clueless-nurse

[clueless-nurse]

I'm already tired

and here we go!

so 2 days ago (Saturday) was the first day of my CNA program. let me tell you firstly, that the program is in the middle of a redesign because of COVID. the cc’s counselor was explaining to me that the coordinators are trying to accelerate the program so they can get as much students through the program since a big chunk of the fall semester was eaten up by COVID and the restrictions that were birthed because of it. 

let me tell you how many times I’ve been in the bloom of a program redesign... just twice, but honestly that's one too many. 

but I’ll tell you how class went this weekend, what we learned, and how I'm doing :)

day 1: saturday

this day was just pretty much the intro class. we didn't get into any skills right away. we mostly just got to know our professor, our classmates, we went over the syllabus, and were handed out our scrubs, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, and......oh yeah textbooks. 

we did watch a little video (occupational safety and health.....admin? I tried to not look it up to see if I remembered lol). as well as watching a video about what HIPAA (health insurance portability and accountability act....this one I 100% looked up because its 1:25am and I couldn't remember for my life). went home tried on my scrubs and bought white shoes because my uniform requires it (and I deserve some nice new white shoes). easy day.

day 2: sunday

today was just a litto rougher than I thought it was going to be. not because of the skills labs we’re doing-- I’ll get into why today was rough at the end ;-;

so today i had to wake up at 6am to get ready for my 7:30am class. the reason being is that the skills lab is a 30 minute drive (and that’s with *absolutely* no traffic). do I did that, got ready, and was out the door by about 6:50am-ish. def my bad and ended up speeding a good part then I got to the skills lab about 6 minutes to 7:30am (lol gg).

we pretty much jumped into it-- mind you that we are fitting about a semesters worth of teachings into 1 month. so no time for *pleasantries* and making cute with each other. anyway here is a list of what skills we were introduced (and practiced as much as we could) to today:

proper hand washing, opening and closing, donning and doffing PPE, unoccupied bed making, bed pans

....I’m pretty sure that's it lol...dude I’m so tired. 

we also worked on explaining our actions in preparation for the PROMETRIC test that we have to take in order to become *certified* nursing assistants. and from what my professor said, when you explain exactly what you are doing and why you are doing it-- it can really help you on the test itself (and you know, also to just be a good nurse and provide excellent and clear care to a patient too lol).

so we ended class a litto early: normally supposed to end at 12:30pm, but we needed about 11:45am. I raced home just so I could get my textbook work in (and I’ll talk more about that tomorrow...aka later today). I accidentally ended up taking a 2 hour nap while my boyfriend was working on my car and then woke up and got right back into my textbook work. 

right now its almost 2am so I’ve had about a 18 hour day-- which is a big shock for my body if I'm being honest. I know I should be expecting this as a prospective nurse. but its hard! going from being unemployed, sleeping in, and being *lazy* for months-- then one day just pulling 20 hours out of nowhere. (thanks to my body for mustering up the energy for this post, youre welcome <3)

but here I am-- off to *bed* yay. goodnight y'all

xo, jillian 

clueless nurse

[clueless-nurse]

Yet again

another week my program has been delayed. *whatever* that kinda sucks... but my professor has given me access to the course material through the online source. so I’ve downloaded and sorted through all of that. 

another thing I enjoyed learning about today was all the materials that we’ll be getting on the first day of class:

scrubs, textbooks, stethoscope, and blood pressure cuff

I think what I’m going to do are like daily or weekly recaps on how the training program is going. I’m not sure how much content (or content worthy) information will be given each day, or week (at the very least). so we’ll see. 

I also think that this will help with learning regurgitation-- the whole idea of taking what you are learning and speaking about it to “someone” else in order to prove acquired knowledge. this is a really effective way of learning (trust, I have a BA in education lol). 

check back with you on Saturday! stay tuned...

xo, jillian 

clueless nurse

[clueless-nurse]

I’m glad

for the anonymity that I have provided to my local cc. bc the following will be a short rant :)

FIRST question is WHY, only a few days before the first day of class, did you delay the course 1 week?? not that I’m complaining, but there should have been a little more time to have been given as a general courtesy but whatever o.o

secondly... as of today, there’s only 3 days until the *new* first day of class and there has been NO contact made by ANY sort of instructor?? its a hybrid class...is the first day going to be online, in person? do I have to drive the 20 minutes to the CC or can I just put on a nice shirt and hop on a zoom classroom?

SPEAK TO ME

that is all ;-;

xo, jillian

clueless nurse

[clueless-nurse]

I don't have COVID

but boiiiiiii, COVID has me (by the throat, and is kicking my ass)

I never once thought I would be someone that is unemployed, collecting unemployment… but here I am. and yeah, to say that COVID really pushed me to make a change in my life, would be exactly correct lol. not only changing my currently lifestyle (penny pinching and buying *less* clothes), but also helping me change my lifestyle *for my future*.

Pre COVID I lived a fairly comfortable lifestyle. my boyfriend am I were able to afford a smaller sized 1 bedroom apartment right in the middle of Honolulu, which is a pretty pricy place to live (look it up lol). and on top of that we were still able to buy both our needs and *wants*. what a whopping lifestyle change I’ve experience being unemployed. my “paychecks” are less than what minimum wage is and I’m lucky that I built up a savings while the CARES act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) was still in place. but now that the CARES act has run dry, I’m living paycheck to paycheck– something I had never done before). and even then, the budget is very tight after that.

but as the days come to a close, and we are closer to oct 19, I’m the most nervous of my life but so so excited at the same time lol

so yes, here we go everyone. within 1 week I will be beginning my CNA(certified nursing assistant) program at a local cc (community college). it is a *hybrid* course, courtesy of the COVID pandemic of course :)

a big thank you to the financial aid that I am receiving in order for me to be able to do this course. without it I would just be waiting for my hotel job to call me back to work and then returning to a static job with no room for movement. but by the grace of my catholic God, my entire tuition has been paid for.

my plan with this page is to blog (at least) daily in order to document, inform, and probably entertain what my career change is like.

don’t want to make this too long, so basically, GL to me :)

xo, jillian

clueless nurse

[clueless-nurse]

hey buddddy

Hi all, Jillian here. reporting live from my couch while watching ghost adventures… aka the closest thing to a haunted house that I’ll be getting to during this time of COVID-19. I’ve just found myself painfully bored and about to take on a big challenge I’ve set for myself– so if nothing but for my own sanity and accountability, I provide you with this Tumblr blog I will be keeping in regards to my nursing journey. (if you miraculously found this page, then welcome. otherwise it seems I’ll be just talking to myself.)

before I go on, here’s a little bit about myself for documenting pleasure. I was born and raised on the island of maui, in hawaii. I attended maui high school and graduated in 2015 (go sabers!). from there I moved my ass to the neighboring island of oahu, where I completed 4 years at the university of hawaii at manoa. I graduated in 2019 with a bachelors degree in secondary education (bad choice, for me at least lol). but I am a fairly entertaining writer, so lets yeet this out and see what happens.

anyway…fast forward a year later (now) in 2020 COVID times, now I am 23 years old and going back to school on my own terms… this time to be a nurse (holy guacamole).

due to COVID I was laid off of my $20/hour job at a hotel that will remain unnamed. I did love that job, and it was enjoyable, a fun job if you will. I was living a comfortable lifestyle (despite the high rent and low square footage I live in with my boyf). yet, I know it wasnt going to be my lifelong career. and since I was spending a lot of time at home (being unemployed lol) I did a lot of soul searching (my boyf helped me out *a lot* when I had some existential crisis about my purpose in life). and decided that while I’m young and *can*, then why not and attempt at being a nurse (you know… since teaching didn’t work out, ugh).

I do dream of being a RN (registered nurse) working exclusively with pediatric patients (kiddies). I can say for sure that I do love working with kids (hence the teaching degree lol)…but after student teaching at the end of my college career I quickly found out that the teaching environment is not for me (cries inside bc $$$$money$$$$). yes, my parents carried me through college and paid for all my tuition (I didn’t qualify for *fafsa*, who does?). so now, without the knowledge of mom & pop, and on my own dime (unless I am graced with scholarships/grants/etc) I will become a nurse…and then tell them afterwards lol.

pray for my boyf for the craziness I’m dragging him into and pray for me just bc I need it <3

xo, jillian

clueless nurse