This Past Fall Semester

So, this past fall semester I took my first 'real' nursing course. It was vigorously titled, "Health Assessment." Sounded thrilling! No, I mean it! This course did not strike me, when I registered for it, as particularly intimidating. It just sounded cool. However, the first day of class we got the syllabus, and all of that changed. I had NEVER heard of validations before. (Why don't those senior nursing students take the time to fill us in?!) Basically, validations are once a week when you have to go through a 'script' (pretending your lab partner is your patient) and show your instructor that you can not only perform a skill, but that you also know the proper terminology to use and the way to tell when something is abnormal. Not too bad, right? Well, the problem is that if you score below an 80% on any validation, you have to repeat it. Then, if you score below 80%, you FAIL the ENTIRE class! Gulp!

Our first validation was on skin, hair, and nails. I looked at my lab partner Julie and thought I'd never survive! But, we had both practiced hard, and once I got started everything came back to me. I got a 98, I think. The next validation went well too, and then all the validations started going well. I was so afraid at first, but I soon realized that validations were as much about getting control of your mind as they were about showing actual skill. As a nurse, I will have to think clearly under pressure. Validations are the first step on a long road towards acheiving that goal.

For the first half of the semester, I felt a little nervous because we were learning about A LOT of different diseases, but we weren't learning much about their treatment. I felt ill-equipped. What I finally figured out, however, is that the purpose of Health Assessment is for us to learn to assess for normal. We aren't supposed to know how to treat anything yet. We are supposed to recognize when someething needs treatment.

As a bonus in this class, we got to buy our medical equipment. Stethescope day was really fun. Oh, the decisions! There are like 20 different colors you can get for your stethescope, and for me this was a huge deal. My thought processes were all over the place. "If I choose this color, what does that communicate to the patient?" "Will this color be too dull for pediatric patients?" "Will this color tell older patients that I'm immature?" "Will this color go well with my blood pressure cuff?" (The blood pressure cuffs also come in a wide variety of colors, which posed a whole posse of other potentially difficult decisions!) At length, I settled on ceil blue for my stethescope. (I have no idea what "ceil" is.) It is a nice, airy blue that isn't too much of a beach color. (Don't want patients to think I'd rather be on the beach!) It's also bright enough for kids to enjoy. (Mine do.) My blood pressure cuff is black, because I'm a 'less is more' kind of a gal. I wanted the ceill blue to stand out, and I thought a black cuff would do just the trick.

Anyways, those agonizing decisions were behind me, and my classmates and I spent the rest of the semester learning how to use our new equipment. We also learned how to percuss, which I think is SO cool. It's amazing what you can learn about the inside of the body simply from tapping on the outside of it with your fingers or hands!

One quick funny before I sign off: Our final validation was HUGE. Like 5 pages long. Yikes! We'd all studied really hard, and we were all nervous. In such a situation, it is VERY easy to get your words confused. As I was assessing Julie's respiration rate, I had mentally moved ahead to the next section...chest. In my mind, I was going over the gown positioning. However, when I spoke aloud about her respiration rate, I said, "You have nice even breasts." What?!?! I was trying to say breaths! YIKES! Then, when another girl was validating on me, she looked in my mouth (and ears) and said, "No lesions, no nodules, no hemorrhoids." Ha! I'm SO glad I don't have hemorrhoids in my mouth!!!!! Even when we say dumb things, we just have to keep going. I got 100% on that final validation, despite my freudian slip, and I'm really proud of it...and GLAD it's over!!