Author: A. Lexgelinas

My suggestions for future cohorts are to learn time management, scheduling, and organizational skills quickly. Having these down helps decrease anxiety. I suggest finding a group of friends or like-minded students to work with. It’s helpful to discuss your thoughts and study with groups because it allows you to discuss what you know. If you can teach it, you know it. Students should figure out how they study best and who with.

Don’t tap out!! Push it to the very end. It gets difficult and that senioritis kicks in hard. Just keep going. I don’t know what you can do to manage senioritis but find yourself some treatment and push.

I suggest asking the nurses on the floor many questions. Have a plan and tell them what your goals are for the day. What do you want to see? What skills do you want to perform? What concepts aren’t making sense? I find I have much less anxiety talking to the nurses because they aren’t grading us. I always tell them when I’m nervous because they will push me but keep me comfortable. Just be honest.

My suggestions for future cohorts are to learn time management, scheduling, and organizational skills quickly. Having these down helps decrease anxiety. I suggest finding a group of friends or like-minded students to work with. It’s helpful to discuss your thoughts and study with groups because it allows you to discuss what you know. If you can teach it, you know it. Students should figure out how they study best and who with.

Don’t tap out!! Push it to the very end. It gets difficult and that senioritis kicks in hard. Just keep going. I don’t know what you can do to manage senioritis but find yourself some treatment and push.

I suggest asking the nurses on the floor many questions. Have a plan and tell them what your goals are for the day. What do you want to see? What skills do you want to perform? What concepts aren’t making sense? I find I have much less anxiety talking to the nurses because they aren’t grading us. I always tell them when I’m nervous because they will push me but keep me comfortable. Just be honest.

My suggestions for future cohorts are to learn time management, scheduling, and organizational skills quickly. Having these down helps decrease anxiety. I suggest finding a group of friends or like-minded students to work with. It’s helpful to discuss your thoughts and study with groups because it allows you to discuss what you know. If you can teach it, you know it. Students should figure out how they study best and who with.

Don’t tap out!! Push it to the very end. It gets difficult and that senioritis kicks in hard. Just keep going. I don’t know what you can do to manage senioritis but find yourself some treatment and push.

I suggest asking the nurses on the floor many questions. Have a plan and tell them what your goals are for the day. What do you want to see? What skills do you want to perform? What concepts aren’t making sense? I find I have much less anxiety talking to the nurses because they aren’t grading us. I always tell them when I’m nervous because they will push me but keep me comfortable. Just be honest.

I’ve thought about end of life care and what I’d desire for myself. I don’t think I want to be kept alive long term with tubes, drains, or ventilation. I want my aunt to be my decision maker and as far as my remains go, I want to be cremated. I’ve never expressed this to my family but it would be a good discussion to have since I know these decisions may not sit well with some of my family. Additionally, I went through my grandmas declining health and eventual death with my aunt. I was very involved in ensuring she had a POLST and her wishes were being met as she could no longer express them. On the complete other spectrum, when my mom passed away she had not expressed much desires. The only thing we knew is that she wanted to be cremated and spread in Hawaii and with my grandma and grandpa. Sometimes in conversation I ask family and friends about their beliefs of death and what they desire for themselves. I think death is a topic we often avoid but it’s inevitable and something we need to prepare for. This is not only for the individual but for the family and friends too. When someone passes away, it creates a lot of stress for the loved ones. Having set wishes to follow makes the process a little smoother. Losing someone is never easy but the guidance that the deceased has left for those who have to make the final decisions makes the process more tolerable.

I’ve thought about end of life care and what I’d desire for myself. I don’t think I want to be kept alive long term with tubes, drains, or ventilation. I want my aunt to be my decision maker and as far as my remains go, I want to be cremated. I’ve never expressed this to my family but it would be a good discussion to have since I know these decisions may not sit well with some of my family. Additionally, I went through my grandmas declining health and eventual death with my aunt. I was very involved in ensuring she had a POLST and her wishes were being met as she could no longer express them. On the complete other spectrum, when my mom passed away she had not expressed much desires. The only thing we knew is that she wanted to be cremated and spread in Hawaii and with my grandma and grandpa. Sometimes in conversation I ask family and friends about their beliefs of death and what they desire for themselves. I think death is a topic we often avoid but it’s inevitable and something we need to prepare for. This is not only for the individual but for the family and friends too. When someone passes away, it creates a lot of stress for the loved ones. Having set wishes to follow makes the process a little smoother. Losing someone is never easy but the guidance that the deceased has left for those who have to make the final decisions makes the process more tolerable.

I’ve thought about end of life care and what I’d desire for myself. I don’t think I want to be kept alive long term with tubes, drains, or ventilation. I want my aunt to be my decision maker and as far as my remains go, I want to be cremated. I’ve never expressed this to my family but it would be a good discussion to have since I know these decisions may not sit well with some of my family. Additionally, I went through my grandmas declining health and eventual death with my aunt. I was very involved in ensuring she had a POLST and her wishes were being met as she could no longer express them. On the complete other spectrum, when my mom passed away she had not expressed much desires. The only thing we knew is that she wanted to be cremated and spread in Hawaii and with my grandma and grandpa. Sometimes in conversation I ask family and friends about their beliefs of death and what they desire for themselves. I think death is a topic we often avoid but it’s inevitable and something we need to prepare for. This is not only for the individual but for the family and friends too. When someone passes away, it creates a lot of stress for the loved ones. Having set wishes to follow makes the process a little smoother. Losing someone is never easy but the guidance that the deceased has left for those who have to make the final decisions makes the process more tolerable.

At orientation I felt like I was starting the greatest journey of my life. With all the helpful information from third year students, I felt like I was mentally preparing myself. My first clinical day I felt confident to perform skills such as ADL’s. Getting used to the equipment was something that made me a bit uneasy. I felt year one I was just getting to know the patient and practice my assessment skills. Year two I felt pushed to know medications better, time management, and documentation. Year three I feel I have all those pieces moving smoothly together. I’m able to tackle the tasks of the day with much less stress because I’m more efficient and knowledgeable. My critical thinking skills have improved through the years which helps make the clinical day run organized.

In a year from now I have a few goals in mind. I would like to feel more competent in my training most especially. I try to model nurses that have qualities I thrive off of and want to embody that fully in 1 year. My other goals involve fitness, dieting, and lifestyle. In 3 years, I’d like to be fully competent and applied or in a nurse practitioner program. In five years I hope to be set in the best job for me and my lifestyle. I’m ready to graduate from nursing school. I’ve learned so much and just need to bring all my knowledge to the field and live and appreciate the life I created for myself and worked hard for.

This picture was taken for orientation at VCMC for critical care. This represents how I feel about graduating the program. Like I’m excited and ready but still bound to schooling and not quite free!

At orientation I felt like I was starting the greatest journey of my life. With all the helpful information from third year students, I felt like I was mentally preparing myself. My first clinical day I felt confident to perform skills such as ADL’s. Getting used to the equipment was something that made me a bit uneasy. I felt year one I was just getting to know the patient and practice my assessment skills. Year two I felt pushed to know medications better, time management, and documentation. Year three I feel I have all those pieces moving smoothly together. I’m able to tackle the tasks of the day with much less stress because I’m more efficient and knowledgeable. My critical thinking skills have improved through the years which helps make the clinical day run organized.

In a year from now I have a few goals in mind. I would like to feel more competent in my training most especially. I try to model nurses that have qualities I thrive off of and want to embody that fully in 1 year. My other goals involve fitness, dieting, and lifestyle. In 3 years, I’d like to be fully competent and applied or in a nurse practitioner program. In five years I hope to be set in the best job for me and my lifestyle. I’m ready to graduate from nursing school. I’ve learned so much and just need to bring all my knowledge to the field and live and appreciate the life I created for myself and worked hard for.

This picture was taken for orientation at VCMC for critical care. This represents how I feel about graduating the program. Like I’m excited and ready but still bound to schooling and not quite free!

At orientation I felt like I was starting the greatest journey of my life. With all the helpful information from third year students, I felt like I was mentally preparing myself. My first clinical day I felt confident to perform skills such as ADL’s. Getting used to the equipment was something that made me a bit uneasy. I felt year one I was just getting to know the patient and practice my assessment skills. Year two I felt pushed to know medications better, time management, and documentation. Year three I feel I have all those pieces moving smoothly together. I’m able to tackle the tasks of the day with much less stress because I’m more efficient and knowledgeable. My critical thinking skills have improved through the years which helps make the clinical day run organized.

In a year from now I have a few goals in mind. I would like to feel more competent in my training most especially. I try to model nurses that have qualities I thrive off of and want to embody that fully in 1 year. My other goals involve fitness, dieting, and lifestyle. In 3 years, I’d like to be fully competent and applied or in a nurse practitioner program. In five years I hope to be set in the best job for me and my lifestyle. I’m ready to graduate from nursing school. I’ve learned so much and just need to bring all my knowledge to the field and live and appreciate the life I created for myself and worked hard for.

This picture was taken for orientation at VCMC for critical care. This represents how I feel about graduating the program. Like I’m excited and ready but still bound to schooling and not quite free!

On October 1, 2017 a single man shot into the Route 91 music festival  killing 59 people and injuring 546. He shot from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay hotel on the Las Vegas strip. Barriers for providing care rested in the uncertainty of the shooter being on the ground or up in one of the surrounding buildings, getting adequate medical personnel to assist the hundreds of people injured and transport them to one of the 3 surrounding hospitals. Paramedics, nurses, and doctors both on duty and off duty rushed to help people get to safety and provide medical care until transferred to hospitals. The shooting took place from 1005pm to 1015pm. While people trampled over each other and tore down fences to escape it created some difficulty to get the injured immediate attention. After the shooting, there were hotel cancellations and business’ had some fall in sales the first 3 days after the shooting. Trauma care needed was tourniquets, pressure to bullet wounds to stop bleeding, and CPR for some that lost adequate perfusion. With the amount of people that came into hospitals injured, the healthcare team would have to call in additional employees and even keep some employees significantly overtime in order to manage the influx of trauma patients. I believe real disasters like this give emergency and medical personnel the tools they need to provide faster effective care. They can evaluate the protocols they already have in place and see what works and what needs adjusting.