lifeline newsletter
TRANSCRIPT
“If you asked me what I did last Friday after clinical I would tell you that I taught some of our future doctors. A few of my classmates and myself went to the UCF
College of Medicine to help teach the 1st and 2nd year students how to draw
blood. It was an AMAZING experience,” said senior nursing student Katie Wach.
BY INGRID COLE
FUTURE NURSES TEACH
FUTURE PHYSICIANS
LIFELINE NEWSLETTER STUDENT NURSES ASSOCIATION—UCF ORLANDO OCTOBER 2013
Katie Wach joined senior nursing students Geraldine Martinez, John O’Leary and Kacey Burton at UCF’s College of Medicine on October 11th. Our CON students lead a hands-on phlebotomy workshop. Geraldine expressed gratitude for the offer to reach out to UCF’s College of Medicine. “When I got the invitation…, I felt very privileged and very honored that our future physicians want to learn from their future nurses,” she said. Phlebotomy is a skill that is often performed by phlebotomists and nurses. However, situations may arise where the physician may be the only professional who is present to start an IV. Therefore, it is important that physicians have the necessary skills to locate a vein and correctly insert an IV. UCF’s College of Medicine has a collection of anatomically correct arms and hands in order to practice the skill of phlebotomy. Under the watchful eye of our CON students, the medical students were able to safely develop their phlebotomy skills through the process of trial and error. This workshop gave the nursing students more than an opportunity to develop leadership, and the medical students more than learning how to insert IVs or draw blood. This workshop focused on interprofessional education and team building. Once we get into the hospital, we are a team. Geraldine Martinez summarized this notion best when she said “The relationship can start now. It doesn’t have to (start) at bedside once we have graduated. Why not start it from the beginning and grow together?”
This is a great photo for Facebook!
However, one suggestion would be
to take your badge off so that your
place of employment cannot be
identified.
Nevertheless, I’m sure this hospital
system is proud of their student
nurses and their mouse nurses!
YOU’RE HIRED!
By Ingrid Cole, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster
PUT YOUR BEST FACE(BOOK) FORWARD
“Ooh girl…you will not believe what XXXX posted on her Facebook!” Every one of us has viewed a picture or read a post that we cannot unread or unsee. When we type our frustrations, joys, wishes, or thoughts into that tiny little rectangle and hit “post” it’s out there for eve-ryone to read. Everyone. You know your grandpar-ents are on Facebook, and hopefully they aren’t too disappointed. Facebook is a great tool if used wisely. Facebook keeps us in touch with family and friends who we don’t get to see often. Facebook is a wonderful place to stay connected with your classmates (study guides, reminders, depository for important forms that NO ONE can find). Facebook is also a tool that our future employers will utilize to make judgments about our character. Employers will scrutinize your photos. They want to know if you party a lot, if you exhibit inappropri-ate social behavior, and if you lack judgment and insight. Here’s an example I learned of at a recent FNA conference. A student nurse (by no means one of our CON students) had a game on her Facebook account where she would post pictures of patients and ask friends to vote “sleeping or dead”. Serious-ly. Someone actually did that. Make sure your online persona is representative of your positive attributes; not how many keg stands you did last week. Be aware of posting pictures of yourself holding an alcoholic beverage. Your future employer doesn’t know if you had one drink on one night or if you are a binge drinker. Don’t give them the opportunity to guess! Hide your drink behind your back when your friend pulls out her iPhone. Also, try to keep your political ramblings to yourself (this works well in real life too). You wouldn’t want to offend the person who determines if you get an interview, would you? Remember when I said Facebook was a tool? Use it to your advantage. If you think of your Facebook as a collage containing your best attributes, successes, and achievements – your future employer will too.
Also, you can never go wrong with posting cute pic-tures of puppies, kitties, and children. Everyone loves a “hang in there, kitty” pic and a good “kid’s say the cutest stuff” quote.
Study Time If you don’t have two laptops, enough sugary
snacks to put you into a state of HHS, and a
textbook big enough to break your foot if you drop
it—you’re doing it right.
I think...
*Just Kidding. This is unsolicited advice By Ingrid Cole, Newsletter Editor
Ask Ingrid*
I fully anticipated earning straight A’s in nurs-ing school. Why wouldn’t I? I blew away “the competition” while I was completing my pre-reqs. My A&P/Micro professor claimed I was in the top five of students he ever taught (no big deal). And I’m a super smarty-pants! A Code Brown hit the fan during that first week of class. It got real- really fast. By this time in your nursing school career, you probably feel like getting A’s in every class is as illusive as watching a sasquatch sew a blanket. Sure, you’ve heard of seamstress sasquatches, but you haven’t seen one yet. Good news, friends. After extensive research, trial and error, more error, lots of crying, and talking with multiple professors, I’ve compiled a tiny list of suggestions that may help you im-prove your exam grades and overall GPA. To be fair, most of these suggestions came from my dear friend, Hector Cintron. Hector has lead two tutoring sessions in which he in-structed groups of nursing students in more efficient ways to study. He will host three more classes on October 29th 1400-1600, No-vember 12th 1000-1200, and November 26th 1200-1400. I highly recommend you make time to attend a session. Here is a condensed list of my favorite tips. Be prepared before class. You should be
familiar with the material before you hear the lecture, but DON’T try to read every chapter! Instead of wasting precious hours of your life (of which you’ll never get back), look at charts, graphs, tables, and the PowerPoint if available. If you under-stand the objectives at the beginning of the chapters, and you can answer the ques-tions at the end of the chapters, you are ready for the lecture.
Set up your study zone. No studying in bed,
kitchens, bathrooms, ball pits at fast food restaurants, or places where socialization
happens. Set up your space before you sit down to study. Setting up does not count as study time, by the way. Try to incorporate nat-ural sunlight as well.
Review the lecture material during breaks and
after class. This is crucial. Guess what? It turns out that our memory is terrible and will dump everything as soon as we leave to get a smoothie. Hack your memory by going over your notes!
You aren’t stupid or incompetent! The only
thing that separates you from the students who are getting better results on their exams is your study habits. This hit me like a med-surg book the day after I attended Hector’s class. Your exams do not get to dictate how intelli-gent or capable you are as a person. You do. Your thoughts become your actions, so be mindful of them. KIP – keep it positive.
This is only a glimpse of what will be discussed in Hector’s tutoring sessions. Show up to one of the final tutoring sessions if you are interested in working with your memory instead of against it.
Nursing encompasses an art, a
humanistic orientation, a feeling
for the value of the individual,
and an intuitive sense of ethics,
and of the appropriateness of
action taken.
Myrtle Aydelotte
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
New Hours for Fall 2013
Monday: 10:30a-11:00a, 11:30a-12:30p, 1:00p-1:45p
Wednesday: 9:30a-9:50a, 11:30a-12:30p
SNA Clubhouse is closed during holidays and upon
cancelation of classes.
The SNA Clubhouse is located on the 3rd floor at CON.
We stock chips, water, and soda at a lower cost than
vending machines. You can pick up clinical supplies,
badge clips, shirts, sweat shirts and more.
Volunteers receive a discount of 10% off merchandise.
Contact Diana Antolinez with any questions or concerns.
SNA CLUBHOUSE NEWS
October 24-26 for SNA Board Members and Delegates
October 25th is the big day!
Making Strides 5K on October 19th
Upcoming Events FNSA State Convention!
Nurse Educator.
By Hector Abdiel Ortiz Cintron, Breakthrough to
Nursing Committee
Nursing Spotlight
Becoming a nurse educator requires spe-
cialized knowledge and preparation that is
critical for the practice, and can take many
different career tracks. That means some-
one who can handle academic challenges at
the master’s level and beyond, and is inter-
ested in in-depth research relating to the
nursing profession. Nurse educators are al-
ways learning. They are always continuing
their professional growth and educating
those interested in nursing.
A career as a nurse educator offers a variety
of opportunities. Nurse educators work in
academic settings as teachers, advisors, re-
searchers, and administrators. They also
work in clinical health care settings as pre-
ceptors, clinical instructors, orientation
leaders, staff development specialists and
patient educators. Nurses looking to teach
at the college level must have a graduate
nursing degree. At a minimum, a master’s
degree is required, but a doctorate degree is
preferred at many institutions. Nurse edu-
cators can choose to teach in a specialized
field of their choosing. Most schools will on-
ly hire a nurse to teach a class if they have
had experience in that area. This is so the
students can have a better understanding of
the subject
Nursing students wishing to pursue a teach-
ing career may prefer a fast-track program,
including a BSN to doctorate degree track.
All individuals pursuing the educator role
should complete coursework in teaching
strategies (pedagogy), curriculum design
and student assessment. These courses may
be taken as elective or in addiction to clini-
cally focused, graduate course work.
For more information about
Nurse Educators please visit:
www.discovernursing.com
OR
Contact Melanie Harris to obtain
a brochure on perioperative
nursing.
OR ask one of our many talented
professors for advice!
Upon Graduating, the Top Earner of each class
will receive SNA cords free!
Juniors: Jeanna Berman, Kate
Williams, Allison Brady
Seniors: Ivana Martinez, Christie
Miranda, Hannah Zinman
Accels: Seeta Nath, Sethi Nidhi, Ana-
Christina Torres
September’s Top Earners
Search
Student Nurses Association
Orlando
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
How to Earn SNA Points
Event Points
General Meeting 1 point each meeting
Community Service 1 point per hour (4 max)
Breakthrough to Nursing 1 point per hour (4 max)
Fundraiser 2 points
Clubhouse Shift 1 point
State Convention 5 points
National Convention 10 points
Visit SNA’s Clubhouse and request an application. Provide
complete application to any SNA Board member along with
SNA dues.
SIGN UP FOR SNA
Earn 2 SNA Points for submitting content to our website or newsletter!
President Libby Gersbach
407.221.0738
Vice President Geraldine Martinez
407.314.2718
Secretary Alexis Bosque
954.871.6423
Treasurer Iris Appenrodt
407.701.2188
SNA Clubhouse Diana Antolinez
407.435.6444
Breakthrough to Nursing Melanie Harris
407.879.8161
Community Health Chairperson Sarah Thomas
407.415.6768
Legislative Director John O’Leary
407.931.6355
Historian Brianne Macko
407.520.7244
Newsletter/Website Ingrid Cole
321.368.8353
Accel Liaison Diana Antolinez
407.435.6444
Accel Liaison Laura Baran
321.230.4374
Advisor Dr. Howe
407.823.5315
Advisor Ms. Dever
407.823.2632
Contact Info for 2013-2014 SNA Board