Plateau

January 3rd! I can't believe it's been since January 3rd that I have updated this blog. What a slacker I have become. But I have an excuse. 850 miles and 16 hours in the car a week, PLUS 32 hours at clinicals and 4 hours a class really cuts into your blogging time, you know. But alas that is no excuse to neglect my readers.......if I even have any left.

The last couple months have been rather "blah" for me. I guess I had hit a slump. I had kind of plateaued in my learning. I had learned enough to get by and, for whatever reason, I stopped challenging myself, stopped stepping out of my comfort zone. Call it the Winter Lazies. Anyway, Spring has sprung here in northern Arizona and I have begun to take a more proactive stance at clinicals.

During the last few months things had not been going well for me at my clinical site. My Clinical Instructor (CI) dumped me in February, so I had to scramble to find a new one to take me on, with no help from my school. Several people left the department whose positions had to be filled by some rather surly travel techs. And I had gotten pretty fed up with spending a good chunk of my day stuck in the car.

But luckily things have turned around. I have a new CI who is a great teacher and very patient with my questions and problems. I had worked with her before and was very glad that she agreed to be my new CI. Some of the travelers have left and the ones who have stayed I have started to get along with a little better. And I finally found out where I will be for my next clinical rotation and I was fortunate enough to get my first choice. It's a hospital in the town I live in and my 75 minute commute will turn into a 7 minute commute in approximately 36 days and 15 hours........not that I'm counting or anything. So, in a nutshell, things are starting to lookup.

I have to admit that I have gained a good base of knowledge at this first clinical site, but I am ready to move on and work with some new people and experience new challenges. My next clinical site will offer a lot more in the way of trauma imaging and OR experience, two of my more weak areas, so it will be good for the "learning process". I hope to update this blog more frequently in the next couple months, too, so check back often.

I hope everyone else who reads this blog is doing well in their classes/clinicals/jobs and please feel free to leave questions, comments or suggestions.

Good luck and be safe out there!