A Note to Nurses

PLEASE turn your patients. I saw a stage four pressure ulcer on the sacrum of an older adult today, it was crazy AND totally preventable with the proper care. Turn patients at least every two hours and you can prevent skin breakdown! Do it!!

If you have never seen one, google it and take a look. They are pretty gnarly.

Doula!!

I am going to be a doula! Below is a definition.

Doula: A non-medical assistant in childbirth. A doula is not the father but is usually a woman who is experienced in childbirth. The role of the doula is to provide the mother with physical and emotional assistance before, during, or after childbirth. Also known as a birth assistant, birth companion, childbirth assistant, or labor support professional.

I can't wait!!

Words of the Day

Pruritic: Itchy

Trichotillomania: The compulsion to tear or pluck out the hair on one's head and face and often to ingest it.

The second one may not be all that useful in every day conversation but I just really like saying it.

Pictures!

My Mom sent me pictures and I finally have time to upload them! These are a sampling of pictures from my parent's and Steve's visit around the 4th of July with commentary.

Fells Point the first night everyone arrived.

Breakfast at Jimmy's on the 4th of July

Fort McHenry (please note my dad looking into the front of the cannon)

Watching the fireworks . . . one of the best shows I have seen.

Crab Feast!

Trip to Annapolis

Dinner before Steve left at La Scala . . . I highly recommend it!

My parents played paparazzi while I was leaving school. Yes I am wearing jeans and a sweater and yes it was 90 degrees outside . . . the AC works at school.

Dinner at Pazzo before my parents left . . . I also recommend this restaurant!

Mom and me on the water.


It was fabulous to see Steve and my parents. Come and visit!!

3 More Weeks . . .

. . . and I will be 1/4 of a nurse! Kind of hard to believe but my first semester of nursing school is wrapping up. I have two more weeks of class and then finals and then I get a three week break.

While my parents were here my mom took some pictures of my school so I thought I would post them since this is where I spend 99% of my time in Baltimore. Enjoy!

Misc. Pictures

I finally uploaded all sorts of pictures from my camera and here they are (with commentary):

Post-Clinical trip to Trader Joe's, uniforms and all.


Tara and Eleni came to visit and have brunch!


Mom, Dad and Steve in town for the 4th of July weekend.



Caught in a rainstorm without an umbrella.


I will have MANY more pictures from when my parents and Steve were here once I get them from my Mom. Enjoy these for now!

Classes!!

I registered for Fall Semester on Tuesday! Here is what I will be taking:

- Nursing the Childbearing Family (7 Weeks)
- Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (7 Weeks)
- Pathophysiology (Whole Semester)
- Pharmacology (Whole Semester)

The first two are my clinical courses and switch halfway through the semester. I am trying to get into the Birthing Companions course as well so I can be a registered Doula. Keep your fingers crossed!

Procrastination, truly the best medicine

I am FINALLY finishing up a very intense week. Lets review things that were due within 7 days:

- Dosage Calcuation Online Exam

- IPOC (ie, long ridiculous plan of care)

- Online Quiz about the Abdomen

- Medicine Administration Sign-Offs

- Issues in Aging Exam

- Take Home Midterm

- Writing assignment on Cardiovascular/Peripheral Vascular systems

- P&A Exam

- Issues in Aging Paper

Okay, I think that's it but you get the point! Actually the P&A exam is tomorrow and thus my procrastination! I am definitely looking forward to my Mom and Dad and Steve coming on Thursday! I can't wait for a small break.

Just a brief update, aside from all of the above (which I am almost done with) I did have a chance to have a bit of fun! Ry, a girl in my program, had her birthday part last Saturday which I attended. Below are a couple pictures. She lives in a converted church that was made into condos. It is quite possibly the coolest house I have been in. I didn't get pictures of the house this time but I will work on that for a future post.