The Spring Semester of 2016 was my second semester of nursing school. The clinical course was half Med-Surge, and half Mental Health. I also had to take other Bachelors courses such as Nursing Research and Nursing Ministry, and tagged on my last gen-ed course: English II.
Just to get it out of the way, my English II course was incredibly easy. It was somewhat reading intensive with various short story units and one large novel unit, with papers due after each reading piece. However, it was an online course to accommodate the many clinical nursing students who had that as their last gen-ed, and the teacher was incredibly understanding with due dates and assignment length.
The two BSN courses that I had to take were not too bad either. Nursing Ministry was also completely online, and was comprised of a few papers and a lot of weekly discussion posts. This course really explored each student's view on religion and spirituality and it's role with dealing with patients and practicing in health care. This course was very interesting because it really made every student think about their own religious or spiritual views, and how they would interact with a patient who might view differently than them. The course did not "confront/question" those who did not believe in certain religious practices.
My Nursing Research class was slightly more in-depth, and I can say it wasn't really my favorite. It really dove into Evidenced Based Practice methods, how to conduct hospital studies, and the difference between Qualitative and Quantitative studies. The most valuable tool I gathered from that class was how to really dive into a nursing database and find the correct sources with the right criteria to use in an academic or professional research paper. I think that finding correct Peer Reviewed Journals only solidifies the point you are trying to write. Also, so many professors have shared that they are always looking up different journals to stay up to date on new research. My nursing preceptor during my CRT rotation this past spring was always looking up nursing journals during her free time at the hospital, and also brought pertinent information to her unit manager to better the unit.
Now, for my actual Clinical courses, it was the same old difficult story haha. My nursing program took an interesting approach to their Med-Surg and Mental Health courses. In the beginning of the semester the Med-Surg component started off with heavy cardiac content. We learned all about stoke, MI's, the different EKG rhythms and heart blocks. After the first cardiac heavy exam we moved on to the second set of content, which was a complete hodgepodge of different material. Now, obviously I cannot compare my experiences to others in terms of the subjects they were taught during Med-Surge, but to me it felt as though we were having bits and pieces of everything but the kitchen sink thrown our way. We had brief lessons on arthritis, Lupus, cancer, different surgical care, and other random topics.
The clinical portion to the Medical Surgical class was by far my favorite clinical experience. During my experience I was placed on the Progressive Care Unit, which is a cardiac ICU step down. On this unit I was able to see so many different patients and learn so much. On this unit I placed my first IV, cleaned my first trach before it was a required skill to learn, and also visited the Cardiac Cath Lab to observe different procedures. I also had one of the best clinical instructors I have ever had in my different experiences. This specific clinical instructor is one that I wish to emulate once I am on the floor.
The mental health portion was tacked on after the "half way through the semester week long break". The mental health portion grades were just added on to the Med-Surge grades, they were not separated. This class was taught by a new professor who was also an alumnus from my nursing school.
Overall, I thought Mental Health was a relatively easy class to grasp. The nursing interventions are really easy to figure out once you think about the needs of each particular patient. I thought that clinical was very interesting because I was able to see both in-patient and out-patient resource centers for those with different mental health conditions.
This semester is also the first semester I got involved in my school's Student Nurses Association. I was partnered with one of my Study Group friends in the Membership and Events position. In this position I helped provide food for monthly student meetings, raffle prizes, and helped organize small events. Joining SNA this semester was honestly one of the better things I did throughout my nursing career thus far because I was able to get involved in the school and meet more nursing students.
I thought that I had a very successful second semester of nursing school and learned a lot of useful information. I hope that this post was of interest to you!
Thank you so much for reading!
- Michelle
#BSNbabe
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