The Management final was a cakewalk. I think it took all of 15 minutes. Interested to see the outcome.
The ERI test today was a total clusterf**k........or possibly not. I have absolutely no idea how I fared on it. I can say that the 4 day review session and the associated study materials were largely incongruent with what I encountered on the exam. The answers will be revealed this Friday supposedly. In the meantime, I have a paper to finish.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Four
Four days of review. Four days spent in chairs meant for not more than a few hours of sitting. Four more days, after today, until it is all over (give or take four hours). 444 more questions to review before Wednesday's ERI exam (I was off by 24 hours when I originally said Tuesday). Unfortunately, I have but four more brain cells with which to study.
The review session was, er, informative. I am not sure how much it helped, though with her offered test-taking strategies, I am sure it ultimately did. Mostly she offered up a lot of stories to illustrate points, to augment our meager knowledge, or for shits and giggles. Things like (I can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of any of these statements mind you):
* The origin of HIV is Africa evidently. But, the first case of the virus being activated was in a pilot. The patient 0 as it were. Regretfully, this pilot was a man of voluminous sexual appetite. Fortunately, he was also a scribe and recorded his sexual conquests, which included underage girls around the world, men, women, and his wife. His wife an he had an open relationship as well, so she helped to further the disease spread as well.
* Semen concentrates alcohol at twice the rate of blood. It can be passed on through intercourse as a woman's vagina absorbs the proteins from semen.
* Immunizations have mercury in them still, but the total amount in ALL the immunizations is so trace that their is more in a tablespoon of tuna fish. There is still no link to autism.
* Autism is, however, linked to a mitochondrial weakness. Giving the immunizations all at once has been noted to accelerate the symptoms. However, it isn't causative. The acceleration can be avoided if the immunizations are broken up into smaller groups instead of all given at one visit.
* Magic Johnson has not ever developed AIDS despite testing positive for the HIV virus over 20 years ago largely because his HLA type is middle eastern. They evidently had some form of the virus go through their population in the 1500s and have increased immunity towards it.
* The HPV vaccine in this country only protects against 70% of the types of the virus. There is another vaccine overseas that protects against the other kinds. The same company owns both patents. When the patents expire, they will be switched. They could be combined and offer 100% coverage, but fiscally this does not make sense for the company.
* The HPV vaccine is not needed if a woman waits until after her 60th menstruation to have sex (or at least unprotected sex). Something to do with the roughening of the cervix.
I just couldn't help but feel that, though the stories and odd tidbits were fascinating, the actual content was somewhat lacking. When content was provided, it seemed kind of disjointed. Questions were covered, but often the rationale for correct answers was not explained. Just as frequently, assumptions about our level of prior knowledge were made overestimating both our experiences and our content.
That said, she was a dynamic lecturer and there is obviously only so much that we can cover in a four day span. I wish very much that she had been to our school earlier because she did manage to explain quite a few things that I never picked up on the first go round in a way that was both understandable and memorable. I would have chosen her over EVERY single one of our classroom clinical area instructors (not a one for adult, psych, peds, or OB were of near the value......i was very fortunate that my clinicians on my rotations were exceptional).
I need to get my learn on once again. Class tonight, Management final tomorrow morning, ERI Wednesday afternoon, Ethics paper Thursday afternoon, and final exit assessment on Friday. Drinking starts at 1pm Friday afternoon.
The review session was, er, informative. I am not sure how much it helped, though with her offered test-taking strategies, I am sure it ultimately did. Mostly she offered up a lot of stories to illustrate points, to augment our meager knowledge, or for shits and giggles. Things like (I can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of any of these statements mind you):
* The origin of HIV is Africa evidently. But, the first case of the virus being activated was in a pilot. The patient 0 as it were. Regretfully, this pilot was a man of voluminous sexual appetite. Fortunately, he was also a scribe and recorded his sexual conquests, which included underage girls around the world, men, women, and his wife. His wife an he had an open relationship as well, so she helped to further the disease spread as well.
* Semen concentrates alcohol at twice the rate of blood. It can be passed on through intercourse as a woman's vagina absorbs the proteins from semen.
* Immunizations have mercury in them still, but the total amount in ALL the immunizations is so trace that their is more in a tablespoon of tuna fish. There is still no link to autism.
* Autism is, however, linked to a mitochondrial weakness. Giving the immunizations all at once has been noted to accelerate the symptoms. However, it isn't causative. The acceleration can be avoided if the immunizations are broken up into smaller groups instead of all given at one visit.
* Magic Johnson has not ever developed AIDS despite testing positive for the HIV virus over 20 years ago largely because his HLA type is middle eastern. They evidently had some form of the virus go through their population in the 1500s and have increased immunity towards it.
* The HPV vaccine in this country only protects against 70% of the types of the virus. There is another vaccine overseas that protects against the other kinds. The same company owns both patents. When the patents expire, they will be switched. They could be combined and offer 100% coverage, but fiscally this does not make sense for the company.
* The HPV vaccine is not needed if a woman waits until after her 60th menstruation to have sex (or at least unprotected sex). Something to do with the roughening of the cervix.
I just couldn't help but feel that, though the stories and odd tidbits were fascinating, the actual content was somewhat lacking. When content was provided, it seemed kind of disjointed. Questions were covered, but often the rationale for correct answers was not explained. Just as frequently, assumptions about our level of prior knowledge were made overestimating both our experiences and our content.
That said, she was a dynamic lecturer and there is obviously only so much that we can cover in a four day span. I wish very much that she had been to our school earlier because she did manage to explain quite a few things that I never picked up on the first go round in a way that was both understandable and memorable. I would have chosen her over EVERY single one of our classroom clinical area instructors (not a one for adult, psych, peds, or OB were of near the value......i was very fortunate that my clinicians on my rotations were exceptional).
I need to get my learn on once again. Class tonight, Management final tomorrow morning, ERI Wednesday afternoon, Ethics paper Thursday afternoon, and final exit assessment on Friday. Drinking starts at 1pm Friday afternoon.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
ERI
ERI probably doesn't mean much to anyone outside of nursing. The acronym has a downright malevolent connotation to those of us trying to get into the nursing profession and out of school however. You see, once you graduate, no matter valedictorian nor bottom scraper, you have to pass the ERI examination to make it 'official' and move on to the next round. Sure, you may have successfully navigated the pratfalls of a long litany of courses over a short span of time, but how much did you retain.....or learn in the first place for that matter? ERI aims to find out.
Based on the preliminary exam, I fall somewhere in the purgatory of scores: not quite high risk, but not quite passing either. The upside (should one be inclined to look from a glass half full perspective) is that I am not alone there. Most of the classmates I have spoken with who are inclined to divulge their results are there as well. How i could manage to make it to this point in the program with a GPA in the 3.6somethings and know as little about what they are testing as I do is beyond me. Most of what I don't know seems to be couched in one of two camps: utterly foreign or only vaguely familiar. In essence, a split between things not taught or not retained. Of course, half that problem relates to the sheer speed of the accelerated program. You can't dwell on anything, or you risk falling woefully behind. Knowledge is gleaned quickly or not at all.
Thankfully for future patients, there was no skimping on the clinical side. There are numerous graduates from our program who are doing quite well. There are also many other such programs around the country. Even if I fell dead in the middle of all students as far as acumen and intelligence, I would likely be a very competent nurse (or at least have the capability of being trained to become one, which is the essence of your first 2 months on the floor). Even in the bottom quartile, just graduating would prove I would be functional at the least. So, there is that.
This all brings me to the next four days of my life. We are all being trained to take this ERI test and pass it when it counts (that would be next Tuesday by the way). The training takes place from 8am until 4:30pm tomorrow through Saturday and will evidently prepare us in a way that the school itself has not. We will be drilled with hundreds of questions (possibly an underestimate on my part) and their explanations. We will learn not just what they are asking, but what they are looking for behind the words. We will sit in uncomfortable chairs in a dimly lit and windowless auditorium for days on end. Pretty much just like every other test prep everywhere else. I can barely restrain my anticipation.
This test, of course, will tell us if we will be good nurses the same way that the SAT will tell you if you will be a successful college student. That is to say, that there is little to no correlation at all. It will, however, inform people that with enough training, we have the capability of passing a standardized test. What that is supposed to ultimately mean evades me. Only the truly jaded would suggest it is just a means to line pockets of policy makers and testing companies while acquiring little information of utility from students. Thank god I am not jaded.
This will all be over soon, then I can begin to worry over the next acronym: NCLEX. I should probably start taking PPIs or other acid reducers prophylactically to stem the ulcers now.
Wish me luck as always. Pretty please.
Based on the preliminary exam, I fall somewhere in the purgatory of scores: not quite high risk, but not quite passing either. The upside (should one be inclined to look from a glass half full perspective) is that I am not alone there. Most of the classmates I have spoken with who are inclined to divulge their results are there as well. How i could manage to make it to this point in the program with a GPA in the 3.6somethings and know as little about what they are testing as I do is beyond me. Most of what I don't know seems to be couched in one of two camps: utterly foreign or only vaguely familiar. In essence, a split between things not taught or not retained. Of course, half that problem relates to the sheer speed of the accelerated program. You can't dwell on anything, or you risk falling woefully behind. Knowledge is gleaned quickly or not at all.
Thankfully for future patients, there was no skimping on the clinical side. There are numerous graduates from our program who are doing quite well. There are also many other such programs around the country. Even if I fell dead in the middle of all students as far as acumen and intelligence, I would likely be a very competent nurse (or at least have the capability of being trained to become one, which is the essence of your first 2 months on the floor). Even in the bottom quartile, just graduating would prove I would be functional at the least. So, there is that.
This all brings me to the next four days of my life. We are all being trained to take this ERI test and pass it when it counts (that would be next Tuesday by the way). The training takes place from 8am until 4:30pm tomorrow through Saturday and will evidently prepare us in a way that the school itself has not. We will be drilled with hundreds of questions (possibly an underestimate on my part) and their explanations. We will learn not just what they are asking, but what they are looking for behind the words. We will sit in uncomfortable chairs in a dimly lit and windowless auditorium for days on end. Pretty much just like every other test prep everywhere else. I can barely restrain my anticipation.
This test, of course, will tell us if we will be good nurses the same way that the SAT will tell you if you will be a successful college student. That is to say, that there is little to no correlation at all. It will, however, inform people that with enough training, we have the capability of passing a standardized test. What that is supposed to ultimately mean evades me. Only the truly jaded would suggest it is just a means to line pockets of policy makers and testing companies while acquiring little information of utility from students. Thank god I am not jaded.
This will all be over soon, then I can begin to worry over the next acronym: NCLEX. I should probably start taking PPIs or other acid reducers prophylactically to stem the ulcers now.
Wish me luck as always. Pretty please.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Random odds and ends
I think my friend Josh is right is saying that the little I have been reporting on doesn't accurately portray all that is happening here.....but it does pretty much accurately represent all that has been going on with school. My group is done with the PI project for Management. We had a poster presentation yesterday which, for the most part, was eerily similar to being at an elementary school science fair. All that was missing were the volcanoes that spewed forth 'lava' made of vinegar, baking soda, and dye and Styrofoam representations of the solar system. We all dressed up in our niceties and stood in front of our tri-fold carbboard displays outlining some plan or another that we wanted (the term wanted could be replaced with were required to) to implement on this unit or that one. We followed this up with a 1-hour reception and a 2 hour mandatory 'role panel discussion' that consisted primarily of nothing important or even remotely interesting. Everyone was there out of fear that I spoke with, concerned that they would lose points by not attending. The calculated gamble did not pay off, there was no attendance sheet circulated. Damn!
Speaking of Management, the class continues to remind me of a class I had in undergrad, theater appreciation. In theater appreciation, the professor sold his notes to a store across the street which turned around and made copies to sell to the students (somehow this circumvented the professor selling his own notes directly I guess.....how that makes it any more or less wrong is beyond me). I attended that course a sum total of three times. Day 1 to get the syllabus, the midterm, and the final. I got an 'A' for my troubles (or lack thereof) boosting my GPA while checking off 3 credits of humanities. I have been to Management a few more times than that, but only a few. I went to the first class, the second where we signed up for our PI projects, the midterm, the mandatory role panel last night, and I will attend the final. Thus far, I have a solid 'A' in that course as well, only this time I study by picking the most textbook sounding answer and not studying at all. Ethics is just as bad only they require us to sign in each class period or we lose points. We have an instructor for small group that I refer to as 'the substitute' because she always comes to class ill-prepared to teach, like a substitute who just got the lesson plan a few minutes ago. We tend to get out of group discussion 45 minutes to an hour before any other group. On one hand, these classes will only serve to increase my GPA, and on the other hand I am paying about $1K per credit hour for jack-squat.
Since Tia is always peeved that I don't talk about wedding stuff, I thought I would try to appease her. Her website has the countdown, but it is roughly three weeks off. We have been trying to tie up all the little loose ends that even a small wedding seems to have. Making matters infinitely more difficult are the facts that we are in NY, her parents are in Portland, and mine are in Florida. It should come together since there aren't too many stray pieces with so small an affair.
All things related to moving are still messy. We are presently in process of trying to find a place to land out West. Tia has been in contact with some people who are renting out furnished places for the summer, hopefully allowing for enough time for me to find a job so we can pick a more permanent residence (and not having to purchase furniture right off the bat would be excellent). We are still selling off things, and have done better than I had hoped for the most part. We still have more to go of course.....and it never ceases to amaze me just how much of it there is. We still need to get a hitch put on Tia's car and book the trailer as well. Big fun.
Other than those things, most of our time has been spent practicing NCLEX questions, reading, and watching TV. Have seen quite a few 'bad' movies lately as well. As critically acclaimed as they were, I really did not like No Country for Old Men (a torpid affair with an abrupt and unsatisfying ending) or Michael Clayton (stopped it before it finished). I have There Will be Blood in my mail box right now and I am not sure if I even want to watch it. Also saw American Gangster (decent), American Psycho (also decent), and a number of other films that I can't recall because of what little impact they made upon me. I am happy the Office is back at least.
I better get to work on my Ethics paper now. It is one of the few things I have left to complete. Between now and May 2nd, I have the Ethics paper, a presentation on policy, a final exam in Management, and the exit exam to get through. Plus, the 4 day 8:30-4:30 NCLEX training Wednesday-Friday of next week. Sounds action packed doesn't it.
Speaking of Management, the class continues to remind me of a class I had in undergrad, theater appreciation. In theater appreciation, the professor sold his notes to a store across the street which turned around and made copies to sell to the students (somehow this circumvented the professor selling his own notes directly I guess.....how that makes it any more or less wrong is beyond me). I attended that course a sum total of three times. Day 1 to get the syllabus, the midterm, and the final. I got an 'A' for my troubles (or lack thereof) boosting my GPA while checking off 3 credits of humanities. I have been to Management a few more times than that, but only a few. I went to the first class, the second where we signed up for our PI projects, the midterm, the mandatory role panel last night, and I will attend the final. Thus far, I have a solid 'A' in that course as well, only this time I study by picking the most textbook sounding answer and not studying at all. Ethics is just as bad only they require us to sign in each class period or we lose points. We have an instructor for small group that I refer to as 'the substitute' because she always comes to class ill-prepared to teach, like a substitute who just got the lesson plan a few minutes ago. We tend to get out of group discussion 45 minutes to an hour before any other group. On one hand, these classes will only serve to increase my GPA, and on the other hand I am paying about $1K per credit hour for jack-squat.
Since Tia is always peeved that I don't talk about wedding stuff, I thought I would try to appease her. Her website has the countdown, but it is roughly three weeks off. We have been trying to tie up all the little loose ends that even a small wedding seems to have. Making matters infinitely more difficult are the facts that we are in NY, her parents are in Portland, and mine are in Florida. It should come together since there aren't too many stray pieces with so small an affair.
All things related to moving are still messy. We are presently in process of trying to find a place to land out West. Tia has been in contact with some people who are renting out furnished places for the summer, hopefully allowing for enough time for me to find a job so we can pick a more permanent residence (and not having to purchase furniture right off the bat would be excellent). We are still selling off things, and have done better than I had hoped for the most part. We still have more to go of course.....and it never ceases to amaze me just how much of it there is. We still need to get a hitch put on Tia's car and book the trailer as well. Big fun.
Other than those things, most of our time has been spent practicing NCLEX questions, reading, and watching TV. Have seen quite a few 'bad' movies lately as well. As critically acclaimed as they were, I really did not like No Country for Old Men (a torpid affair with an abrupt and unsatisfying ending) or Michael Clayton (stopped it before it finished). I have There Will be Blood in my mail box right now and I am not sure if I even want to watch it. Also saw American Gangster (decent), American Psycho (also decent), and a number of other films that I can't recall because of what little impact they made upon me. I am happy the Office is back at least.
I better get to work on my Ethics paper now. It is one of the few things I have left to complete. Between now and May 2nd, I have the Ethics paper, a presentation on policy, a final exam in Management, and the exit exam to get through. Plus, the 4 day 8:30-4:30 NCLEX training Wednesday-Friday of next week. Sounds action packed doesn't it.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A whole lotta nothing
I continue to be a little disappointed and extremely pleased that there has been little of note to write about of late. With nothing to report on the upshot is that nothing bad is happening with school or life in general. The downside is nothing particularly exciting or positive is happening either. I will take the peace, because a storm is on the horizon with so much going on from the end of April until I find employment in field.
My time has mostly been spent tying up group projects, selling all manner of worldly possessions, and practicing test questions for the dreaded NCLEX. I am upset at how little it seems I know, and mollified somewhat by how that dearth of knowledge is mirrored by everyone else in the program. Surely, if everyone else jumps off a cliff, you don't want to necessarily follow......but its nice to know that if you do jump, you have plenty of company on the way down.
I am not earnestly worried as yet. I feel comfortable enough in practice (which is the most important part by my measure) and have plenty of time to acquire the assorted bric-a-brac of knowledge NCLEX seems to value. The most difficult part is learning to read within the questions as they seem determined to test not just on your depth and breadth of knowledge, but also on your ability to parse out meaning from the query itself. The national pass rate is 85% on the first shot, so I think I will be A-OK.
Other than what lies in the paragraphs above, there is little to report upon. I will of course be the first to tell you here if anything does.
My time has mostly been spent tying up group projects, selling all manner of worldly possessions, and practicing test questions for the dreaded NCLEX. I am upset at how little it seems I know, and mollified somewhat by how that dearth of knowledge is mirrored by everyone else in the program. Surely, if everyone else jumps off a cliff, you don't want to necessarily follow......but its nice to know that if you do jump, you have plenty of company on the way down.
I am not earnestly worried as yet. I feel comfortable enough in practice (which is the most important part by my measure) and have plenty of time to acquire the assorted bric-a-brac of knowledge NCLEX seems to value. The most difficult part is learning to read within the questions as they seem determined to test not just on your depth and breadth of knowledge, but also on your ability to parse out meaning from the query itself. The national pass rate is 85% on the first shot, so I think I will be A-OK.
Other than what lies in the paragraphs above, there is little to report upon. I will of course be the first to tell you here if anything does.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Trying to find something blogworthy
There was a Seinfeld episode where Elaine found out the stores stopped carrying her birth control of choice, the Today sponge, and, from that point forthwith, interviewed guys before sleeping with them, having to dub them 'spongeworthy.' In a poor attempt at a segue way, I try to find things that are worthy of blogging about (based upon my committee of 1). Nothing seems quite blogworthy of late.
The clinicals are done and the simulation day was much less arduous then we were led to believe (it ended a few hours prior to when we thought it would). In the intervening week, little of merit has occurred. We had another in the continuing series of pointless lectures in both Ethics and Management, we were thrown another random group presentation assignment in the former, and we had a meeting about what to expect from Nursing Integration (a lot of test questions and examinations meant to sharpen us up for NCLEX pretty much). The group projects continue to linger around like an obtuse party guest that can't figure out when to leave, but nothing else is hovering at the moment. I would feel free, but I still have that nagging feeling of 'this can't possibly be it.......can it?' Like the school is just lulling us into a false sense of security only to pounce and destroy our ambitions at the last second when we are least expecting it.
Til next time.
The clinicals are done and the simulation day was much less arduous then we were led to believe (it ended a few hours prior to when we thought it would). In the intervening week, little of merit has occurred. We had another in the continuing series of pointless lectures in both Ethics and Management, we were thrown another random group presentation assignment in the former, and we had a meeting about what to expect from Nursing Integration (a lot of test questions and examinations meant to sharpen us up for NCLEX pretty much). The group projects continue to linger around like an obtuse party guest that can't figure out when to leave, but nothing else is hovering at the moment. I would feel free, but I still have that nagging feeling of 'this can't possibly be it.......can it?' Like the school is just lulling us into a false sense of security only to pounce and destroy our ambitions at the last second when we are least expecting it.
Til next time.
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