It's easy to loose sight of why you're going through the drudgery that one encounters in nursing school. I'm only three weeks into the new semester and I've been bitching up a storm already about curriculum and confusing expectations, tediousness, common sense material thrown in our faces over and over again, and worst of all asinine test questions asked in order to test our "critical thinking." I've been really disappointed in my nursing program so far and pondering if maybe I should have gone to medical school instead.
With all that being said, I have realized that I forgot why I'm going to nursing school in the first place. I have overlooked all of the sacrifices, tens of thousands of dollars, and hours spent studying in order to achieve my dream. I ignored the fact that thousands of men and women would trade places with me in a minute just to have a space in a nursing program. I forgot just how long, really a lifetime, that I have waited for this opportunity, and here I am bitching about it.
I'm an excellent bitcher. Really if there was a Nobel Prize for complaining I would surely get it. In a way complaining is my way of understanding what's going on in the world around me. I need to bounce concerns off others, get their input. Sometimes just hearing myself talk about something hlps me to process what's going on and how I feel about it. But it's a shame, a sin really, to have let my bitching get so out of control that I started taking this opportunity, the opportunity to get my nursing degree, seem more like a pain in the ass than a blessing.
A weird happenstance made me turn it all around. I go to allnurses.com a lot. It's this really great forum for nursing students and nurses from all around the country to talk with one another, get support from one another, and bounce ideas off of each other. Sometimes when I'm bored I go there and read what people are saying. I found myself in the Flight Nurse portal, because Flight Nursing is always something I have been interested in. There was this thread with amazing flight nurse stories. And reading these people's stories of what has happened on their shifts just brought it all home for me. There were these unbelievable stories that helped me reclaim my passion for the nursing profession. It was like the swift kick in the ass and attitude adjustment that I needed, all in one.
Nursing is something that I have such an intense passion for. It's indescribable really. I feel blessed to have found something in my life that I love so much. But it is so easy to get caught up in the doldrums of every day nursing school, and to get so frustrated with nursing school bureaucracy to forget what the big picture is. So today, I am so incredibly happy to have found this gift that those flight nurses gave me. I know the tedium and many frustrations that I will encounter in nursing school will challenge me to not take for granted this amazing opportunity. I need to, nay I must, not forget why I'm here, why I so badly want to be a nurse. This was a significant lesson for me. Maybe it's time to grow up a little in this aspect and learn that complaining isn't all it's cracked up to be, that being grateful and mindful is a much more powerful way to live one's life and pursue one's dreams.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Arresting Omar al-Bashir? How Lack of Swift Action Curtails the Effectiveness of the UN
photo by Brian SteidleTo read Brian's Book about Darfur, "The Devil Came on Horseback"
click here http://www.briansteidle.com/Publications.html
Louis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the UN's International Criminal Court announced today that he will be seeking a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes related to the genocide in Darfur. Here's a link to the NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-War-Crimes-Sudan.html?scp=2&sq=sudan+president&st=nyt
This is troubling for a number of reasons. One, what the hell took Moreno-Ocampo so long? After watching the movie Darfur Now I was unconvinced by Moreno-Ocampo's assertion that building a case against al-Bashir is something that will take a significant amount of time. The UN already released a 176 page document that provided evidence of mass murder, rapes, and other human rights atrocities committed in the Darfur region at the hands of the Sudanese military and janjaweed militia, what more evidence does Moreno-Ocampo need? I found myself extremely frustrated by Moreno-Ocampo's lack of swift action, lack of sense of urgency, and lack of a comprehension of the importance of acting quickly and decisively at building the case and than going after al-Bashir to end the atrocities. What the UN is failing to understand is that they are going after the Sudanese President as if he is a person of a civilized nature. We're talking about someone who is systematically overseeing a military that tortures, rapes, and murders its own people in the name of ethic cleansing. You don't take your time and build your case and then announce to the world that you will, one day soon, be seeking the arrest of this person as if this was a trial against a well-respected, upstanding member of moral and dignified character who will respect and abide by the edicts of law under the UN Criminal Court. Do you think al-Bashir gives a shit about Moreno-Ocampo's little announcement? Al-Bashir's been able to kill hundreds of thousands more while Ocampo-Moreno has been taking his sweet time building the "tough" case against al-Bashir. Give me a break. This poor comprehension of the manner in which genocide prosecution needs to happen, as in decisively and steadfastly and with force, is just one of the many reasons the UN has failed to be effective in the world.
The New York Times article talks about how the Sudanese government has yet to react to any of the arrest warrants already handed down to them by the UN and refuse to turn anyone over, especially their president. The NYT article states, "Sudan does not recognize the court's authority and has for months refused to arrest and send for trial a government minister and rebel leader charged with atrocities by Moreno-Ocampo last year." What's more the Sudanese government stated that they'll retaliate to these arrest warrants with violence. Does anyone else see the need to act against these monsters with force in order to secure al-Bashir and than once he's in custody we can proceed with due process? Why does the UN think that dictators capable of murdering their own people are going to obey and respond to their arrest warrant?
The whole situation is so incredibly frustrating and I think calls attention to the dire need for the UN to take another look at how it goes about it's criminal proceedings in regards to genocide. Every time a genocide occurs we have feelings of outrage and contempt but yet we have the same broken system that is completely ineffective at stopping genocide. How about a method of genocide prevention and genocide abatement? It's no longer a question of how can humans perpetrate such heinous crimes against one another but a question of how can we be so ineffective at stopping these mass murders and human rights atrocities from occurring?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tim Russert, American Voters, and What This Election Says About Our Society...
Back from a long break...
I thought I would talk about some things that have been weighing on my mind...first and foremost, the death of Tim Russert was so heartbreaking. Working for Senator Moynihan was one of the best times in my life and Tim Russert was considered a god in our office. As former campaign manager/chief of staff everyone revered Tim and a group of fellow interns and lowlies from the office would gather at my house on Constitution Ave Sunday mornings where we'd work off hangovers or create new ones with mimosas and waffles while we watched and debated whatever was going on on Meet the Press. It was a tradition I held dear to my heart. There's just those people you come across in life that, you may not know them personally, but you can tell that they're fundamentally good people, people that you can learn from, that understand life, and can impart their wisdom on you. Tim Russert was most definitely one of those people. I will miss his presence on Meet the Press very much and I will take with me the example he set by the amazing person that he was. His death was just such an unexpected and sad loss...
This election has turned into a very interesting sociological/anthropological study of our society. I see both good signs and worrisome trends emerging from this election. Right now I'm reading "Just How Stupid Are We: Facing the Truth About The American Voter" by Rick Shenkman because I'm hoping to glean some insight into what this election says about who we have become as a society because I think there's some important barometers to gauge out there right now. It's fundamentally important to examine how our elections are being run and what it says about our society. In the context of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with the downturn of our economy, cuts in social programs, proliferation of social problems such as drug addiction, divorce, disease, it's interesting to see how an election in such a multifarious social brew will be played out. I'll have more to say about this later. But for now I need to go out and attempt to have a more fun and adventurous summer...
I thought I would talk about some things that have been weighing on my mind...first and foremost, the death of Tim Russert was so heartbreaking. Working for Senator Moynihan was one of the best times in my life and Tim Russert was considered a god in our office. As former campaign manager/chief of staff everyone revered Tim and a group of fellow interns and lowlies from the office would gather at my house on Constitution Ave Sunday mornings where we'd work off hangovers or create new ones with mimosas and waffles while we watched and debated whatever was going on on Meet the Press. It was a tradition I held dear to my heart. There's just those people you come across in life that, you may not know them personally, but you can tell that they're fundamentally good people, people that you can learn from, that understand life, and can impart their wisdom on you. Tim Russert was most definitely one of those people. I will miss his presence on Meet the Press very much and I will take with me the example he set by the amazing person that he was. His death was just such an unexpected and sad loss...
This election has turned into a very interesting sociological/anthropological study of our society. I see both good signs and worrisome trends emerging from this election. Right now I'm reading "Just How Stupid Are We: Facing the Truth About The American Voter" by Rick Shenkman because I'm hoping to glean some insight into what this election says about who we have become as a society because I think there's some important barometers to gauge out there right now. It's fundamentally important to examine how our elections are being run and what it says about our society. In the context of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with the downturn of our economy, cuts in social programs, proliferation of social problems such as drug addiction, divorce, disease, it's interesting to see how an election in such a multifarious social brew will be played out. I'll have more to say about this later. But for now I need to go out and attempt to have a more fun and adventurous summer...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Poorly Written Exams, Hastily Graded Papers; Burdens Put Upon Professors Hurt Students Most
I've heard and read so many professors complain about their disappointment in students and the level of work that students are generating. I've heard complaints along the lines of "students today are lazy" and "they all just want easy A's" to "they love to complain" (ok, this one is true) even as harsh as"they're just not that bright these days." Let me start off by saying that for the most part I really respect professors. But some of the trends I'm seeing among my professors are becoming increasingly worrisome and I think it's time that students offer some constructive criticism back in the face of some of the criticisms they've offered to us.
I had a midterm in one of my nursing classes yesterday and let's just say it didn't go well. It wasn't that the amount of material covered was vast like in Pharmacology, or concepts complex like in Organic Chem, or that I didn't adequately prepare for the exam. The problem was that the exam was written so poorly that it was incredibly difficult to discern just what the professor was asking for most of the questions. I think in her attempt to oversimplify or "dumb up" the material my professor lost clarity and the ability to ask us straightforward questions. If I had to take a guess I'd say another professor teaching a different section of this class wrote the exam for the department. I believe my professor, busy as she is, gave this exam to us without reading it over. This seems to be a popular mode of action among instructors around here but to me it's simply unacceptable.
I can imagine that writing exams is not an easy nor a favorite task for a professor. If I were to put myself in my professors shoes I'd say that writing clear, carefully poignant questions that are also within the scope of students knowledge of the subject matter is an incredibly time-consuming, tedious, and difficult task. With that being said, it is one of the most important tasks that a professor has to do. I realize the pressure they are under. They're doing research, publishing books, writing journal articles, fighting for tenure, giving speeches, sit on professional boards, busy with membership in academic committees, having to be involved in school bureaucracy, meanwhile trying to keep on top of their classes, working in the hospital if they're still practicing nurses, and maintaining their personal lives. That's a tall order.
But the truth of the matter is, is that if they weren't teaching they wouldn't have a job to begin with. Teaching, in my opinion, should be their priority ONE, professionally speaking. And I'm seeing so many professors put their attention to their classes aside to attend to other things. What I'm starting to see is professors who are demanding a higher level of work from students yet failing to meet that challenge themselves. I'm sensing that instructors are slacking on dedicating the appropriate amount of time to read and grade over papers. I'm seeing professors cut corners, not have the time to be interested in students, even instructors who genuinely don't seem to be present in class. At the very worst I had a professor not show up for class without prior warning twice, both on exam days.
To the peril of university students everywhere the academic world has shaped itself over the years so that prestige comes from research and publishing and not from the level of instruction given or dedication to students shown. Why is this? It's the economy, stupid. Research and publishing draws both dollars and prestige to a university. So of course universities have research and publishing requirements that professors have to meet in order to keep their jobs. To meet these ever-increasing requirements professors are taking on staggering amounts of commitments outside of the classroom. But isn't the quality of teaching almost directly proportional to the quality of students that these universities are graduating? Aren't any of you concerned that your nurse or doctor or the engineer of the bridge you'll be driving over for that matter just graduated from a university where his/her professors were more concerned about their latest publishing then they were on taking the time to adequately prepare the student to meet the challenges of their new career.
Ultimately, I just want instructors that challenge themselves at acheiving excellence in the classroom as much as they challenge us to become exceptional students/nurses. Yet because professors are so overburdened by the constraints placed upon them in the modern academic world they often times fall short at fulfilling their teacherly obligatons to us as students and its the students that ultimately suffer. For the future of students out there and for my own future as well I hope that the emphasis in the academic world goes back to focusing on outstanding academic instruction so that students and professors can unite with the common goal of bettering ourselves for the service of others.
I had a midterm in one of my nursing classes yesterday and let's just say it didn't go well. It wasn't that the amount of material covered was vast like in Pharmacology, or concepts complex like in Organic Chem, or that I didn't adequately prepare for the exam. The problem was that the exam was written so poorly that it was incredibly difficult to discern just what the professor was asking for most of the questions. I think in her attempt to oversimplify or "dumb up" the material my professor lost clarity and the ability to ask us straightforward questions. If I had to take a guess I'd say another professor teaching a different section of this class wrote the exam for the department. I believe my professor, busy as she is, gave this exam to us without reading it over. This seems to be a popular mode of action among instructors around here but to me it's simply unacceptable.
I can imagine that writing exams is not an easy nor a favorite task for a professor. If I were to put myself in my professors shoes I'd say that writing clear, carefully poignant questions that are also within the scope of students knowledge of the subject matter is an incredibly time-consuming, tedious, and difficult task. With that being said, it is one of the most important tasks that a professor has to do. I realize the pressure they are under. They're doing research, publishing books, writing journal articles, fighting for tenure, giving speeches, sit on professional boards, busy with membership in academic committees, having to be involved in school bureaucracy, meanwhile trying to keep on top of their classes, working in the hospital if they're still practicing nurses, and maintaining their personal lives. That's a tall order.
But the truth of the matter is, is that if they weren't teaching they wouldn't have a job to begin with. Teaching, in my opinion, should be their priority ONE, professionally speaking. And I'm seeing so many professors put their attention to their classes aside to attend to other things. What I'm starting to see is professors who are demanding a higher level of work from students yet failing to meet that challenge themselves. I'm sensing that instructors are slacking on dedicating the appropriate amount of time to read and grade over papers. I'm seeing professors cut corners, not have the time to be interested in students, even instructors who genuinely don't seem to be present in class. At the very worst I had a professor not show up for class without prior warning twice, both on exam days.
To the peril of university students everywhere the academic world has shaped itself over the years so that prestige comes from research and publishing and not from the level of instruction given or dedication to students shown. Why is this? It's the economy, stupid. Research and publishing draws both dollars and prestige to a university. So of course universities have research and publishing requirements that professors have to meet in order to keep their jobs. To meet these ever-increasing requirements professors are taking on staggering amounts of commitments outside of the classroom. But isn't the quality of teaching almost directly proportional to the quality of students that these universities are graduating? Aren't any of you concerned that your nurse or doctor or the engineer of the bridge you'll be driving over for that matter just graduated from a university where his/her professors were more concerned about their latest publishing then they were on taking the time to adequately prepare the student to meet the challenges of their new career.
Ultimately, I just want instructors that challenge themselves at acheiving excellence in the classroom as much as they challenge us to become exceptional students/nurses. Yet because professors are so overburdened by the constraints placed upon them in the modern academic world they often times fall short at fulfilling their teacherly obligatons to us as students and its the students that ultimately suffer. For the future of students out there and for my own future as well I hope that the emphasis in the academic world goes back to focusing on outstanding academic instruction so that students and professors can unite with the common goal of bettering ourselves for the service of others.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Baffled by Burnout
It's inevitable as a student to have burnout from time to time. After talking with some of my classmates they usually experience burnout around midterms or at the end of a semester. It seems that most students don't seem to experience burnout too often nor is it something say, a day at the beach, a long run, or a stiff drink can't handle. Am I the only one out there that gets plagued with burnout every semester that just won't go away? When I started on the magical odyssey that is nursing school three years ago I did not experience burnout. I studied so much for my anatomy class and was so sleep deprived I found myself out driving around at 5 AM listening to recorded lectures, watching the sun rise, and going over anatomy index cards (man was I a loser).
With every arduous academic challenge a professor threw my way I was like the old Animal House adage, "thank you Sir, may I have another." Then suddenly the old signs of burnout that I experienced from a previous career started creeping in. I began to get migraines more frequently, I was driving more aggressively, I couldn't handle my cell phone ringing anymore with yet one more thing I needed to deal with, and the most disturbing sign was my motivation was draining faster than shit down a sinkhole. As much as I love nursing, and believe me I LOVE nursing, I'd sit for hours on end with my textbooks open but surfed the web instead because I just couldn't bring myself to study Organic Chemistry for one more stinking hour.
I have this professor that I really like this semester who actually admitted that students experience burnout. (I've had many professors who refuse to acknowledge that they've ever experienced academic burnout, or fail to see why students would ever suffer from such a phenomenon. I'm starting to really think that when they bestow you with a PhD they also put a microchip in your brain that makes you forget all of your own experiences as a student or have selective memory as to what their experience was as a student, but I digress).
I was so thankful that a professor was keen to the fact that students grapple with burnout that when she mentioned it my ears perked up just waiting to hear the pearls of wisdom she was going to offer me so I never had to experience this treacherous academic malady again. She offered, "Now for those of you who are going to do academic work throughout your spring break remember the importance of taking an hour or two off for yourself." An hour or two? Are you kidding me? An hour or two off after a half a semester and doing a full week of continuous studying would do me as much good as a swift kick in the ass.
Who are these super humans that can fully recover from the stress and pressure of a whole week of work and the whole semester of school in an hour of two? Like watching Stephen Colbert make Eliot Spitzer cracks for an hour or two is going to erase the countless hours of lost sleep, intracranial vessel damage from the multitudes of migraine episodes, and the non stop right eye-twitching that is very disconcerting. I've tried every remedy for burnout I can think of and sadly enough I've done them so many times that I'm getting burnout from my burnout. I've gone on long runs (there's nothing like being exhausted and then forcing yourself to go on a run, you feel better afterwards but man does the run suck), soothed myself with Carmel Frappacinos, I've gone to wiser authorities to look for sage advice and no, neither watching Oprah nor reading Deepak Chopra, did any good. I've tried meditation, surfing more frequently, taking naps, staying in and doing nothing, going out and having some drinks (I thought maybe my problem was that I didn't have a life, and then when I got one, I realized I did not have a life for a reason, oh yeah school).
Basically nothing has worked as more than a quick fix. I know I need to take this summer off but there is so much I want to do. Should I finish my pre-med requirements in case I decide somewhere along the line I want to go to med school? (what am I nuts?) I really want to travel and was contemplating doing nursing exchange programs in Africa, Nepal, or Cambodia but I don't have the money for these programs (funny how the universities want to charge you $5000+ to work in 3rd world countries, all in the name of "academic credit" of course). I know one of the answers to this burnout thing lies in me taking some time off this summer but I just feel like that's such a waste. I've always admired those that can cram as much stuff into a summer than I can fit into a lifetime. We all know those types of people, people that can knit their grandmother a quilt, film a documentary on the effects of schistosimiasis on corn maize farmers in Venezuela, de-worm infants in Tanzania, write a dissertation on post-Stalin neoeconomic theory of the Soviet Union, while procuring government grants for their new ecofriendly non-profit all within the space of a summer. Seriously, how do these people do it? And how can I become one of them?
I know what's really important is having a way to create balance in my life and being OK with the fact that sometimes I'm going to be off balance and need to find my way back. I just hope that I find a new formula for myself that works and that I get back to being the masochistic student that loves pulling all-nighters.
With every arduous academic challenge a professor threw my way I was like the old Animal House adage, "thank you Sir, may I have another." Then suddenly the old signs of burnout that I experienced from a previous career started creeping in. I began to get migraines more frequently, I was driving more aggressively, I couldn't handle my cell phone ringing anymore with yet one more thing I needed to deal with, and the most disturbing sign was my motivation was draining faster than shit down a sinkhole. As much as I love nursing, and believe me I LOVE nursing, I'd sit for hours on end with my textbooks open but surfed the web instead because I just couldn't bring myself to study Organic Chemistry for one more stinking hour.
I have this professor that I really like this semester who actually admitted that students experience burnout. (I've had many professors who refuse to acknowledge that they've ever experienced academic burnout, or fail to see why students would ever suffer from such a phenomenon. I'm starting to really think that when they bestow you with a PhD they also put a microchip in your brain that makes you forget all of your own experiences as a student or have selective memory as to what their experience was as a student, but I digress).
I was so thankful that a professor was keen to the fact that students grapple with burnout that when she mentioned it my ears perked up just waiting to hear the pearls of wisdom she was going to offer me so I never had to experience this treacherous academic malady again. She offered, "Now for those of you who are going to do academic work throughout your spring break remember the importance of taking an hour or two off for yourself." An hour or two? Are you kidding me? An hour or two off after a half a semester and doing a full week of continuous studying would do me as much good as a swift kick in the ass.
Who are these super humans that can fully recover from the stress and pressure of a whole week of work and the whole semester of school in an hour of two? Like watching Stephen Colbert make Eliot Spitzer cracks for an hour or two is going to erase the countless hours of lost sleep, intracranial vessel damage from the multitudes of migraine episodes, and the non stop right eye-twitching that is very disconcerting. I've tried every remedy for burnout I can think of and sadly enough I've done them so many times that I'm getting burnout from my burnout. I've gone on long runs (there's nothing like being exhausted and then forcing yourself to go on a run, you feel better afterwards but man does the run suck), soothed myself with Carmel Frappacinos, I've gone to wiser authorities to look for sage advice and no, neither watching Oprah nor reading Deepak Chopra, did any good. I've tried meditation, surfing more frequently, taking naps, staying in and doing nothing, going out and having some drinks (I thought maybe my problem was that I didn't have a life, and then when I got one, I realized I did not have a life for a reason, oh yeah school).
Basically nothing has worked as more than a quick fix. I know I need to take this summer off but there is so much I want to do. Should I finish my pre-med requirements in case I decide somewhere along the line I want to go to med school? (what am I nuts?) I really want to travel and was contemplating doing nursing exchange programs in Africa, Nepal, or Cambodia but I don't have the money for these programs (funny how the universities want to charge you $5000+ to work in 3rd world countries, all in the name of "academic credit" of course). I know one of the answers to this burnout thing lies in me taking some time off this summer but I just feel like that's such a waste. I've always admired those that can cram as much stuff into a summer than I can fit into a lifetime. We all know those types of people, people that can knit their grandmother a quilt, film a documentary on the effects of schistosimiasis on corn maize farmers in Venezuela, de-worm infants in Tanzania, write a dissertation on post-Stalin neoeconomic theory of the Soviet Union, while procuring government grants for their new ecofriendly non-profit all within the space of a summer. Seriously, how do these people do it? And how can I become one of them?
I know what's really important is having a way to create balance in my life and being OK with the fact that sometimes I'm going to be off balance and need to find my way back. I just hope that I find a new formula for myself that works and that I get back to being the masochistic student that loves pulling all-nighters.
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Den of Pharmacology Hell
So it's a Friday and a rare day off from nursing school for me. I should be enjoying this beautiful day at the beach or at the very least giving my best attempt at pretending I still remember what it is like to be a normal human being. Instead I'm inside snoozing on top of my Pharmacology Book which has the exceptional ability of sending me into long bouts of narcolepsy.
I'm not sure how many of you out there have been lucky enough to be able to enjoy the sufferfest that is Pharmacology. My school is unique in that this class was specially "crafted" by our dean who apparently thinks that shoving as much information as humanly possible down students throats in the shortest amount of time is the the perfect recipe for concept retention. I'm not sure what parallel universe she's from but here on Planet Earth most people have a hard time teaching themselves, memorizing, and then regurgitating mind-boggling amounts of information with any hope of remembering the information for more than, oh I don't know, say one minute past the exam. If I thought this was just a weed-out class to see if we were capable of the academic challenge I would understand but we've already jumped through those hoops. If O-Chem and Anatomy weren't academic weed-outs then I don't know what one is. Not to mention that Pharmacology is information that we're really going to need a solid foundation of. I just don't understand why the class was crafted to be a rapid onset of acute pharmacological info diarrhea.
It's frustrating to know that I am putting so much effort into the relentless process of learning and memorizing all of this information with only the slightest chance of remembering any of it. I know I am not alone in the feeling that if we were given more time to learn, understand, and build a foundation of knowledge around the prototypes we would 1)have better grades in this class 2) actually remember the information 3)be able to recognize and know the clinical application of these drugs 4) utilize our knowledge of Pharm for the NCLEX. But silly me, why would we want to craft a nursing lecture class that actually is logical, humane, and effectual?...that would make too many people happy and just make too much darn sense.
What's also unfortunate about the whole thing is that I like my Pharm. Professor but she's just as frustrated with it as we are and since she's the only place we have to vent our frustrations and we're the only place she has to vent hers we look at each other in mutual annoyance and just continue to slog through the hell that is Pharm. class. So to all of you out there going through it this semester whether it be Anatomy, Pharm., Patho-Phys, or Med-Surg Clinical just remember that when we started nursing school, whether we consiously knew it or not, we signed up to be professional hoop-jumpers and this is just another large hoop at the circus they call nursing school...
I'm not sure how many of you out there have been lucky enough to be able to enjoy the sufferfest that is Pharmacology. My school is unique in that this class was specially "crafted" by our dean who apparently thinks that shoving as much information as humanly possible down students throats in the shortest amount of time is the the perfect recipe for concept retention. I'm not sure what parallel universe she's from but here on Planet Earth most people have a hard time teaching themselves, memorizing, and then regurgitating mind-boggling amounts of information with any hope of remembering the information for more than, oh I don't know, say one minute past the exam. If I thought this was just a weed-out class to see if we were capable of the academic challenge I would understand but we've already jumped through those hoops. If O-Chem and Anatomy weren't academic weed-outs then I don't know what one is. Not to mention that Pharmacology is information that we're really going to need a solid foundation of. I just don't understand why the class was crafted to be a rapid onset of acute pharmacological info diarrhea.
It's frustrating to know that I am putting so much effort into the relentless process of learning and memorizing all of this information with only the slightest chance of remembering any of it. I know I am not alone in the feeling that if we were given more time to learn, understand, and build a foundation of knowledge around the prototypes we would 1)have better grades in this class 2) actually remember the information 3)be able to recognize and know the clinical application of these drugs 4) utilize our knowledge of Pharm for the NCLEX. But silly me, why would we want to craft a nursing lecture class that actually is logical, humane, and effectual?...that would make too many people happy and just make too much darn sense.
What's also unfortunate about the whole thing is that I like my Pharm. Professor but she's just as frustrated with it as we are and since she's the only place we have to vent our frustrations and we're the only place she has to vent hers we look at each other in mutual annoyance and just continue to slog through the hell that is Pharm. class. So to all of you out there going through it this semester whether it be Anatomy, Pharm., Patho-Phys, or Med-Surg Clinical just remember that when we started nursing school, whether we consiously knew it or not, we signed up to be professional hoop-jumpers and this is just another large hoop at the circus they call nursing school...
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