On a roll...

Wow! Another post! That must mean I have something really interesting/exciting to share, right?

Nope. It means I finished my test (see picture at left) and I have an hour before I have to be back in class.

There are some interesting things about nursing school tests. Usually on a test, there is a right answer, and three wrong answers to each multiple choice question. In nursing school, there are two right answers-- each one was in your notes, each one was in your textbook as something you should do, but you must remember which one comes FIRST.

Example: Your patient is 10 minutes post-op. Patient is pale with tachycardia and thready pulse. You suspect hemorrage. What do you do first?
A.) The hokey-pokey and turn yourself around
B.) Check under the patient's sheet to see if blood is pooling beneath patient
C.) Take patient's blood pressure
D.) HA!! Gotcha! You were HOPING to see an option to choose both B and C because they're BOTH RIGHT but you CAN'T because this is nursing school!! *cackle* You can only vacillate hopelessly between the two answers, knowing that whichever one you pick you will be WRONG! Ha ha!

It's very demoralizing to have your test cackle at you.

But usually, with each question, there are two answers that are just silly. And two that are so close... I still don't remember what the right answer was for the above question. Or what course it was in. I remember thinking, "If the patient is so soon out of the operating room, we would have a cuff on him to take BP... so I would hit the button the machine to take his BP while I'm looking under the sheet.... but that's not an option... is my test really cackling at me? Weird."

One thing that helps is that you never select "Notify physician." Or almost never. And the answer is not administer antispsychotics and apply restraints, unless it is referring to fellow nursing students who are standing up, screaming, and tearing out their hair as their tests cackle in unison across the classroom.

Two more words of advice: Kegel Exercises. If it's urinary, and not an infection, it's Kegel Exercises.

Well, that wasted about fifteen minutes. Forty-five to go.

I don't know how I would make it through without the Lord's help. He has given me such a peace about tests over the past few months that I've hardly been anxious at all. Even my huge HESI test (that covers the past 3 semesters of material and if you don't pass you have to repeat all your courses), I was nervous about beforehand, but the day of the test I was as calm as a sea cucumber. I think I was calm because so many people were praying for me!

I'm very thankful God has given me the opportunity to be in university and study nursing. I'm glad to be here and learn.

Even if my tests do cackle.