Thursday, August 28, 2008

Well, that's just fine.


um. well.
Originally uploaded by somnambulantsn

Or: How I Spent Eleventy Billion Dollars on Stuff for Nursing School (And Spent My Short Vacation Getting Ready for It)..

I've heard the legends and been warned, but really, until the past few weeks had no idea the accoutrement involved with starting nursing school.

First off, it was the uniform debacle. White tops with nursing program logo/crest and navy bottoms. Okay. While I'd rather not wear white at all, I guess a white top is more passable than white bottom so as to not disrupt my 50% state of awakeness upon dressing most mornings without looking. It would be awkward to realize or be told around 10:00 that my festive polka dots are peeking out for all to see. That has been a disaster with wearing white scrub bottoms before. I actually got sent home from a past job for such an indiscretion (even though I'd asked my husband that morning if anything was visible; thanks to this and other oopsies he's let slide, he is no longer asked). But, it was an icky, icky place to work, so in retrospect, I had the prescience to show them my true feelings early on. So, with white tops comes the responsibility of attaining (ahem) the proper undergarments. In addition, I bought a few cami-type white tank tops and long-sleeved shirts. We get lab coats as part of our uniform, but they're incredibly thin. I'm always cold.

Anywhoodle, after I'd managed to snag enough uniforms to make me comfortable (4 is the magic number for now), then I had to get shoes. Since my program has ixnayed my beloved Crocs, I had to go to Plan B. After consulting every corner of the internet, I felt fairly comfortable in choosing the Dansko Courtney and the NurseMates Quincy. The Danskos are fantastic and well worth the cost; I'm still waiting on the NurseMates I really love maryjanes. Our shoes have to be leather and all-white, which kind of automatically eliminated the idea of a sneaker for me. I really dislike all-white sneakers (no flair! no zip! what?) I'm a child of the 80''s and equate all-white or all-black sneakers with guidos (This is nothing personal and I apologize for my insensitivity toward you classic Reebok-loving people who are not and do not resemble guidos).

Then came compression hose for clinicals and some new white socks, because my dingy ones peeking through wouldn't cut it. There are daily inspections as to dress code adherence. I wish I were kidding. But, at orientation, they lined up the cohort before us and pointed out each infraction. Hoo boy.

Next, there was grooming. I'm all for the preemptive strike and being of such makeup, cut my hair into style requiring less maintenance and dyed my summer-blonded hair back to its natural, more placated state of a few shades darker. I don''t want to fuss with my hair when I know soon, sleep will become a precious commodity of my time.

I also needed a new pair of glasses. So, I've gotten my exam and those are on the way. I have no idea how much time I will have, so I've made sure to have checkups with all my physicians and med refills.

The one thing I've held out on has been the Skyscape Nursing Constellation Suite. because even though I have a Palm T|X, I realllllly want an iPhone. And if I cave, I'd rather have everything on it.

And finally, the coup de grace: as pictured, you can see (in part), my fundamentals and pharmacology books (and stethoscope. bandage scissors, etc.). From what I can understand, there are indeed more books and our nursing kit on the way that were delayed due to Tropical Storm Fay closing my school for three days and causing a delay in shipment. My NCLEX review book is not pictured. If you look closely, you will notice how lazy I was for not cleaning my desk first. Cut me some slack; I'd just amassed all these things into one conglomeration for the first time and was a little overwhelmed to say the least.

I have Chapters 1-5 from the fundamentals book, the nursing program handbook and JCAHO's 2009 Patient Safety Goals to have remembered by the first day. There will be a test.

5 days. I got this.

3 comments:

undergrad RN said...

Shiza. I guess I really don't have too much to complain about, tests on the first day and all!

Somnambulant OR Nurse said...

There's some excitement, some nervousness, some bewilderment. Oh man, I have a lot going through my head.

But yeah, when a professor said in orientation there would be a test first day, some people giggled. They weren't giggling two minutes later.

Good luck on your first day, btw!

BirthdayNurse said...

I thought JACHO was all made up and not that big of a deal until I was out on the floor for 2 months as an RN and I was the one JACHO decided they wanted to talk to and grill when they came to visit! I saw my (very short) nursing career flash before my eys!

That sounds like a horrific uniform! All leather shoes? We at least got the white tennis shoe option. All whites, nobody's favorite and we had a burning party after graduation for ours :)