Sunday, May 29, 2011
Sanity Reclamation Party
We had a GREAT pool party at my dear friend Stephen's during-the-week-house.
It was for Memorial Day, finishing the horrid online classes, & to welcome summer. Yay for grilled salmon, veggies, booze, & best friends. :-)
It was for Memorial Day, finishing the horrid online classes, & to welcome summer. Yay for grilled salmon, veggies, booze, & best friends. :-)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Week in review
Choir concert two nights this week in a town about 1 hr away. Went pretty well.
I'm too busy for that stuff right now. Glad I did it but glad it's over, too.
Reconsidering CNS for grad school. Looking at Family NP. With my background in Training, and masters in Health Ed/Promo (public health), & plans for getting a DNP, I think I'll get at least some of the aspects of a CNS. And as an (a?) NP, I'll have lots of great clinical hands on experience.
So I'm wallowing in that indecision for now.
Research. Love it in the real world; despise the class. About to take an exam.
Later.
I'm too busy for that stuff right now. Glad I did it but glad it's over, too.
Reconsidering CNS for grad school. Looking at Family NP. With my background in Training, and masters in Health Ed/Promo (public health), & plans for getting a DNP, I think I'll get at least some of the aspects of a CNS. And as an (a?) NP, I'll have lots of great clinical hands on experience.
So I'm wallowing in that indecision for now.
Research. Love it in the real world; despise the class. About to take an exam.
Later.
Friday, May 20, 2011
What's up in my online world?
Wowza are these online classes ever full of busy work!
Not sad anymore...been seeing some of the local friends at the Library and The Edge Coffee Shop, so I don't feel as disconnected. My Husb has been on the road for a week solid, so I've been a little lonely, but my days have been busy.
I'm about to have to diet again. I diet for awhile, I quit for awhile, and when I start hovering around the magic number 150, I diet again. I'm about 148 these days.
Let's see...what else...
I'm stressed every time I schedule my online bill pay. Every time I take money out at the ATM. My loan funds are getting smaller and smaller. I hope I can find a job right after graduation.
And to that end, I am putting feelers out. I have an interview with a total-senior-care, interdisciplinary-team-approach place in my town. There isn't a specific job opening at the moment, but I am very thankful to the Exec Director who has agreed to meet me. That'll be sometime next week; she gave me her number to call for an appointment, yay!
I am very thankful that the Husb has been blessed with a lot of work recently (it's contract kinda stuff). One of my dear friends in our program just had to sign up for assistance. I know they are under a LOT of pressure at the moment. God bless 'em.
Think I'll go drink with my friend Psych-PhD. Her husb is in a band. They let me sing with them occasionally; it's a blast. I still get a bit nervous, (I used to get REALLY sick-nervous back in the day if I had to sing...like only a couple years ago) but now it is more fun than not.
Psych-PhD is getting to teach the next group of accelerated students. She would've been great to have as my teacher, but I'm really glad she wasn't, because we get to be friends this way! I have 3-4 other really great teachers that I can't WAIT to be done with school so I can be their FRIEND, not STUDENT. Professional boundaries, and all that jazz. It's cool; I totally get it 'cause I've been on the other side of that fence before.
Diet Mt. Dew Voltage...ugh, how gross. Wish I hadn't of bought a 12 pak. ;-)
Not sad anymore...been seeing some of the local friends at the Library and The Edge Coffee Shop, so I don't feel as disconnected. My Husb has been on the road for a week solid, so I've been a little lonely, but my days have been busy.
I'm about to have to diet again. I diet for awhile, I quit for awhile, and when I start hovering around the magic number 150, I diet again. I'm about 148 these days.
Let's see...what else...
I'm stressed every time I schedule my online bill pay. Every time I take money out at the ATM. My loan funds are getting smaller and smaller. I hope I can find a job right after graduation.
And to that end, I am putting feelers out. I have an interview with a total-senior-care, interdisciplinary-team-approach place in my town. There isn't a specific job opening at the moment, but I am very thankful to the Exec Director who has agreed to meet me. That'll be sometime next week; she gave me her number to call for an appointment, yay!
I am very thankful that the Husb has been blessed with a lot of work recently (it's contract kinda stuff). One of my dear friends in our program just had to sign up for assistance. I know they are under a LOT of pressure at the moment. God bless 'em.
Think I'll go drink with my friend Psych-PhD. Her husb is in a band. They let me sing with them occasionally; it's a blast. I still get a bit nervous, (I used to get REALLY sick-nervous back in the day if I had to sing...like only a couple years ago) but now it is more fun than not.
Psych-PhD is getting to teach the next group of accelerated students. She would've been great to have as my teacher, but I'm really glad she wasn't, because we get to be friends this way! I have 3-4 other really great teachers that I can't WAIT to be done with school so I can be their FRIEND, not STUDENT. Professional boundaries, and all that jazz. It's cool; I totally get it 'cause I've been on the other side of that fence before.
Diet Mt. Dew Voltage...ugh, how gross. Wish I hadn't of bought a 12 pak. ;-)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
What is YOUR personality type? Ima ENFJ!
That's Extroverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging!!!
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm
That's the link! Take the quiz, get to know yourself; it is really fun!
So to get to know me better:
"ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.
ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness.
ENFJs are blessed through introverted intuition with clarity of perception in the inner, unconscious world. Dominant Feeling prefers to find the silver lining in even the most beggarly perceptions of those in their expanding circle of friends and, of course, in themselves.
ENFJs are continually looking for newer and better solutions to benefit their extensive family, staff, or organization. *totally me*
Other famous ENFJs include our Pres, Barack Obama, Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey, and Peyton Manning!
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm
That's the link! Take the quiz, get to know yourself; it is really fun!
So to get to know me better:
"ENFJs are global learners. They see the big picture. The ENFJs focus is expansive. Some can juggle an amazing number of responsibilities or projects simultaneously. Many ENFJs have tremendous entrepreneurial ability.
ENFJs are, by definition, Js, with whom we associate organization and decisiveness.
ENFJs are blessed through introverted intuition with clarity of perception in the inner, unconscious world. Dominant Feeling prefers to find the silver lining in even the most beggarly perceptions of those in their expanding circle of friends and, of course, in themselves.
ENFJs are continually looking for newer and better solutions to benefit their extensive family, staff, or organization. *totally me*
Other famous ENFJs include our Pres, Barack Obama, Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey, and Peyton Manning!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Online classes; no stranger.
I've taken a disproportionate amount of online classes. My first BS and MS degrees (bs...ha!) were from the best online college, Western Governors University. (they really are the best; they keep winning awards to substantiate that claim.)
So I knew that these classes, Health Care Admin and Research, had great potential to be huge pains the ass.
Well, they are. :-)
You really end up doing a LOT more work in most online classes. Where an in class discussion would suffice in the brick-&-mortar world, online you get a project.
X 5 days a week (seriously) & then X 2 classes. A lot of it is busy work, too.
But I do like Health Care Admin because it is the business side and, well, up until this year, I've known nothing but business.
I was asked to take the Myers-Briggs personality test. (its a Carl Jung test, really.)
I LOVE stuff like this, and I've taken it before, so I couldn't wait to see who I was NOW.
I took it twice. *blush
I was ENTJ and then ENFJ. ENFJ is what I was the last time I took it. I feel like that is probably me.
I'll post info on what that means next. I'll post a link to the test, too. REALLY cool for self discovery and for understanding others. I really believe in the stuff.
Well, I'm off for now to look up a clinical research article, write a paper on the ORID method, and join discussion board debate on delegation of an LPN.
So I knew that these classes, Health Care Admin and Research, had great potential to be huge pains the ass.
Well, they are. :-)
You really end up doing a LOT more work in most online classes. Where an in class discussion would suffice in the brick-&-mortar world, online you get a project.
X 5 days a week (seriously) & then X 2 classes. A lot of it is busy work, too.
But I do like Health Care Admin because it is the business side and, well, up until this year, I've known nothing but business.
I was asked to take the Myers-Briggs personality test. (its a Carl Jung test, really.)
I LOVE stuff like this, and I've taken it before, so I couldn't wait to see who I was NOW.
I took it twice. *blush
I was ENTJ and then ENFJ. ENFJ is what I was the last time I took it. I feel like that is probably me.
I'll post info on what that means next. I'll post a link to the test, too. REALLY cool for self discovery and for understanding others. I really believe in the stuff.
Well, I'm off for now to look up a clinical research article, write a paper on the ORID method, and join discussion board debate on delegation of an LPN.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Not-So-High-Acuity
Double yay for the last day of High Acuity. My final exam didn't go as well as I would have liked it to. *sigh
But at least I am done.
I will unfortunately have a B for the course.
And with the closing of one door, comes the opening of another door. We started orientation to our next class; Research. Done it. *snore
There has been much hope that there will be much beer at the end of today...Celebratory beer.
So I might have texted my good friend in class today. I might've said something like "my liver is growling".
And my friend, well, I heard him silently panicking about how he was uncontrollably laughing. And then he might've proceeded to text me back, "oh my, I think I may snort."
Dear reader, a coughing fit could *not* cover up how hard I was laughing. I had to run out of the room, coughing and pretending to be choked.
Good times!
So a bunch of us are going to our local pub later, to have a *really* good time; well deserved.
And then I have a rehearsal with the community choir that I'm in. So I may go a little drunk tonight, LOL. Brahms Requiem will never have sounded so good!
But at least I am done.
I will unfortunately have a B for the course.
And with the closing of one door, comes the opening of another door. We started orientation to our next class; Research. Done it. *snore
There has been much hope that there will be much beer at the end of today...Celebratory beer.
So I might have texted my good friend in class today. I might've said something like "my liver is growling".
And my friend, well, I heard him silently panicking about how he was uncontrollably laughing. And then he might've proceeded to text me back, "oh my, I think I may snort."
Dear reader, a coughing fit could *not* cover up how hard I was laughing. I had to run out of the room, coughing and pretending to be choked.
Good times!
So a bunch of us are going to our local pub later, to have a *really* good time; well deserved.
And then I have a rehearsal with the community choir that I'm in. So I may go a little drunk tonight, LOL. Brahms Requiem will never have sounded so good!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Bored.
So as predicted, after a few days of luxurious NOTHING TO DO, I'm bored/depressed. Boo. Class, albeit ONLINE, begins again tomorrow.
So posted next will be a photo of my rescue doggie, LoLLie the Bichon, wishing me a Happy Mother's Day and trying to cheer me up.
So posted next will be a photo of my rescue doggie, LoLLie the Bichon, wishing me a Happy Mother's Day and trying to cheer me up.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Grad degrees: NP or CNS?
Oh, it's exciting to even be able to have this to fret over. What to choose, NP or CNS? (Nurse Practitioner or Clinical Nurse Specialist) Only 3 months from graduation...it's time to buckle down and start ta' plannin'!
I had a great chat with the dean of graduate nursing (at my current university) today.
She really made me feel more comfortable about the CNS role.
An NP, as many now know, is a primary care provider. Picture You (as an NP), a nurse, and a patient, in the clinic setting exam room, day in, day out. Assessment, diagnosis & ordering diagnostics. Prescriptions. Consulting with collaborative physician when needed. Developing long-term relationships with many patients--a must have for me. So all that sounds good.
The CNS? A hospital setting, ALSO advanced practice, with ability to prescribe. The difference lies in what I'd basically call teaching. Not like at school, but teaching patients management of a particular condition (like Diabetes) and seeing those patients...but also creating training programs and materials...*Training*. Lol, well it is kinda, but what I mean is educational materials and programs. So I could have a mix of seeing patients with a particular problem subset, creating material to help them get better or manage it, and also teach the staff at the hospital about that health prob. Oh yeah, & conduct research on it, too, if I wanted.
Well good grief, the CNS gets to do it all then. And since I get bored easily, this is looking pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, there's a lotta gray areas. Both specialties can really do both types of care. But I want to get my grad degree 'on purpose;' To set out to do what it is that I want, with a clearly defined mission.
CNS? Sign me up. I'm applying to (hopefully) start grad school in January 2012. I'll have the clinical hours as a RN by the time I get done with all the 'book' classes, and would start CNS Clinicals in Jan 2013.
I had a great chat with the dean of graduate nursing (at my current university) today.
She really made me feel more comfortable about the CNS role.
An NP, as many now know, is a primary care provider. Picture You (as an NP), a nurse, and a patient, in the clinic setting exam room, day in, day out. Assessment, diagnosis & ordering diagnostics. Prescriptions. Consulting with collaborative physician when needed. Developing long-term relationships with many patients--a must have for me. So all that sounds good.
The CNS? A hospital setting, ALSO advanced practice, with ability to prescribe. The difference lies in what I'd basically call teaching. Not like at school, but teaching patients management of a particular condition (like Diabetes) and seeing those patients...but also creating training programs and materials...*Training*. Lol, well it is kinda, but what I mean is educational materials and programs. So I could have a mix of seeing patients with a particular problem subset, creating material to help them get better or manage it, and also teach the staff at the hospital about that health prob. Oh yeah, & conduct research on it, too, if I wanted.
Well good grief, the CNS gets to do it all then. And since I get bored easily, this is looking pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, there's a lotta gray areas. Both specialties can really do both types of care. But I want to get my grad degree 'on purpose;' To set out to do what it is that I want, with a clearly defined mission.
CNS? Sign me up. I'm applying to (hopefully) start grad school in January 2012. I'll have the clinical hours as a RN by the time I get done with all the 'book' classes, and would start CNS Clinicals in Jan 2013.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Mini Break!
No class until Monday! And then no GOING to class for a month; two online courses for May Interim.
*Exceptionally happy at the moment.
In a couple weeks I may be depressed from not seeing my nursing buddies, but today I am super happy to be downloading wonderful World music, drinking Diet Mr Dew, and re-polishing my "now-that-I'm-a-nurse" resume.
I've had a low-lying headache for the last 3 days (I get one every month, mid-month.) I wouldn't categorize it as migraine, because I get those, too, complete with photophobia and phonophobia (light & sound sensitivity) for you non-medical types put there. But lasting headache it is, and Imitrex (migraine med) usually fixes it. It just exhausts me to take it. Yay for days off!
I have an appointment with the Dean o' Masters level nursing at my local university tomorrow. I really want to go straight through to grad school. To be completely honest, I want to do the very minimum of beside nursing possible. (subject to change this summer...when I actually get to act like a nurse instead of a patient care tech. PCTs are fab in their own right, but that's another post. ;-)
I could totally do clinic nursing, though...I'd love that as an RN. But what I *really* want to be is an advanced practice nurse...& I'm seeing Dr. Schmidt to figure out if it would be best for me to be a Nurse Practitioner or a Clinical Nurse Specialist.
See my next post for an examination of the two roles. :-)
*Exceptionally happy at the moment.
In a couple weeks I may be depressed from not seeing my nursing buddies, but today I am super happy to be downloading wonderful World music, drinking Diet Mr Dew, and re-polishing my "now-that-I'm-a-nurse" resume.
I've had a low-lying headache for the last 3 days (I get one every month, mid-month.) I wouldn't categorize it as migraine, because I get those, too, complete with photophobia and phonophobia (light & sound sensitivity) for you non-medical types put there. But lasting headache it is, and Imitrex (migraine med) usually fixes it. It just exhausts me to take it. Yay for days off!
I have an appointment with the Dean o' Masters level nursing at my local university tomorrow. I really want to go straight through to grad school. To be completely honest, I want to do the very minimum of beside nursing possible. (subject to change this summer...when I actually get to act like a nurse instead of a patient care tech. PCTs are fab in their own right, but that's another post. ;-)
I could totally do clinic nursing, though...I'd love that as an RN. But what I *really* want to be is an advanced practice nurse...& I'm seeing Dr. Schmidt to figure out if it would be best for me to be a Nurse Practitioner or a Clinical Nurse Specialist.
See my next post for an examination of the two roles. :-)
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Finally, justice.
Osama Bin Laden, dead. Wowza.
Wonder what the repercussions for the American dollar and the price of oil will be?
I wonder what the repercussions are for our troops that are still over there?
A good way to finish 13 hrs of studying, eh?
Wonder what the repercussions for the American dollar and the price of oil will be?
I wonder what the repercussions are for our troops that are still over there?
A good way to finish 13 hrs of studying, eh?
Entry the first...from another blog I'm importing
I'm 3 months from becoming an RN. I might import my old entries from my old blog, and I'll definitely start chronicling the new...HERE!
Here's the skinny: I just came off an 11 year run in banking. I was moderately successful and got to try everything I wanted & applied for. I got to try some stuff that I didn't want to try, too, LOL.
I ended my career as a Asst. Trainer. If I had stayed in my industry, that would've been the job I'd kept for the rest of my life (well minus the 'co' title I shared with 2 other people who were over the other two regions of the state. I'd rather have managed the dept, but I digress. :-)
So why quit now? Why quit when I had a descent salary, benefits, & paid travel expenses? Well, the reasons are several...
I have always adored health. I was a fat kid growing up. When I did my own health and nutrition research and followed it, I lost weight. So that was pretty rewarding! It has always been a passion of mine, health.
I became disjointed with the banking industry. Well, maybe not so much with banking. Maybe more with 'girls can work the teller line and boys can be loan officers.'. Yes, I know plenty of people who have broken the stereotype. I did. But for me, becoming dissatisfied helped put me on this path, so it had to happen.
I enrolled in a Masters degree program in 2007 for Health Education / Promotion. I graduated in 2009. Pretty awesome...but with no medical background, I was left with either low-paying work or jobs I couldn't apply for because I didn't have the right alphabet soup after my name.
And the final reason? My brother died. We were all in the ER for hours. They tried to resuscitate him for WAY longer than they had to or even should have, but they did it for my family. And then nurses allowed us to stay with his body for what seemed like forever afterwards. We oscillated between crying / disbelief to (strangely) laughing about the wonderful and funny moments. The nurses took turns wiping his bleeding nose so we wouldn't have to see it and gave us no time limits.
So that's my story, and that's why I'm becoming a nurse.
Here's the skinny: I just came off an 11 year run in banking. I was moderately successful and got to try everything I wanted & applied for. I got to try some stuff that I didn't want to try, too, LOL.
I ended my career as a Asst. Trainer. If I had stayed in my industry, that would've been the job I'd kept for the rest of my life (well minus the 'co' title I shared with 2 other people who were over the other two regions of the state. I'd rather have managed the dept, but I digress. :-)
So why quit now? Why quit when I had a descent salary, benefits, & paid travel expenses? Well, the reasons are several...
I have always adored health. I was a fat kid growing up. When I did my own health and nutrition research and followed it, I lost weight. So that was pretty rewarding! It has always been a passion of mine, health.
I became disjointed with the banking industry. Well, maybe not so much with banking. Maybe more with 'girls can work the teller line and boys can be loan officers.'. Yes, I know plenty of people who have broken the stereotype. I did. But for me, becoming dissatisfied helped put me on this path, so it had to happen.
I enrolled in a Masters degree program in 2007 for Health Education / Promotion. I graduated in 2009. Pretty awesome...but with no medical background, I was left with either low-paying work or jobs I couldn't apply for because I didn't have the right alphabet soup after my name.
And the final reason? My brother died. We were all in the ER for hours. They tried to resuscitate him for WAY longer than they had to or even should have, but they did it for my family. And then nurses allowed us to stay with his body for what seemed like forever afterwards. We oscillated between crying / disbelief to (strangely) laughing about the wonderful and funny moments. The nurses took turns wiping his bleeding nose so we wouldn't have to see it and gave us no time limits.
So that's my story, and that's why I'm becoming a nurse.
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