A little Pixie Dust and the magic of nursing!

Last week I had the opportunity to travel with BYU's nursing program to Florida! How did I become so fortunate you might ask to leave the snowy land of Provo to go to the happiest place on earth- DisneyWorld, for an all expense paid trip? I was recently elected to the student nurses association (SNA) board at BYU as the secretary. I was really interested in becoming more involved in my college experience and trying to make the most of my time in nursing school at BYU. So, I was really excited to say the least, and pleasantly surprised, when I found I was elected. Even more so when I found out I would have the opportunity to travel to Florida to represent BYU!!! It was intense trying to prepare for taking a week off of school, felt like an elite college athlete, but absolutely worth it!

The conference was an annual event put on by the National Student Nurse's Association (NSNA). This year's theme was "Experience the Magic of Nursing" very applicable for the locale. At this conference we were trained on how to be successful in our new positions on our board, taught about different nursing opportunities in breakout sessions, and participated in the house of delegates, to name a few. It was incredible to be exposed to all the different kinds of nursing and how to be involved on a national level in nursing. While we were there we presented a resolution to the house of delegates in hopes of having it passed, which it did, about nurses doing home visits to first time low income mothers. There are already programs that are implementing this action in nursing but having this passed shows that NSNA supports it and it creates increased awareness of it to future nurses of the opportunity to be involved in community health.  The conference was mostly interesting, but of course a trip to Orlando, Florida wouldn't be complete without a visit to the local inhabitants of the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT!!!

                                  The gang after arriving in Orlando!

                                                     Having some fun in Downtown Disney

                                          Things were a little pricey there than we were use to as poor college students. Never knew how much Disney costed before this trip, thanks Daddy-warbucks for treating me to it all those years!

                                         Looking official at the conference with our advisors. (I hated my outfit that day however!)

                                         Mickey made a special visit!

                       We were poster presenters! It displayed information about our resolution and how we were making students aware in our chapter of what we were doing. Basically why we are so stellar!

                                          Welcome to EPCOT!

                             How could this picture not make you smile with all of its ridiculousness! I especially love how we were in China and were able to have a random chinese boy be in our picture!

                     The pool at the Coronado Springs resort we stayed at, paradise right?

BYU was also recognized as having a STELLAR SNA chapter, that's right we won an award. Our very own president from this past year was elected to the new NSNA board and will help plan next year's event in the booming metropolis in my own backyard Salt Lake City!

                          Our advisors and the new NSNA board member- Erin accepting our Stellar Chapter   award for BYU.

                             Magic Kingdom, how much better can life get!

                      I was also able to meet up with my favorite visiting teaching companion ever there!

Ihad a blast with all of the girls at the conference and going to Disneyworld with them, definitely made some great friends. It inspired me to do more with my nursing career and to be involved on a national level now and after a graduate. It made me aware of all the ways I can be involved to make a difference within nursing, for the benefit of my future patients. It made me realize how research can actually be important (despite how much I was frustrated with that class this semester) and can affect a change for good in nursing practice. It also made me want to further my education as much as I can with nursing! That is right I now have a different aim now that I hope to go back to school and obtain a master's degree in nursing! Who knows maybe I will even go for a doctorate degree. It may not happen, but I have the mindset for it now as a very strong possibility. I really would like to do it so that someday I may be able to teach and give back.

It was wonderful to get away but a bit depressing to come back to a snowy day in Provo after sitting by the pool in 85 degree weather, but the I must have packed a little extra sunshine in my bag because today was a beautiful day here. I only have one final left and then I am free for the summer! Just have to memorize every med, what they do, their side effects, and how to safely give them. Think I can do it? YES I can! That was one thing I remember them saying at the conference when talking about furthering your education, that you should do what you think you cannot do! I hope I can achieve the impossible and you can too catch the vision of your dream to make your wishes come true! (yes I caught some Disney magic while I was there)

I also caught the magic of nursing! How thankful I am to be studying this profession and I hope that I will eventually be a capable nurse someday. For those of you wondering exactly what nurses do watch the little video below to get a little glimpse :)

What I've LeaRNed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPbGgIg0NIY

Attitude of healing

At times how we view or react to things that happen to us in life are merely a representation of our attitude in life. I believe our attitude can also be a contributing factor in leading us to heal. This past week I was able to interact with patients two patients with very different diagnoses and attitudes about their hospitalizations. One lady was there because she had overdosed on her pain medications, which had subsequently damaged her heart and liver. The other patient was one who suffered from cystic fibrosis and cerebral palsy all her life. Both were very easy to talk to and had legitimate reasons to be discouraged by their health concerns, however one saw her diagnoses as part of her life but was not going to let it stop her from living it to the fullest.

Her attitude was one of enthusiasm and she emitted a genuine air about her.  She saw her diagnoses objectively and did not see them as a limiting factor. She was determined to take care of herself but was not opposed to any help as well. She had every reason to complain and be down about life but she decided to do the opposite. It amazed me how resilient she was and how often it is those who have every right to feel down are the ones who seem to bounce back the most. In other patients I have seen with good attitudes about their hospitalization they are able to laugh about things and build relationships with the staff members. I believe that these are important factors in helping our patients heal. Sometimes though we need to be the facilitator of this kind of attitude in order to have them heal in that way.

I hope to have that kind of healing attitude with my patients that I may seem approachable and happy to be living my life. I hope that in return I will not come off as overbearing in doing so but in having a desire to help my patients feel the same way despite their health concerns.  Many times it is not overcoming the illness that is the problem but our mental capacity to believe that we truly can heal. I believe this can be a factor when we are trying to be healed spiritually as well. We need to have the mindset that we can heal and see the hope in our everyday lives. Accentuating the positive. I hope in the future to build this kind of healing relationship with my patients. One where I can help them see the good in life and learn how to not only cope but live with their diagnoses. I know in my own life I need to follow the example of this particular patient I had the opportunity to interact with and have a more positive attitude for I know I am truly blessed, including my trials. 

Luke 9:11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

They sought to be healed and had the faith that they could be.

In other updates I was recently elected to the Student Nurses Association board at BYU as the secretary! This came as a huge shock to me but I am really excited to be able to serve in this position and be more involved. Also as an added surprise bonus I will be traveling to Florida on the sixth for a nursing conference there and we will get to go to Disney World too! It is all that is getting me through all that I need to have done before I leave! Luckily though I have a new study buddy, someone to walk me home after the long nights at the library, to share lunch with, and who looks really good in uniform: 

                                                            John & Whit

Where the heart is:

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

It is a known fact among family and friends that I am an indecisive person. I easily become overwhelmed by all of the possibilities that I am considering in my head. Even when I do decide I am often still in conflict of whether or not the decisive result of my pros and cons list is the best option. I am not a push over however when given options I can weigh them out and evaluate what I think is best or what I really want to do, though sometimes just to appease the situation I will go along with things. Maybe I am not indecisive I just take time to assess situations and build up the courage to implement my actions. I think in this one paragraph alone, I have proved my inability to settle on a single conclusion. I believe that sometimes there is more than just one option or there are multiple decisions to be made that lead up to what ultimately will be done in one’s life. In other words although we would like to pin point the major decisions as being monumental in our lives there are actually a thousand everyday little decisions that lead up to that pivotal moment. The pivotal decision I would like to discuss is my selection of BYU as my college choice.

As stated earlier there were many decisions that led up to this point in my life. It was the decision to sacrifice those extra minutes of sleep in the morning to try and make it to early morning seminary (emphasis on the try however). It was my dedication to my high school education and desire to learn that influenced my standing GPA that BYU approved. It was the everyday decision to read my scriptures and building my relationship with my Heavenly Father. The last statement includes the most important aspects of my everyday decisions that have helped me decipher what needed to be done in my life. The interesting thing about making the decision to come to BYU was that at first I felt that I had no choice at all. I was unfortunately either wait listed or denied at all the other schools I had so eagerly applied to during my senior year. When I found out I was accepted to BYU I was excited, but had never actually planned on coming. I had a bad taste about BYU from previous family member experiences and had felt that it was not as prestigious  of a school as the others I had applied to.  I then set about making my pros and cons list and then I prayed about it. Today I am not entirely sure of how I went about receiving an answer but I know I did. It was one of peace; reassurance and everything just seemed to easily fall into place. Once I arrived at BYU I then had the choice to have an attitude adjustment and actually give the university a shot. It was shortly after arriving that I had to make the decision, which this time included a couple hundred options, what was I going to study. For some reason I know now that even though I feared if I really had any choice but to come to BYU, I realize that my selection in what to study was also prompted, but a decision made entirely of my own accord. I know I prepared for BYU in high school and then once I was here the opportunity to apply to the nursing program was why I had come.

Everyday is full of little decisions that help you decide your own destiny in life. It also encompasses realizing the benefits or complexities of all the alternatives. We have the choice to be proactive participants and decipher the options before us or merely just buy the book because of its cover but never really discover what it has inside for us. In my own life I know it takes time and quality consideration to come to a decision. Unfortunately for an indecisive person in a fast paced world I have had to learn quick thinking and to fully rely on trust in the Lord’s hand in things. This does not mean I am a floater in this life, no because I know there are priorities and contingencies to each decision we make. I know we cannot always control the outcomes of our decisions but we have to have courage and trust that in the Lord’s eyes all things will be for our good

D&C 122:  7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit or into the hands of mrderes, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

Come together right now, over me

In understanding what is happening to our patients we have to not only see the bigger picture at hand but also all the small details that encompass and make up all that we are seeing. In clinical last week I worked not only with my patient who was experiencing pancreatitis but also a kidney transplant patient. Both patients provided opportunities for me to understand what exactly the pathophysiologies of their conditions were. After trying to understand the lab values by interpreting them and applying them to their present conditions or medications it all started to come together for me. I was prompted or taught by my nurse a lot as she challenged me to explain why things were occurring and why were performing certain treatments to correct them. It was exciting to understand the correlations between treatments and what was happening physiologically to the patients.
These experiences taught me the importance of studying the interactions of medications upon the body’s systems. I learned that with study and evaluation of what is going on in your lab values, they will make sense! I learned the importance of educating our patients’ so that they can adhere to their medication regimen and understand what to avoid if applicable.
I hope to continue to put the puzzle pieces together of what is occurring in my patients. I hope to take the time to really evaluate the systems of the body, what is occurring due to the present condition, and what the medications are doing that I will administer. I am excited that things are starting to fall into place but it also challenges me to learn more so that I can really understand what is happening physiologically to my patients’.

Both are edified.

In being in an academic setting I often seek knowledge primarily from my professors. In nursing, however knowledge must be shared and taught by all members of the team. This team includes the patient. This past week at clinicals I truly learned the meaning of your patient being the expert and your best source of information. In working with my patient I learned a valuable lesson of how to learn from and teach a patient. My patient was very knowledgeable about her current condition and knew exactly how her care was to be implemented. She was able to teach me about why things were done for her in a certain way and how to properly perform them. It was wonderful o have such a great coach who was patient enough with me to teach me. I then realized that some one along the way had done the same for her. Other nurses who had cared for her continually had provided care and had taught her along the way. These nurses had given care that was rue to nursing standards and had provided the correct teaching as well.
I learned that the patient may be our best resource of information but only if she understands how to care for herself and what her condition entails. My patient was able to teach me correctly because another nurse had taken the time to do so for her.
I hope as a future nurse to be able to take the time and really teach my patients about their conditions. After all it is their health that we are trying to treat. I think that teaching our patients will help empower them and allow them to be their own personal advocates for health. In my nursing career I hope to not only take the time to learn for myself but allow my patients to learn along with me. I hope to achieve this kind of understanding with my patients just as it states in D&C 50:22, “Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.”