Phlebotomy Class Update...

I thought you might want to know the next chapter in the academic life of our student who is suffering with pharmaceutical-induced Parkinson's.

She met with the school coordinator yesterday afternoon. The situation was discussed and she was given an overview of the options as Jan and I see it, and the school backs us up on it, as they should.

Last night, the students had their second practical exam, as well as a written exam.

We settled them down with their written exams, then each student came in their turn to do their practical with either Jan or myself.

I encouraged Jan to take our student with the problem to make a final determination on the tremors. It was horrible, according to Jan. But, I don't think Jan had really seen what I had been seeing because the student had been dealing with me up to this point in the lab sessions. Jan was horrified. The student was allowed to redo the practical (in this instance) because she was still so uptight about her meeting with the coordinator earlier in the day. It was no better on the second attempt.

Now the waiting game begins. The student must decide whether she will take the offered full refund for the class, or if she will finish the didactic portion with the hope that the tremors will cease with a medicine change.

I simply will be praying for best outcome for all on this one; I hope that if this is the proverbial door being closed, that a window is opened far enough for her to see what she should do next.

The other students had the worst night lab-wise that I've ever seen. Can we blame it on switching to daylight savings time?

Almost to a fault, every student either forgot to ID the patient, or they forgot which tubes go with a plasma lab or a serum lab.

But...their sticks seem to be smooth, and changing tubes was better than I thought possible. They'll get better - but I certainly hate it when they screw up on the tests!

In other teaching news, Jan's medical problems have come to a point where she no longer wants to teach more than one class a year. So, beginning in late April, I'll be stepping up to the plate and taking over a class.

That's right...Kate has her very OWN class! And, I'm also pleased to say that the college is doing feasibility studies on producing a "boot camp" for retired nurses who want to rejoin the workforce. They've asked me to consider teaching the phlebotomy skills portion. I hope it works out to be a viable option.