Wow… I have just not been able to keep my blog going here on a daily basis during the last 10 days or so. I have been so busy lately that I just haven’t had time to do it. The semester is coming to a close and I have exams coming up soon. I’m gonna get back on a regular schedule now though.
I had my next to last day in my current clinical rotation today and I’m still lacking the desired number of master competencies for this semester. I need four to get a grade of 100 on that section of my clinical class and I still only have two. I have updated my “Goals & To Do List” to show where I stand in master comps and pre-comps for this semester. There are a couple things that are just killing me on getting my four master comps. I really wanted to knock out three master comps in my current rotation. I wanted to get the KUB, Erect Abdomen, and Portable Chest. I have all of the required pre-comps for these but haven’t managed to get the perfect master comp image yet. I have had multiple attempts on the portable chest but, for some reason, I’m having an issue with that. I’m going to ask my instructor for some advice on Monday about completing this competency. The KUB and Erect Abdomen have just been bad luck for me during this 8-week rotation. I have all of my pre-comps on both exams, but I haven’t seen either of these exams come up during my last 4 weeks at clinical. These aren’t uncommon exams, but for some reason, they haven’t reared their ugly heads between 8am and 2pm on Thursdays lately. I had a patient today who I thought I might be able to use, but I didn’t get the great image. This was a stretcher patient, and ‘hypersthenic’ just begins to describe what I was dealing with. I knew I was going to need two images for the KUB, so I shot the first one, concentrating on the bladder. That image went off without a hitch. I lined up for the second shot to get the kidneys, and was just a couple inches too low, so I had to make a third image and ruined the opportunity for a comp on that. What’s bugging me the most on getting these four comps is that I have all my pre-comps completed for five different exams. All I need is the opportunity to do the master comp exam, and they just haven’t come. I’m ready to do the master comp on these exams:
- KUB
- Portable Chest
- Erect Abdomen
- Portable Abdomen
- Pediatric Upper Extremity
One more opportunity on any of these should give me a master competency. The pediatric exams don’t happen very often for me, but I’m hoping I will see some more of those next semester.
My clinical instructor popped in on me today and I discussed my status with her. She told me not to worry too much about it. My master comp grade is only a percentage of my total grade in clinical for the semester. If I get all four comps, I get a grade of 100 in that section. If I get three, I get a 93, but if I finish with only two, I will get an 85 in that section. I feel fairly confident that I’m going to get an A in my clinical class even if I only get two comps, but I would obviously rather maximize my opportunity by getting all four. If I fall two short, I have to get two above the requirement next semester, which shouldn’t be too difficult since we are doubling our time in clinical next semester. I don’t know what the required comp numbers are next semester, but it’s a lot more than this semester.
I have to take the ‘final exam’ test for the clinical class online sometime tomorrow. I think I’ll do well on that, and it will be a relief to get it out of the way. I have a written test in the positioning class on Monday that covers the proximal femur / hip / pelvic girdle. I’ll be spending most of the weekend studying for that. Once that test is completed, I’m free to start preparing for exams that fall on the 17th and 18th. The 18th is my last day of exams this semester, and I get a nice break from then until January 7th. That’s almost 3 weeks off and I’m ready for it!
Tags: 1st Semester, Clinical by John Setzler
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