First week of clinical

The first week of clinical was fairly unstressful. I went to my first code blue, which was interesting. I always wondered how I would do at a code blue. I was there and did what needed to be done, just like everyone else in the room. Doing a code blue in the school's simulation lab, was a lot more stressful.

My new favorite book

This is my new favorite book.  It's not a Respiratory Disease book that goes into a bit of Pathophysiology, it's a real Pathophysiology book!  All of my other so called "Patho books" are a joke when compared to this one.

Clinical Rotations

This is how much time I'll be spending at each rotation

Adult ICU:  12 weeks
Wards/ER:  7 weeks
OR:  3 weeks
PFT: 2 weeks
Level 3 NICU:  3 weeks
Simulated PICU/PCCU:  1 week
Level 3 PICU/PCCU:  1 week

I'll be doing the first week of my Wards/ER rotation next week.  I'll be working with a different Preceptor each day, which should make things interesting next week.

Orientation complete

I finished my hospital orientation.  I did the orientation in three 12 hour shifts.  My base hospital is freaking huge!  I've already gotten lost 4 or 5 times.  The tour of the hospital, on the first day, lasted 5 hours.  The person giving the tour actually go lost a couple times.  I'll be on Wards next week.  I also have a bunch of homework to do for the clinical site and for the college.

First day of Clinical tomorrow

I'll be starting my clinical rotation tomorrow.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Next week I'll be doing twelve hour shifts. I'm told that next week is an orientation week. I have to dress business casual, so I'm not sure if I'll actually have any patient contact. I'm bringing some scrubs and a lab coat with me, just in case I need them.

I've now finished the first two years of a three year Respiratory Therapy Program.  The third year is the clinical rotation part of my training. Everyone's telling me that everything will start to make sense during clinical. I hope they're right. I should graduate from the program in December of this year.

I picked up my NRP card yesterday.

Passed the composite exam

The average mark was about 3 percent above a pass.  Lots of people are going to be writing up study plans.  My final mark for the composite was 77%. 

What does a respiratory therapist, right out of college, need?

Someone recently sent me an email asking, "What does a respiratory therapist, right out of college, need?"  She's looking for gift ideas for a relative who's about to graduate from an RT program.  Something RTish that could be useful for a new RT fresh out of school...

Asking me for gift ideas is like asking a drowning man for swimming lessons.  I was hoping that others could leave some suggestions in the comments...

Composite exam marks by the end of the week?

Now we're being told that we will get our composite exam marks, by the end of the week.  I strongly suspect that too many people got slaughtered on part II of the exam. They're probably trying to figure out what questions not to count or how low to make the pass mark.

I guess I wasn't the only person wondering what made them think that I could actually answer those types of questions.  A lot of the questions were beyond me and I mentioned that to a couple of faculty today...

Waiting for marks

The final marks for fourth semester are starting to be released.  I'm still waiting for my Anesthesia and Composite exam marks. 

So far I've got two Bs and two As.  I'm hoping Anesthesia is an A+ and the composite exam is a pass.  If I fail the composite exam I have to write up study plan and be ashamed of myself, for a couple of days.