Research

I attended last Thursday the Regional Research Convention organized by the Philippine Nurses' Association, Cebu chapter. I must say I found it very interesting. I was even fascinated by the presentations of the different researchers from the different nursing schools here in Cebu (I wonder why they called in "regional" when only nursing schools in Cebu were in attendance). Almost all of the researchers were already professional nurses. Only a couple research work, I think, were products of undergraduates.

But it was, on the whole, very interesting and very informative. I find that I actually like the idea of doing research work. I didn't enjoy doing my thesis during my first course. It's only now, now that I see the whole purpose of research (somehow I didn't see the whole point back then), nursing research in particular, which is "to develop knowledge about issues of importance to the nursing profession" (Polit and Beck), that I see how wonderful it is. The technical side of research is indeed daunting. It can discourage you or bore you. It is tempting to think of it merely as a requirement for the course, and indeed many look at it that way. But if you understand its main purpose, you will begin to really appreciate it. One of the things that I noticed during the presentations at the convention was that all of the presentors talked with such enthusiastic, some even with animated, facial expressions. That's because research work is really intellectually stimulating and fulfilling. Intellectually stimulating because it engages your whole mind, because you are researching on a particular topic, problem or question that interests or excites you (It is silly, of course, to do research on a topic that you really don't care about), and fulfilling because you know that you are contributing something significant to the profession, whether to nursing practice, education, or administration.

I hope I can carry this interest after I graduate. I hope I can do research works later when I become a professional, with God's grace, of course.

I have a royal blood

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Reverend Lord Dante the Indecisive of New Scagglethorpe Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Hmmm... peculiar indeed...

Tough luck!

I left my BP apparatus in the ward! If I'll lose it it will be my second time around... Mahalun raba to... Naa pa jud to'y pangalan nako og cell number, kay akong gi-anticipate what if mawala nako to... og nawala jud... Maayo na lang unta kung gi-safe keep ra to sa staff nurses, or giuli sa student nurse nga nakakita...

So imbes mu-dive na unta ko sa akong katre kay wala pa ko'y tulog, kinahanglan na pud ko mag-ilis para balikun akong beloved BP app... sigh...

Makaluluoy

I just got back from my duty in Sotto. Kapuy jud magduty basta night shift. Especially kung priority patient imong patient kay every hour ang vital signs i-monitor.

Luoy kaayo siya. S/P debridement and evacuation of hematoma siya sa iyang right hip. Last week pa siya gi-operahan pero hangtud karon wala pa gihapon maayo iyang samad, kay hemophilic man pud siya. Occasionally mag-bleed iyang samad and sakit kaayo para niya. Wala gud siya'y tarong tulog ganiha tungod sa sakit. Musakit pa jud iyang kamot inig transfuse na sa cryoprecipitate. Dayon nag-chills pa jud siya human sa transfusion...

Taga-Manila siya unya gitransfer lang siya dire. Ang tanan expenses sa iyang tambal og hospitalization gitubag sa isa ka charitable organization sa America nga naga-tabang og mga hemophilic patients. In a way swerte siya, pero lisud pud kaayo ang iyang kahimtang. Maka-ingun jud ka nga swerte na kaayo ta nga wala ta'y sakit...

Tired

This week we will be on duty at Ward VIII of Sotto. We're on the night shift.

Honestly, I'm tired of going on duty. I feel a bit drained. I feel I lack motivation. Kanindut unta kung naa ra ko sa balay, magbasa, maminaw og audiobook, o matulog. O mag-emote ba ron sa bintana, o maglingkud lang nga wala'y buhaton, o maghuna-huna lang og nothing in particular...

This morning I stayed with my lola in SouthGen (South General Hospital). Dugay na siya na-admit for brain tumor. Pero stable na siya karon. A student nurse was assigned to her to monitor her vital sings and give her blenderized food. He's very affable. Naka-ingun ko sa akong kaugalingon nga ingun ato unta tanan student nurses. Maayo siyang modelo sa usa ka nurse. Na-motivate pud ko sa akong part as a nursing student.

Pero I'm still tired. It's not a physical kind of tiredness. I just feel weak.

I haven't finished my patient's data; I haven't made my NCPs... I just wanna drink some warm milk and sleep... and wake up at around 7.

On being late

I really hate going to school late. Yet I've been late countless times, and countless times when I reached our classroom did I promise myself never to be late again...

But there's nothing worse than racing against time to reach your class while at the same time cramming for a quiz... It happened again this morning. I didn't study for our quiz last night. Instead I set the alarm clock at 3:30 in the morning and planned to study then, and slept. And I slept, and slept, and slept... Until 6:15! So in panic I ate breakfast, took a bath, and changed clothes in less than an hour. Then I asked my brother to drive the car for us... I took out my notes and read, desperately trying to absorb as much information as I can. At that hour the traffic was already bad, so my heart pumped like crazy while I read and checked the watch. It's one of the most unpleasant feelings you will ever experience as a nursing student.

I reached our school 30 minutes late! But God is so good (I prayed). I got there before our C.I. did. Lol.... And what's more, He guided me during the quiz. How else can I explain it? I was truly ill-prepared for the test, having read only 10% of my notes, and yet all the questions that came out were exactly the ones I focused on... Amazing! =)

And it has happened countless times... Countless times I thought I'm never going to make it on class on time; countless times I thought I'm going to fail in a test because I was too lazy to study the previous night or days, yet He has always guided me, saved me from my irresponsibility. He gave me countless chances to do better as a student. =)

Himantayon ba sab ka?

Aniay makalingaw nga blog nga bag-o ra nakong nadiskubre:

Himantayon: A True Story

It pokes fun at our tendency to commit grammatical errors when we speak our own dialect.

When you tune your ears to what people are talking about in public places, you will often hear very interesting and funny stuff. Sukad nga nakahibaw ko ani nga blog himantayon na kaayo ko. LOL...

Og nakabalik nako sa Cebu...

Whew... I'm back in Cebu finally...

I got a brief fright early this evening while on the plane. We experienced a strong turbulence as we hovered over Davao. The skies were thick and cloudy. We could actually see lighting flashes outside our window. People only remember to make the sign of the cross when in danger hehe.

I almost missed my flight, too. The check-in counter was already closed when I got there. "Tan-awn sa nako sir ha, if pwede pa," the lady on the desk said when I handed her my ticket. I was thinking, "Ha?!!? What do you mean tan-awn sa nimo!? Dili pwede, I have to be on this flight... I have to be enrolled tomorrow morning..." Fortunately they let me in. I was racing towards the gate. It doesn't help when you have to pass metal detector machines that require you to take off your shoes and belt. I had to support my pants from falling because they were too loose... LOL. Kaya nga you use belts eh, to prevent your pants from falling off...

I think contact lenses must be one of the most tortuous tools ever invented by man. I became more and more convinced of this idea when I practiced putting them on this afternoon. I actually spent two hours trying to stick them to my eye balls! Tito Fred (my labidab's father) gave it to me as a gift. He's an optometrist. I swear, it's one of the most terrifying experience I've ever had in my life! Some people may find that very easy to do. Not me!!! In fact, it boggles my mind why contact lenses doesn't frighten most people. Seriously, I think it's one of the scariest thing humankind has ever invented. Imagine, you're sticking a foreign object to your eyeballs! Dili ba sensitive man kaayo ni atong mga mata? (Alright, now you can laugh.)

(One more hirit... Contact lenses are actually neat; once you have them on, that is. It is the act of putting them on that I find too terrifying. I think eye glasses are far more convenient than contact lenses.)

I'm off to school tomorrow to get enrolled. I hope I can finish it all at the end of the day. We have plenty of requirements to comply... On Wednesday and Thursday we will go on duty at a birthing home in Labangon. It would be great if we can finish all our DR cases during those two days.

I miss my pangga very much...

End of the summer term, start of vacation

Our COPAR culminated yesterday with a variety show. That's all our COPAR has been about, actually, entertainment. We did do health teaching last Thursday; but that was about it. Nothing more substantial happened.

I guess they can't blame our batch. We were only given a limited amount of time.

But the previous batch were able to come up with activities that were more beneficial to the community despite the limited time period. They did workshops on small entrepreneurship. What a novel idea for a COPAR; not the usual stuff -- health teachings, bingo bonanzas, variety shows, cleaning campaigns and the like.

Tonight I'll be packing my bags because I'll be leaving tomorrow for Davao. Woohoo! I'm going to see my princess once again. We've been apart for almost 7 months, can you believe?

COPAR

We will start our COPAR tomorrow at the Apas, Lahug area. We had our orientation this morning.

That leaves us with only a little more than a week for the community exposure, instead of the original two weeks (There were many interruptions this week; the elections, for one).

That's not enough time. I've heard our school's COPAR before lasted for about a month, and the students had to immerse themselves in the community; that means living with the people in the community for a particular period of time so that you actually get to feel what life is like in that community; you see and experience its problems. So you get a better idea what interventions you can use to address those problems.

We won't even be going on an immersion. How can you help the community that way?

Sige na lang...

So what we'll be doing on the first day is to assess the families in the area. Each of us have to interview two families. Then next week we'll be organizing different activities. For example, health teachings, feeding, some games (to simply entertain the people there hehe), etc. After that we'll prioritize all the problems of the families and choose one problem which is the most important and/or urgent. Then we will make a Family Nursing Care Plan, which we will submit as the final requirement of the course. After that? Wala na, murag dili ra ma-implement and FNCP... Ironic no?

End of psych lecture

Our Psychia lecture is finally over. We had our culminating activity this afternoon. We danced. It was so much fun. We prepared for it for four days, practicing every afternoon after class at the university's main gym, under hellish heat. We learned samba and swing. It was an opportunity that threw itself at my feet; it further fueled my desire to learn ballroom dancing... (Skwela nya ta ga =) )

They applied make up on our faces! Yes, including the guys! Plus some lip gloss! And some hair spray and a handful of glittering silver dust!

This summer is surely memorable for me. In a sense, Ate Janice and I were alone, because we came from a different section, joining a completely new section, which was a fusion of three sections, actually (only two of us represented section S). But we met a lot of nice people. The grand daughter of the school's owner is certainly an interesting person. People either hate her or like her. I admit she certainly can get on your nerves sometimes (and with many people, she often does), but at least her personality is one of a kind. She's outspoken; she can command people's attention, and even respect. When they give an oral report, she and her husband always give an excellent reporting. They make the rest of the class feel uncomfortable, because our presentations often end up looking mediocre. We did not have any problems with the dance, because she and her husband took care of everything! They organized the whole thing, all we had to do was just dance! I guess that's a good thing, right? She was very particular to details, always making sure that things will go as smoothly as possible.

So I guess what I really want to say is that talagsa ra ka maka-encounter og mga tawo nga ingun ana. People who always go out of their shells, who often ruffles many people's feathers, occasionally offending some people here and there, but doing a good job in the end.

What's good is that she and her husband are a perfect match. She's demanding, domineering, impatient, outspoken, most of the time dead serious, but her husband is tolerant, yielding, easy-going and patient, oftentimes quiet, and have a great sense of humor. They achieve balance. They create a tandem that is, for lack of a better word, amusing to look at. They usually argue in front of us, but while mangugat na siya og murag makuratan naka sa tono sa iyang tingog, her husband always manages to give witty and funny rebuttals, and she just keeps silent and lets the issue go...

I'm glad that I am able to fairly adjust with the different folks we met this summer. If you're somewhat anti-social (I was, and perhaps still am a bit), here are some advice for you: Always smile; keep a pleasant demeanor when you're around people, especially when they're new acquaintances. As the adage goes: First impressions last. And always, always seek first to understand before you try to be understood (Steven Covey's 7 habits are very helpful). Keep your word or the promises you've kept with people. But these are not guarantees for making new friends.

Now I see the point for the dancing and the dressing up as lunatics and parading around the entire campus (we did those, too). We are going to do a culminating activity next semester in the Psych ward. I think the point is that it will prepare us for our work in the Psych ward, and it will help us bond better with our clients.

We also underwent a kind of psychotherapy this morning, as a class. It was meant to familiarize us with the process of psychotherapy, because we will do that, too, in the Psych ward. The C.I.s tried their best to make us cry (hehe); unfortunately they didn't succeed. I think you have to be a trained psychiatrist, or a psychiatric nurse, to be able to do psychotherapy successfully. If a nurse is not experienced, or has not the training, it won't work out the way it's supposed to. But I felt terrible because I had a cold, and so my eyes were always teary (I had to constantly use my hanky); it looked like I was crying! No way! =)

Next week we proceed to COPAR. We will join a different group for that. Here we go again...

Psychia

We had our midterm exam in Psychia this morning. It was very difficult, but on the whole it was okay, I think. (I hope I passed.)

A few interesting things about our class this summer:

1. Our instructor is like a talking textbook. Maka-amaze iyang memory. He has paragraph-long definitions for every term! He expounds concepts and theories at great length and using the most precise words. Grabe. Bilib kaayo ko. But he's not boring; in fact his discussions are sometimes entertaining, as he often relates the concepts with real life.

The only catch is that he can't pronounce his words very well. They often sound funny. It irritates some of my classmates, though, because it makes him unintelligible.

2. The granddaughter of the school's owner, and her husband, is our classmate. I don't know why she occasionally becomes the subject of people's conversations. Perhaps because of her influence over the change of the females' school uniform from the old "yaya" look to the present all-white. Lol. I've heard a certain C.I. walked out of their class last year because of conflict with her. Me, I have no complaints. From what some of my classmates have observed, her personality seemed a bit domineering. My attitude is just to live and let live. Ingun nila nagdako daw siya sa States mao na'ng lahi iyang style.

3. One of the requirements for our finals is a dance presentation! I don't know what the heck that has got to do with psychiatric nursing. But my back is against the wall. Basta ibutang lang ko nila sa likud sa formation and tagaan lang ko nila og mask.

Another blog

My new (experimental) blog is at hearingandseeing.wordpress.com. =)

I chose Wordpress because I had problems changing the template in Blogger. I'm still getting acquainted with Wordpress. They actually have a lot of nice features... But this is not an endorsement hehehe...

Going commercial

Notice the ad to your right? Yep, I'm going commercial. Is that necessarily bad? :P Well, this just came to my mind when I see the number of visitors I get to this blog each day... :D Yes, I'm very vain, I *do* track my visitors. The title of this blog is very catchy that it lures people to clicking the link in search engines when they search any topic related to nursing... My blog usually pops up among the top sites. I have a catchy name for a blog, but nothing much (or nothing at all) when it comes to contents. Lol.

But I want to improve this blog. I'll try to make it more relevant to nursing. So I'll use a separate blog for stuff not related to nursing.

If you're looking for a great site about nursing in the Philippines (news, articles, exam tips), visit PinoyBSN. They also have loads of NCLEX and other exam questions you can practice answering. Plus, they have Gabbly Chat where you can interact with other nursing students and professionals in the country and abroad.

Dreading the dentist

I'll be going to the dentist tomorrow for tooth extraction. Why does it feel like going to your executioner?

Another semester is here

We had our Basic Life Support training this week. It was fun. Finally I know how to do CPR (I wonder why they didn't teach this to us sooner, it being a very important and basic skill).

This summer I'm taking Psychiatric Nursing and COPAR. We'll devote two weeks for each subject. I wonder how we'll do it, especially with Psychia. Two weeks seems like a very, very short time for such a huge subject as Psychia.

We had a lot of casualties last sem. There were many who didn't make it in Pharmacology. Most of them came from those sections who were under a C.I. whose method/style of teaching and giving exams was very, very challenging (or unescessarily difficult?). On the other hand our C.I. proved to us (I think) that Pharmacology need not be very, very difficult, or intimidating. If a C.I. is not intimidating, or if he or she is approachable and is able to clearly, simply but comprehensively discuss the lessons, the students will be able to grasp the subject better.

Our section last sem was dissolved. They distributed us to different sections, so starting this semester I'll have a new set of duty mates. Mag-establish rapport na pud ta; mag-adjust napud with new people, new personalities. But we're supposed to be socially well-rounded, right? I'll miss my old group. It saddens me nga nabungkag mi. I became really close to them. It is with them that I really felt at ease, more than with my previous group mates. I've been with them the longest time -- for almost a year!

Pope Benedict XVI on faith and reason

A good read: Pope Benedict's General Audience today at the Vatican talks a bit about faith and reason.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,


In our catechesis on the Fathers and teachers of the early Church, we now turn to Saint Clement of Alexandria. As head of the catechetical school of Alexandria, Clement promoted a fruitful encounter between the Gospel and the Greek philosophical tradition. For Clement, faith in Christ grants the true knowledge which the ancient philosophers had sought through the use of reason. Faith and reason thus appear as two necessary and complementary “wings” by which the human spirit comes to the knowledge of Christ, the Word of God. Faith itself, as a divine gift, inspires a search for a deeper understanding of God’s revelation. As creatures made in God’s image, we are called to become ever more like him not only through the perfection of our intellect, but also through our growth in the virtues. Freed from our passions, we are drawn to contemplate in love the God who has revealed himself in Christ. By his life and teaching, Clement can serve as a model for all Christians who seek to give an account of their hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and especially for catechists and theologians as they strive to articulate the Christian faith in a disciplined dialogue with the great philosophical tradition.

Grumpy mode

I just saw a story of PBB in the news. I avoid it like the plague, but I was helpless tonight because the folks in our house were watching it.

Everytime I hear a news story about anything from the PBB show, the critic in me always surfaces. I always smirk.

I can only say two things: It's incredible, the things that network people do to lure people to watch their shows; all for the sake of ratings. Pointless and not worth any sensible person's time.

Bravo, Bayanihan Dance Company!

Here's something to fatten your Filipino heart. Something to be proud of more than Pacquiao's victory last Sunday.

No fanfare to triumphant Bayanihan dance troupe


MANILA, Philippines -- No lavish airport honors awaited the victorious Bayanihan Dance Company, which took plum honors from the World Folk Dance Festival in Spain, when the troupe arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Tuesday on the heels of triumphant boxing champions Manny Pacquiao and Bernabe Concepcion.


The 27-person delegation, including seven musicians and 16 dancers, casually walked with other passengers into the terminal where they were met with sampaguita garlands by Department of Tourism personnel.


The multi-awarded 50-year-old Bayanihan was declared “absolute winner,” or the grand champion of the World Folk Dance Festival’s 22nd competition last Saturday, besting delegations from 50 countries of Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.


The troupe’s entry was an eight-minute dance narrative called “The Voyage for Love and Peace,” which told the tale of star-crossed lovers through several famous Philippine folk dances in the Bayanihan repertoire, including the singkil and the kuntao. They won the nod of the judges from Spain, Australia, Argentina, the Netherlands and Wales.


“We depicted the voyage for love and peace. We weaved the dances together with the story,” said the company’s executive director Suzie Benitez.


“We said we wanted to tell the story of the Philippines, we wanted them to see our culture, but we also wanted to win. And so when they called us the grand champion, we were all feeling so high, and so proud, and the sprinkling of Filipinos who were there were all crying with us,” she said.

Handurawan

Here's a TV program you simply shouldn't miss if you call yourself a Bisaya:

Handurawan (Every Saturday, 9-10:30 PM @ Channel 56)

Haranistas play classic Cebuano music requested by the viewers.

One thing you will immediately notice: they're all old! Yes, and a very precious aspect of our culture will be lost forever with them unless a new breed of artists will take their place.