Mary Jo's hands tremble as she assesses her "patient's" scalp for lumps, lesions, and tenderness. As she works through naming and palpating (touching) her patient's lymph nodes she stumbles and calls the superficial cervical the supraclavicular cervical. Thus far she's demonstrated that she knows her stuff. I attribute the slip to nerves. None the less, I must note it. Mary Jo's patient is actually her fellow nursing student. Today, to demonstrate that they know how to do a skin, hair, head and neck assessment they must assess their partner in front of me for a grade. The stakes are high. You either pass or fail. If you fail on your third attempt, you fail the entire course.
Ten minutes later, Mary Jo nervously recounts her entire assessment in a concentrated mumble. She is done. Now they switch. The nurse becomes the patient and the patient becomes the nurse. It's obvious they have been practicing together. Some pieces of their assessment are exactly the same, but quirky. For example, they are expected to note the patient's hygiene. Rather than simply note that the patient is well groomed, these two students ask each other how often they take a bath. I try not to laugh as they earnestly answer the question. They are also expected to teach their patient on some aspect of skin care. I again stifle laughter as Mary Jo tell hers patient to get "full frontally nude" in front of a full length mirror and do a monthly inspection of her skin for moles.
After they have both finished I ask them both to leave while I score their assessments. A moment later I call Mary Jo back for her results. I go through my checklist and correct all her mistakes. She listens with rapt attention. At the end, I tell her she's passed. I thought it was fairly obvious she knew her stuff, but she doubted herself until the moment I told her she'd succeeded. "Thank you Ma'am"! she stammers excitedly. I had nothing to do with it. She studied and did a good job. I ask her to send her partner in. Her partner also passes.
To only thing better than an excited novice is the opportunity to mold one. What's more is that I have the privilege of guiding these young people into a profession I love. Days like today, are the reason I wanted to go into nursing education. And being called Ma'am all day, is just a bonus of teaching in the South.
Ten minutes later, Mary Jo nervously recounts her entire assessment in a concentrated mumble. She is done. Now they switch. The nurse becomes the patient and the patient becomes the nurse. It's obvious they have been practicing together. Some pieces of their assessment are exactly the same, but quirky. For example, they are expected to note the patient's hygiene. Rather than simply note that the patient is well groomed, these two students ask each other how often they take a bath. I try not to laugh as they earnestly answer the question. They are also expected to teach their patient on some aspect of skin care. I again stifle laughter as Mary Jo tell hers patient to get "full frontally nude" in front of a full length mirror and do a monthly inspection of her skin for moles.
After they have both finished I ask them both to leave while I score their assessments. A moment later I call Mary Jo back for her results. I go through my checklist and correct all her mistakes. She listens with rapt attention. At the end, I tell her she's passed. I thought it was fairly obvious she knew her stuff, but she doubted herself until the moment I told her she'd succeeded. "Thank you Ma'am"! she stammers excitedly. I had nothing to do with it. She studied and did a good job. I ask her to send her partner in. Her partner also passes.
To only thing better than an excited novice is the opportunity to mold one. What's more is that I have the privilege of guiding these young people into a profession I love. Days like today, are the reason I wanted to go into nursing education. And being called Ma'am all day, is just a bonus of teaching in the South.
Do you see yourself in your students a lot or do they seem a lot different than you in how they learn, where they are in their lives, and how they adjust to pressure? I imagine you being a little more confident in your school days.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to remember to stand naked in front of a mirror tonight.
Although I was in a different place in life, and a few years older than my students and in a different type of program (condensed and accelerated vs a traditional 4 year program) I see myself in my students. 99.9% of nursing students are anxious in nursing school. Part of it is that nursing attracts a certain personality. Part of it is that nursing professors are always scaring the shit out of you (If you don't know what you're doing you'll kill someone!). Part of it is that there is a ton of new information to learn. Lastly, the medical field is very intimidating to a newbie. I have particularly fond memories of practicing assessments over and over again in the hallway while we waited for our turn.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, monitor those moles!!