Gary Gnu

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Does anyone remember the cartoon "The Great Space Coaster" ? Remember the little newscaster who would always say, "No Gnews is good Gnews" ? Anyways, Im low on posts lately because Im low on news...nothing new really, just the same old student nursing stuff.

However I can report the following:
I really dont like my Peds instructor, and therefore have not been real crazy about Peds. I will be glad when its over, and thats the first time I have felt this way about nursing school.

In two weeks, my UofM classes start, and Im taking a Chem class at my community college where Im going to nursing school. Most normal nursing students would be lining up jobs and summer vacations, but here I am plugging away at more school. Enough already, says my hubby.

On the job front, I have gotten past the stigma that Im a dosing nurse at a methadone clinic. Its a job. I get paid well, and the people actually add some spice to my life. They have some crazy experiences and some of the most creative reasons I have ever heard for why I should not urine drop them before I give them their dose of methadone...lol.

Im not sure if I mentioned I will be working midnights this summer, full time, at the better of two hospitals in town. Ill be a "Nurse Extern" (i.e. glorified tech) on the labor and delivery unit. Im geeked about getting my foot in the door at this hospital, but not crazy about how midnights will effect my body...hopefully it all will work out.

My youngest son, 18mo, is becoming all boy very quickly. He has learned how to scale just about anything, and Im sure an after hours visit is in my future for a broken arm or sprained ankle. Im getting dangerously close to hauling out the pack and play to contain him sometimes...lol.

Finally, I know Im stressed out when Im having dreams about being on an exam table in the drs office, upon which I slide across. But in real life, my fat a$% is on my nightstand, sliding across it, until I fall off (yes, I really did this) and bruise my arm and thigh, and when my hubby asks if Im ok, I say yes, and in the morning I dont remember a thing but the dream. (I destroyed my bedside lamp, btw).

No Gnews is Good Gnews!!

NSNA Annual Convention and finger lights

Ok, so here I am in California, at the National Student Nurses Association Annual Convention. I'm having fun - Jenna, you better win girl!
I realize that this is what I love about nursing....I love the collaboration of ideas, the power of our collective voice and the motivation it brings me to hear from so many other nursing students who are getting through nursing school with some semblance of their sanity left! ( I even made it over to Disney and picked up some Princess loot for my 3 yr old-shhh, don't tell)

Coolest t-shirt I've seen: front says, "Friends don't let friends..." back says, "...miss clinicals."

Coolest breakout session: Relax, Rejuvenate, Recreate; in short a nurse the nurse primer.

Coolest free stuff from exhibitor hall: finger light for in-the-dark charting.

Coolest New Idea: The findings from the Carnegie Foundation's study of Nursing Education, read the findings here. (I was shocked to hear that a shocking number of schools of nursing are doing more to prepare students for passing the NCLEX than to be nurses, and that most clinical experiences lack quality learning experiences because the staff nurses give the student nurses tasks they find undesirable.)

Anyhoo-great convention, and I have lots to write about in MNSA's Newsletter, NURSETALK.