One more test to take. . .

I have one more test to take and then I will have 4 days off. I'm so excited. I take my final exam on Monday and then I'm free for the rest of the week. I will be flying out on Tuesday to visit a good friend who moved away in October. I'm sure that we will have a good time.

So much has happened the last few weeks.

I had to do a presentation on my change project. I had three goals for my change project:
1. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will exhibit a weekly average stress score of 25 based on the Psychological Stress Measurement Tool.
2. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will have exercised three times per week for each week of the project to reduce stress.
3. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will decrease her stress as evidenced by a decrease in the number of times she walks in her sleep to 1 time every two weeks or less.
Unfortunately, I did not meet any of my goals. The end results were as follows:
1. Student nurse did not meet goal of decreasing stress from a measure of 40 on the Psychological Stress Measure Tool to an average of 25.
2. Student nurse did not meet goal of exercise 3 times per week for eight weeks to decrease stress. Student nurse exercised 3 times per week the first four weeks but only 2 times per week the second four weeks.
3. Student nurse did not meet goal of decreasing the number of times walked in sleep to 1 time every two weeks or less. Student nurse walked in sleep 9 times in 8 weeks.
Fortunately, I did make some progress on each goal. So overall, I was pleased with that.

Clinicals have been good. I was able to do more new things and become more competent in other things. Last week I ended up with three different patients, each with their own unique set of problems. I learned something from each of them and was blessed to be a part of each of their care.

A few weeks ago I went to Freed-Hardeman for the weekend for Makin' Music. While there I spent some time hanging out with my little friend Louise. We had such a good time!

I've also been blessed to hang out with my favorite 4 year old friend Haydn and that is always such a constant joy in my life.

I spent last Friday at the Williamson County Health Department. I had to spend the day there as part of my community health class. There were lots of people in and out very fast. It was an interesting day and I enjoyed it somewhat.

This past Wednesday we had a simulation lab experience. We read over the simulated pt/manequin's chart the night before and became familiar with his case. We then had 30 minutes to treat Mr. Rodgriquez. There were multiple things wrong with his medications, his vital signs, etc. that we had to use our critical thinking skills to correct and manage. Our patient was in a very small "hospital" room that had a large mirror. On the other side of the mirror were 4 faculty members monitoring our behavior. It was a little nerve wracking, but I felt I did fairly well. I look forward to doing more simulations in the future.

For now, I've got to spend this rare day off going to work and learning more about those I encounter.