15 Feb 2010
It was my first day of orientation for my Volunteer Nurse Training (Enrichment Course Training Towards Nursing Specialization)! :)
Highlight of the day: Upon arrival at the hospital, I headed straight to the Nursing Training Office. Upon going out of the room, there were 3 boy student nurses walking towards my direction. They smiled and greeted me, "Good morning Ma'am." I was surprised and in my mind, I was like, "What?? Oh no, you did not! But yeah, thanks. Good morning to you too." Of course, I did not say that flat out loud but I knew that it was evident in my facial expression. HAHAHA! I'm not over-reacting! I was really shocked! I appreciated the smile and greeting but the word, 'Ma'am'?! Okay na sana e, kaso may 'Ma'am' pa! I felt old yet respected at the same time. To think I was just in my jeans, very casual. I'm not used to hearing some other person who is not my clinical instructor, not a guard, not a service crew, calling me 'Ma'am'. I didn't know if I should be insulted or flattered. Insulted because I'm old enough for them, flattered because they recognized me as someone to be respected. :) Haha! But it actually jumpstarted my day, natawa na lang ako. Haha.
We had a pre-test which I knew I failed. I sucked! Especially at the computation part! I seem to have forgotten the conversion factors, measurements and the drug computation! Plus I didn't have my calculator with me! I was dumbfounded. 8 months had passed and I seem to forgot what I had studied for 2-3 years? Haha! Oh gosh, idle mind much.
I didn't have friends pa. I haven't even talked, as in daldal na kahit subtle daldal to my seatmates. Loner tuloy ako nung lunch because I had no one to eat with so I went to my mom's office instead and had my lunch there. Boo. I should try talking to my seatmates by tomorrow. After all, they will be my groupmates for 6 months. :)
11.54 pm
16 Feb 2010
It's my second day! :) Today's a lot better than yesterday. Medyo chums na kami ng seatmates ko and I was able to talk more to them. Sila na rin ang kasabay ko over lunch. Hehe. :) Well, puro discussion naman kami kanina. A brief recap of what was discussed during our college years, nothing we did not know but were surely somewhat forgotten. So we needed that 'refresher' discussion kahit medyo boring. Haha!
And I'm going to report tomorrow! I'll be the one to recap what we discussed today. I think I have to review what we discussed for the first two days. We discussed the drug computation this afternoon and as always, I sucked at drug computations and I never mastered it kahit 2 taon ako nagduduty. Natatanga ako lalo na kapag medyo complicated na at iba na than the usual computations ang pinapacompute. Plus, I always have someone to compute with me on duty. Haha!
I have to make bawi in our post-test on Friday!
And oh, we have no duty next week! The whole week! Yeheyyyy! It's the hospital's Foundation Day so March 1 na lang daw kami mag-start but we can participate in the activities they lined up for that week. I'm not gonna participate rather I'm going to prepare for that big week! Haha! Plus a little gala alongside, I guess. No, not guess but YEAH, OF COURSE. Haha! I'm going to shop for 'duty' things as well, yung mga kulang ko. :)
6.44 pm
17 Feb 2010
Third day! :) I felt more at ease with my seatmates-slash-tablemates. We talked more and laughed more. As usual, pure discussion pa rin kami. I did the recap of what we discussed yesterday this morning and a 'refresher' discussion of perineal care (na nakalimutan ko na ang ibang steps. Haha.)
We talked purely nursing skills today. Gosh, I need to read my Fundamentals book, medyo nakalimutan ko na yung ibang steps, mga materials needed. Kapag natetengga ka nga naman ng 8 months! Haha! I mean, generally speaking, I still know how to do it pero may mga tiny, tiny parts na nakalimutan ko na. Haha!
I'm actually excited and looking forward to have my duty because I somehow already have a preview of what the setup is in the hospital. It's way different from UERM in the sense that it's a bigger hospital and it's a local government hospital. So since it's a local government hospital, there are things done 'differently'. Mostly of the patients there are indigent and as we all know, local government hospitals like this lacks budget. So yun. And feeling ko rin mabobongga talaga ako sa mga magiging patients ko, kung may mga 'malala' na sa UERM, malamang mas malala dito at makikipagbakbakan ka talaga. Not literally of course! If you know what I mean. I'm up for the challenge naman though parang ako lang yata sa batch ng trainees na di pa nakapagduty doon (na hindi ko malaman kung good thing ba yun o bad). Although di naman kailangan, I believe I somehow need to show to them (Well hello, dala ko rin name ng school ko. Nakakahiya mapahiya over a petty thing and to think na kilala ang UERM na bonggang nursing school in the Philippines, boasting aside but in all honesty. Haha!) or to even prove to myself na kahit private hospital ang base hospital namin and that's where I mostly had my duty e kaya ko makasurvive sa ganung set-up, sa ganun kabongga na ka-toxican. So yun. Good luck to me! :)
9.49 pm
18 Feb 2010
Fourth day! :) And last day tomorrow! FINALLY. Haha. I was more sleepy in the lectures today! My gosh. That's why I ate a lot, I ate more than I used to eat on the previous days. Haha. And I'm happier with my new set of acquaintances, too bad, hindi kami ang magkakagroupmates for duty, alphabetical daw. Boo.
And here's the funny thing, we had our election of officers! Yes, officers as in class officers. At may muse and escort pa! Oha! Parang high school lang! Hahaha! Ayun, parang gaguhan na lang kanina kasi yung mga nanalo, di naman nila gusto ma-nominate in the first place. Yung VP nga namin, nag-CR lang pagbalik nya VP na siya. Haha!
We have a post-test tomorrow and I'm nearly halfway in reading my notes. I'm sleepy na talaga kaya nag-blog na lang ako muna. Now I have to get back to my reading na. Later people! :)
10.28 pm
19 Feb 2010
Last day! Woohoo. Haha. It feels good that I am looking forward for weekends again. The real essence of weekend means something to me again, Saturday and Sunday isn't any typical day anymore! :)
So ayun, we had our last series of lecture this morning. Then we discussed the guidelines on documentation of the hospital. There are parts that are somewhat similar to what I was used to in UERM but there are parts that I really have to know by heart because it's different from what I was used to. Of course, ibang hospital na ito. Medyo stressful lang mag-adjust at ganito pa ang set-up, entirely different pero keri ko yan. Haha! We had our post-test as well. If I sucked at the pre-test, I'm sure papasa na ako sa post-test! Haha! Then we were given our official group already. We are 6 in the group, one boy lang. I belong to the group 8 (feeling ko magiging lucky ako sa group ko kasi lucky number ko yun. Haha!) and we were assigned in Female Medical Ward for a month. Wee. :)
Since wala kaming pasok next week, I think I'm gonna prepare myself for the duty days ahead of me. Bukod sa medyo slow pa ang utak ko sa mga ganyang bakbakan, adjustment period ko pa talaga. Like what I said to my newly found acquaintances, "Dito ko na malalaman kung para sa akin ba talaga ang Nursing. Tingnan natin kung tatagal ako dito, kung kaya ko na ganito lang ang gagawin ko until I retire." I just can't imagine that I'll be doing this thing until my last breath, pero we'll see. :) I'm up for the challenge. :)
And I miss him. These are the days na namimiss ko siya, yung excited ako magkwento ng week ko sa kanya kasi every weekends talaga kami nag-uusap. Hay. :( Wala na akong de-stresser. :( Anyway, thank you to my bestfriend for being there. :) I missed our nightly sesh ah, weekly sesh na lang tayo ngayon. Hehe. Thanks for being my de-stresser. :)
Hay, good luck na lang sakin next week! :) I hope it will be a good week. :)
11.59 pm