. I have been able to see a few very interesting procedures and don't worry, I will spare you all the details. The above pic was taken on the first day of clinicals, in the parking garage at Renown. It was sooooo early in the morning!


The first few weeks of school we have had IV labs in the mix. We have gone in for class to learn about all things IV. We were shown how to prime tubing, how to operate pumps, how to spike IV bags and how to set up blood transfusion tubing.


Toward the end of the lab were able to finally do an actual IV start. They taught us what we needed to know and do and then we were turned loose to practice on the fake arms. The arms aren't bad looks wise. They start from the shoulder and run all the way down to the fingers. They are set up with some fake blood so that when we get our IV into the vein we actually get blood return like a live person would give. They are however a little off from the real thing in respects to how the veins are and how they feel.


In the above picture I am finding my vein and cleaning my area.

So, as you can tell by my face in the above picture, something isn't right here. Don't worry it was nothing serious. Well as I mentioned, the arms aren't exactly like the real thing. Some of the veins aren't "true" veins and won't give you blood return or allow you to advance your IV cath. In this particular situation that is what was happening to me. I got my poke done but the vein ended up bending, that's right bending, the tubing of my IV cath.

The instructor decided to see if it was like that on the whole arm and if we were waisting our time practicing on this arm. After some looking, she found a vein that was a true vein and had excellent results. So I tried again.

The second time, after finding the true vein, I got my IV in with no problems. In place, secure and beautiful!

You may wonder if I have started an IV on a real person and the answer is yes I have! I have done only one, but I am hoping to change that real soon. So far the semester is going good! I did well on my first exam and at the moment am preparing for my next one that will be next week. I have become the Vice-President of my class and meet with the fellow officers of my class to discuss graduation plans, fundraising, and the like. Graduation is in May and there are quite a few things that have to happen before it. So far it has been a great experience being VP.

In October our clinicals at Renown will end and we will switch to a psychiatric rotation at some places in Reno. I say October like it is far away or something but really it isn't. Hard to believe the holiday season is just around the corner! But I can't get too distracted by that....must stay focused and continue through and finish this semester strong!

Love and Blessings to you all!