But all in all, thus ends my first year of nursing school...sort of. Let me explain, this next month I will be working one-on-one with a nurse for seven 12 hour shifts to practice my skills and nursing ability even more before the start of next fall! I am excited/slightly nervous for this opportunity. But that's not what this post is supposed to be about. Ahem.
What I was trying to write about was that as of NOW I am half way done with my nursing school from Chemeketa! Yay! I thought it would be fun to include a list of all the topics we have covered this year. Now let me put in a disclaimer first: I am in no way an expert on ANY of these areas, but I have now been introduced to them and hopefully will be able to pull them out of my head when need be. So at this moment, my head is approximately 1/2 full of all the nursing stuff I'll learn by the time I graduate next June (Lord willing). I feel like I have learned so much this year, but I still feel like such a newbie (is that how you spell it?). But I'm sure experience will help with my confidence (hence why I'll be working with a nurse this summer!!) So without further ado, here is everything my nursing colleagues and I have learned this year (prepare yourself):
Foundations of nursing
Activity and immobility
Legal concepts of nursing
Stress and Adaptation
Physical safety
Concepts of health
Transcultural nursing
Therapeutic Communication
Individual vs. family vs. community nursing
Lifespan development
Documentation
Urinary Elimination
Nutrition
Nursing Process
Lab Values and interpretation
Rest and sleep
Neurosensory
Comfort and pain
Oxygenation
Physiological safety
Fluids and electrolytes
Health Care Systems
Sexuality
Health Promotion
Pharmacology
Loss and Grieving
Spirituality
Scope of practice
Pre-, Intra-, and Postoperative
Diabetes mellitus
Peripheral vascular disease
Effects of acute illness
Time management
Anti-infective medications
Infectious pulmonary diseases
Obstructive pulmonary diseases
Acid base balance
Medical management in older adults
Management of medical orders
Intro to cancer and skin cancer
Colorectal cancer
Tuberculosis
Ethics
Prenatal: conception, fetal development
Prenatal: physiological adaptation to pregnancy
Integument problems
Hypertension
Cardiovascular accident
Heart failure
Coronary artery disease
Congenital, acquired heart diseases
Arthritis and joint replacement
Fractures and surgical stabilization
Congenital, musculoskeletal problems
Thyroid
GU problems
Prenatal: maternal nutrition
Prenatal: psychosocial adaptation to pregnancy
Prenatal: Diagnostic testing
Prenatal: normal labor and delivery
Intrapartum complications
Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia
Role of nurse as teacher
Upper GI disorders
Lower GI disorders
Diabetic mother (pregnancy)
Coping with chronic illness
Normal postpartum
Postpartum complications
Newborn
Prostate and testicular cancer
Ovarian and breast cancer
Kidney disorders
Anemias and dyscrasias
Eating disorders
CNS infections
Lung cancer
Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
Degenerative neurological diseases
Altered immune response
Hepatitis
Depression and suicide
Substance abuse
Physical human abuse
Seizures
Reproductive health
Sexually transmitted infections
Preparations for employment
Let me just say: holy cow. That's a long list. I am just amazed that we covered that much material. I hope none of you reading this read through the ENTIRE list, but I hope it does give you an idea of how intense this program is. I have so much respect for my instructors who have taught us so much so far. Props to them! I am so excited that it is now summer for me. I am going to relax. I am going to spend time with friends I haven't seen in a long time. I am going to breathe slowly and not strain my brain too much. I hope your summers are just as nice!
