March 9th: The "ORGAN" Trail

Ok so I know my title is a bit corny, but you have to admit that it deserves at least a chuckle when you consider the topics of the day in the classroom: Content on the Liver and Organ Transplantation. :) it’s at list a little clever, right?! Ok maybe this online degree is getting to me and I’m spending too much time on the computer and talking to myself. Can’t wait for spring break! Anyhow…

In case I hadn’t mentioned it before, this class only meets once a week, so the class time is split up into two halves where the lectures cover two major topics. It’s nice in the sense that the students have a whole week to prepare for this class (and worry about their others), but it’s also tough in the sense that students have to sit through some extensive lectures on very complicated topics in just three hours. So as an educator you make the best of the situation and try to make lectures interesting and keep the students engaged.

On day three of my teaching practicum two main topics were covered during this three hour class period, and the first was the Liver. Not my favorite organ to talk about, but I must say it was good to sit through a review of all of this info. I forget that as students, people are trying to grasp a variety of concepts and tie lab results to specific organ functions, and things can get a bit confusing. For some reason, students want to associate BUN and creatinine with the liver and not the kidneys. If there was one thing that the instructor kept trying to instill, it was how ammonia levels and liver function are tied together and that BUN and creatinine belong to kidney function. I’m sure the students will appreciate her frequent references when their next test comes around!

The topic of organ transplantation always seems to spark some attention, and as always the ethical situations that we as nurses have encountered during these situations come to mind. Students were very interested in organ transplantation, and had very rigid views about why patients and family members would not consider organ donation. I suppose that it takes being involved in these situations and forming a connection with patients and their loved ones in “Real Live” situations, to get a complete understanding of what makes this such a difficult decision and process. Many students did however express an interest in working as nurses in this field in the future, which came as a surprise to me. It has been my experience that many people find this a very difficult and draining job because of the toll it takes on the donor’s family. It takes a special kind of person to be able to work with these situations day in and day out, but I imagine that the reward involved is indescribable. The idea that the loss of one person’s life can sustain life in another person is truly surreal, and the wonders of technology that make this happen are even more unbelievable to me.

Part of the reason that I got into nursing in the first place was because I love to help people. The fact that I am there to help people during the most critical times of their lives is a very rewarding thing to me and I feel that it defines me as a person. Sometimes there is nothing more that we can do for a person than to be there for them and support their decisions, but this may make more of an impact than we can even consider. And part of the reason that I chose to pursue a master’s degree in nursing education, is so that I can be a positive impact the lives of those people who will impact others during their greatest time of need.

This experience has taught me the importance of being a student and educator at the same time. Even though I will graduate as an educator, I feel that it is important to keep learning through the viewpoint of a student.

That's all for now... enjoy spring break everyone!