All finals finished! May 22, 2006
Posted by danucube in Classes, Prenursing, Providence.1 comment so far
My last final is finished tonight!!!!! Long semester. Can't believed I took five classes and wrote around 25 papers (average 5 papers per class). Never wrote so many papers in my life! However, they were all interesting papers though and I learned a lot (two papers, I got an A+ for content, but my grammar is messed up and my grade got knocked down). Also I am blessed to have all very good prof again.
Just reflecting… I don't think I would have gotten the As and A+s in my papers if I did not have the life experience. If I have taken the same classes say the first time around with my first bach, I would not have the depth to write these hard papers to get the high grades. God's has His timing.
Got this week to relax a little before next week nursing school start.
Finally accepted to uni February 19, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.add a comment
Finally I am not “provisionally” accepted in my local university. I am officially accepted! Now let’s see about nursing school. I should hear something in a month or so.
NAMI Provider Training February 5, 2006
Posted by danucube in Mental Health, Nursing, Prenursing, Volunteer.add a comment
Just came back from a 4 day NAMI Provider Training. Learned a LOT. I think it will affect me positively if I go into psych nursing somedays. Even if I don't go into psych nursing, I think it will be beneficial as a nurse.
Some of the things I learned that is sticking in my minds right now are:
- Teach by modeling.
- See if you can change "heart" instead of changing "minds"
- The importance of the patient's family. The importance of working collabaratively with the patient and his/her family.
- The importance of dependency->independency->interdependency. Notice the final stage is NOT independency but interdependency.
- Teach by stories, especially personal stories.
There were many more points, it will take me a while to absorb them all. Also I was happy to meet a few nurses in the class also and I got to pick their brains.
I had a great time as consumers, family members, and providers all learn to work together in this class as a team, to share together our burdens, to share our common goals together. It was a great enviorment as there were no "us" or "them" as we learn to teach together and eat together and share our stories with each other.
First day of school Spring 2006 January 25, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.add a comment
Today was a very long day. I went from about 7:15 to 20:30. So far, all the profs seemed to be very good. But tons and tons of readings and papers.
The first class is Death, Dying, and Religion. I actually know someone in the class, that was nice. Let’s see, we have to do whole bunch of things like visit the cementary, interview someone who is dying, interview a death professional and I don’t know what else. Books for starter are Patterns of Transcendence by Chidester (on all faith tradition and how deal with death), Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, The Grace in Dying by Kathleen Singh (hospice), Man’s Search for Meaning by Frankl Viktor, and Advice on Dying by Dali Lama.
The second class is Magic, Science, and Religion. This one we have 4 lists of books and we get to pick one from each list. There are some real interesting one but they are way too many pages for me (I got too many things going on). So I ended up picking the shortest books that I find interesting and it might indirectly help me in nursing.
The books I picked are The Way of the Shaman (shaman “light”) by Harner, Abundant Peace (Aikido spiritual philosophy) by Stevens, The Secret Life of Germs by Tierno, and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix by Rowling.
In the magic/socery list, I was going to read the classic The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, but it is like 500 pages and he seemed to go on for quit a bit before he makes his point. So I decided on a shorter, easy read book on that list which is The Way of the Shaman. This would be a good book also as it was very popular and it does deal with health. This gives me some background if I run into patients who are influence by this world view.
In the religion section, I picked Abundant peace because I took aikido before and I know it is tied to certain Japanese religious world view quick a bit. But also it is part of the Eastern religious world view. This will help me again when I am a nurse when I deal with patients who has a Eastern world view. I am not picking anyting with a Western religious bend because I am a lot more familiar with that already.
In the Science section, I was going to pick The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn which is classic. But the prof warned that it is slow going and even people in science can find it hard. So I decided to pick The Secret Life of Germs instead which is short, easy to read, and very interesting especially after I took microbiology last year. Also it is a good book for me because I can use stuff in there for patient teaching about germs (the stuff I learned in microbiology might be a bit too technical for some patients).
In the “fun” reading section, Harry Potter of course as I am a Potter fan. It definitely has magic and science in the book. In some way, it could argue that it has some semi-quasi-religious elements also.
My 3rd class in Physical Fitness and Nutrient. Glad I took nutrition already. Whole bunch of papers (4) and an oral presentation and whole bunch of tests. Good class for me as I can use it for nursing teaching also when I am working with a patient.
Next Monday will be my other two classes – Aging and Society and Health Science Writing.
Set up wireless account at school January 20, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.add a comment
I brought my labtop computer to the school library today and set up my wireless account. It was really easy. The wireless is nice as I can go anywhere in the library and search all the catelogs and databases (my university has tons and tons of databases and I felt like a kid in a candy store). I think the whole campus is wireless also but I have not tested it out yet.
I really like this library (8 stories high and have a huge collections of items). Not only that, I can access these expensive databases from home since I am now a student in the university. This make doing nursing research comfortable.
Turned in my official nursing school application January 17, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing, Providence.add a comment
Finally opened an official nursing folder with my local university. I am officially applying to nursing school. Am applying for the accelerated program (1 1/2 years of nursing school instead of 3 years). The advisor said I have a good chance of getting in after she examined all my qualifications (but no gurantee of course as there are something like 20 seats or less left).
Part of the accelerated program involve a hospital who will sponsor me and pay for my fees (the whole accelerated nursing program costs something like around $24000) and I will work for the hospital for 2 years in return. They of course could put me anywhere… I just they don’t put me in ER or ICU… or worst… maternaty!
If I am accepted, I probably will get interviews with hospitals around Feb… coming up fast.
It is interesting how I found out about this program by “accident”. I was in the same class with a former engineer coworker of mine in microbiology. We talked a little as we did not see each other for many years and found out we were both interested in nursing. Then we “happened” to be in the same lab section also. During one of the lab test, I finished early and walked outside to take a break. Then this former coworker of mine also finished and she walked outside also ane we talked again about nursing. She all of a sudden mentioned this accelerated program and said I should take a look at it. Well I took a look at it and I got interested in it.
Transcript grades are all in! January 5, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.1 comment so far
Ok, my psych grade is finally in!
I’ll wait till next Monday to get the official transcripts and hand deliver them to my university that I am transfering to.
Transcript January 4, 2006
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.add a comment
I still have one class where I don’t have my grades (I know what grade I have, but it is not officially in the records yet). Found out the college is behind. I need these grades enter before the 15th so I can deliver the transcript to the university I am transfering to. I just know it is going to be down to the wire again.
2005 year end reflection December 31, 2005
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing, reflections.add a comment
2005 has been an emotionally tough year for me due to some personal events. I was having great difficulty in terms of focusing. But somehow God was merciful and pulled me through. Especially micro and nutrition, somehow got an A which I need for nursing school application. A few surprises also like getting an A in inorganic and organic chem.
In terms of course content, I enjoyed all of them (except chem classes). Without exceptions, God has given me great teachers. Teachers who can teach and actually care for their students. I am very blessed.
Now next year, it looks like I will be applying for the accelerated program in my local university. God has given me the grades for it. Now the question is, do they have space?
We will see what kind of year God will give me next year…
Fall 05 grades are in December 31, 2005
Posted by danucube in Nursing, Prenursing.add a comment
Well, got an A in org chem! I was hanging on throughout the whole quater. Good the instructor is good and also gives a generous curve. Psych, got an A. Psych turned out to be important in the nursing program I am applying because it is one of the classes that will count “double” in their admission formula. Statistics, got a B. I was never good at math, so B is pretty good for me. I actually like the statistics class.
Call to Nursing, Mostly... 