The Dunlap Daily Dish: Nursing School: Level Two (the dreaded one!)

Everyone talks about how bad level 2 is. How difficult pharmacology is. And in my mind, I was super anxious about being in school when my kids were home for the summer. From the get go, it seemed as though level 2 would be a challenge. And that it was! The thing that made level 2 so hard was that exams would stack up one on top of another with at least 1 exam a week and sometimes 2, 3, or even 4! Not to mention the pilies of homework, reading assignments, and quizzes. But I've made it through to the other side and now it just feels like it was a blur!

I did hate leaving my kids each morning, not knowing what they'd be up to or being able to spend time with them. For better or worse, we got the younger kids iPads so they could engage themselves in games and activities when I was busy or gone and we got Hudson a cell phone so I could keep in touch with him. I enjoyed being able to send each of them messages and pictures while I was away. I signed the kids up for several different camps and my mom helped me taxi the kids around. Everyone but Hudson did vacation bible school at Hoffmantown church and swim lessons at Sandia High School. The girls had camp with Naomi Tracey (my friend's daughter on the westside) - and my sweet friend Pam even picked up my girls and brought them there! What a friend! Beau and the girls started football/cheer midsummer. Hudson stayed busy with church activities including high adventure (a backpacking and rafting trip) and For Strength of Youth in Arizona (he roomed with Brendon).

I did really well in level 2, completing the summer with 4 more A's! I had Pharmacology with Ms. McCabe. She's asian (not sure where from) and I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to understand her strong accent! My worries were legit - as she was super hard to follow. "Write your 'fresh carts' everybody! Point to your 'Eric' valve!" I didn't blame her, though - I couldn't even pronounce most of the drug names myself! Luckily, she made the best study guides ever that really helped us be successful on her exams. I really enjoyed the material (although it was too much to truly grasp) but I already can't remember most of what we learned! Oye!

Health and Illness was my favorite course - I called it Mom and Baby considering that most of the course covered reproduction. I really fell in love with the mom/baby topics and think I may have found my passion! Ms. Weishapel was a fun, hilarious teacher who reminded me of the midwestern mom from the kid's show "Bobby's World." Don'tchya know? I was thrilled to get a 99.99% on the mom/baby HESI exam.

Lab was taught be Jenny Rowley (I loved her organized style) with Ms. Olsen (super cute, bubbly blonde who reminded me of my college roommate Haley) and Ms. Tafoya (gorgeous, fun gal with a great laugh). The bulk of that class was memorizing the head-to-toe assessment. We were issued hospital gowns to use when we played the role of patient. We also learned more about injections, NG tube insertion and removal, and baby/pregnancy assessments. We got to do a couple SIMs, one involving a baby that stopped breathing (suction and oxygen!) and a mother who had preeclampsia. I got to inject the baby mannequin's leg with Vitamin K, which was a little unnerving! At the end of the term, we did a mental health simulation, which I absolutely loved. The patient had PTSD. I did great and fell in love with the thought of doing mental health nursing - those units were so fascinating! My only critique was that I got too close to the unstable patient and needed to keep distance between us. I did excellent on the HESI, scoring the equivalent of a 95%. Additionally, I passed the clinical calculation test with a 100%!

I did clinicals at UNM hospital floor 5 west. It was a step-down unit I believe. Or maybe med/surg. There was a dialysis unit in the back of our hall. I was nervous to be assigned Ms. Montano as my clinical instructor, but she turned out to be the absolute best! She's sharp, understanding, and insightful. Clinicals this term were wild - we'd start the day by getting assigned a patient. Then we'd attend the morning staff meeting and listen as the charge nurse rattled off what was going on on our floor that day. "Patients X, Y, and Z are on assault watch (so stay away!). Patients A, B, and C have Covid. Patient D has bed bugs and lice. Patients E, F, and G have MRSA. And all of the patients need their teeth brushed!" Then we'd follow the nurse also assigned to our patient to hear the outgoing (night shift) nurse's report. With that information in toe, it was then our job as students to get an assessment for the morning. We'd introduce ourselves, get their vitals, and look at each body system methodically from head to toe. Then we'd chart in their actual medical record! This all needed to be done before 10am. After that, you were free to help out nurses and patient care techs on the floor. I did my fair share of poopy butt wiping this term! I had one patient that had a hypoxic brain injury and was in a vegetative state, one young girl in end stage renal failure that was experiencing intracranial hypertension, one young man going through alcohol withdrawal, and a sweet older woman with dementia and a fistula. I was able to pass meds to one of my patients, which was an interesting experience. You'd think getting someone to take a couple pills would be easy, but some patients - man! They can be so resistant!

I'd really like more practice gowning up and learning better the protocols for contagious patients. My buddy and I were asked to give a man a bed bath who had MRSA. When we got in there, I didn't realize that he was also basically glued to his bed with poop. It was such a sticky mess in there but to make matters worse - he was super contagious! I'm pretty sure poop got everywhere! It got all over his sheets for sure. We did a crappy job (no pun intended) and left a pile of poopy sheets for the nurse to clean up, but I guess practice makes perfect. I'm going to need a lot more practice. Yay for me! Another interesting experience I got to do was empty a woman's fistula. It's basically a little pouch that attaches to an opening in a person's abdominal wall that the intestinal contents empty into. It is unbelievably stinky (I didn't realize there could be something stinkier than poop!) and it tends to splash!

I had a few health concerns this level and I'm thinking I might be more stressed out than I even realize. I got sick with a lower respiratory infection, and I just couldn't kick it! The doctor at urgent care thought it might be walking pneumonia, although a chest x-ray ruled that out. I felt pretty weak, light headed, and sick for much of the term. During clinicals, I had two separate pre-syncope episodes. It sounded very much like panic attacks without the element of panic or heart issues. I got super sweaty, I felt numb in my limbs and tongue, I felt nauseated, I got tunnel vision, my head felt very cold, and I thought I was going to pass out. It happened once in my patient's room and another time while I was charting. I'm still not sure what caused these events, but my gut says it's a stress reaction! I'm planning on getting my bloodwork done sometime this fall to rule anything else out. In the meantime I'm trying to drink more water and I may buy some compression socks.

Here's to another level under my belt! Level three starts tomorrow, and I am feeling apprehensive but excited to get going!