Week 1: The Beginning!

In any story, there has to be a beginning, and Day 1 was boring!  It began at 8AM, everyone was quiet and no one seem to know anyone.  We were lead into the computer lab, and the next two hours I managed to stay away listening to more procedural guidelines for the rest of the semester.  Next we went into the old nursing building for a math review, and it smelled bad in there!  I had a headache for whatever I was sniffing in that room.  Thankfully we had about 4 hours before lecture, so I went home for a nap.

I snapped this picture before lecture started in the afternoon and I have to say they did a nice job designing the classrooms and labs.  I can't imagine what it would have been like learning in the old nursing building.  What better way to facilitate learning than by having a building that meets the needs of today's technology.  Thank you GWC for building a new one.  

GWC School of Nursing - 1st Floor:  The Offices and Student Health Center, 2nd Floor: The Labs (Computer Lab, Hospital-like Lab,  Human Life Simulation Lab),  3rd Floor:  The Classrooms.

Day 2 was more of the same, but people were beginning to warm up a bit more.  We learned how to take blood pressures and practice taking them.  I have to thank PCH (Pilipinos for Community Health) at UCLA for teaching me those skills a long, long time ago.

Day 3 was a 6 hour day in the lab that encompassed working on skills like taking blood pressures, learning how to give injections, how to administer oral medications, etc.  The mannequins in the Human Life Simulation Lab were awesome.  They breathe and make bowel sounds you can hear with a stethoscope. By the end of the day my feet hurt.  Flip-flops were a big mistake.

Arriving to lab this morning with my beautiful Littmann Classic II S.E. Brass Edition Stethoscope

Each station had a set of scenarios that each group had to work through.    This one is about bathing.

Day 4 was a lot like Day 3, except that the instructors built upon the scenarios given on Wednesday and added another layer of depth.  So instead of just learning about injections, we actually practice mixing insulin shots and actually delivered on the injections on a fake arm.  My feet didn't hurt this time.  I was smart to wear shoes that had my recently purchased Dr. Scholl's gel insoles.  Best $15 dollars I spent in a long while.

The instructors capped off the day by giving us our photo ID.  It looks well with my recently acquired name tag.

.

I ended my first week of nursing school with a trip to Costco to get myself a Carne Asada Bake.  Cheers to me for making it this far!