The Universities at Shady Grove (USG)

In mainstream medical television shows, we often hear the hot-shot doctors declare a “Code Blue.” Within seconds, the team mobilizes to save a life. In layman’s terms, a Code Blue means that a patient is in cardiac arrest and in need of immediate resuscitation.

Why do I bring this up now? Tomorrow, I begin my Senior Clinical Practicum experience, the “capstone” of the nursing program. I will be spending 180 hours in the Emergency Department (ED) at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

I am referring to this experience as a Code *NEW* situation. The ED is a totally foreign concept to me. From the moment I entered nursing school, I knew I was going to pursue a career in pediatrics. I have always loved kids, tiny blood pressure cuffs, and stickers, so it seemed like a perfect fit!

While I know I will work in pediatrics, transplant specifically, this experience is going to thrust me out of my comfort zone and into the fast paced unknown. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Here’s to an exciting new journey! Happy almost weekend, Shady Grove!

These days, a student’s first impression of a university campus begins with a click of a mouse.  In addition to serving the needs of prospective students a site must provide those currently enrolled with all the basic services, links, information and features one would expect from their institution homepage.  Over the years a growing consensus view that our site was not meeting the expectations and needs of our campus has led to a proposal for change.  As a campus distinguished by excellence in student services, cutting edge facilities, and providing our students the best in everything, The Universities at Shady Grove has charged forward with the initiative to give a brand new look and feel, improved user interface and complete overhaul of the current website.

For an exceptional campus  we have enlisted the the help of an exceptional firm.  Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, the privately-owned Mindgrub Technologies is offering their award-winning technology innovation expertise to develop a site that will appeal to not just our students, but the entirety of our audience and stakeholders.  To give you some insight into the challenging task of designing a website that fits everyone’s needs think about the people who might visit our site.  Those people would include parents, prospective students, faculty, staff, local businesses and donors, the list is endless.

As a representative of our student body I have participated already in a number of USG website committee meetings.  The process is still ongoing with an expected launch date some time around May of this year. The most exciting part of the website that I believe will interest students the most is the plan for a Events and News page that will converge all student life, photos, stories, upcoming events in one location.  Its a brilliant idea and I can’t wait to share with you some of the design prototypes as they become available.

As always, it’s a pleasure to share with you the scoop on all the happening around campus.

Derek

Happy monday fellow students/blog readers!

This past Wednesday night, I had the experience to brighten up hump day by attending an event at 6th & I in Washington D.C. I was fortunate enough to hear New Jersey senator Cory Booker, my favorite political figure, speak about his new book, United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good. He really inspires me to never be complacent about my social justice passion, which is part of what has driven me to become a social worker.

I took notes during the lecture, and I wanted to share some of the most important lessons I learned from his speech:

• We should all be striving for beyond tolerance, we should be striving more for love.
• It is easier to raise strong children than to fix broken men
• You may not be able to change the world, but you can change somebody’s world
• What we need to repent for and focus on is the appalling silence and passiveness of the good people, opposed to the sins of the evil
• We should not be constantly preaching, we should just call upon each other to live our best lives
• The most important conversations that you have everyday are the ones that you have with yourself
• As Cory was taught by his mentor, he always remembers to ‘stay faithful’

I hope that you enjoy the messages he relayed as much as I did!

I hope that everyone has a great week 🙂

I know, we just had a snow day, and it’s February. But USG campus is currently bustling with advertising for the various, exciting events that are coming up on campus for Spring.  Personally, these are my favorite events of the year and I highly recommend going to them! Make sure to register/sign up as son as you can. Here’s an overview of how they went last year and details for this year:

LinkedIn Lab: The LinkedIn Lab includes workshops to help you vamp up your LinkedIn page and also how to reach out to potential employers. Part of the lab that was really popular last year were the professional headshots being taken for your LinkedIn page.  Most importantly, these headshots are FREE, so make sure not to miss it! The lab will be held in Bldg 3 2225 and 2226. Workshops will be held 12 to 1 pm and 2 to 3 pm and headshots will be taken from 12 to 2 pm.

RSVP at for headshots at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4fadaa22a0f58-linkedin

Etiquette Dinner: The Etiquette dinner is an event that I really enjoyed last year.  It started off with mock tails and a chance for everyone to meet new people on campus.  We moved into the dining area and had a full course meal after that (appetizer, dinner, dessert). As we ate, we were taught how to professionally eat- which spoon to use with what food, how to hold your food, what to do in certain situations, etc.  Another reason why you should sign up for this event- it is FREE FOOD.  Space is limited so make sure to RSVP at bit.ly/USGEtiquetteDinner ASAP.  Also, if you want a more detailed overview of the event last year check out Derek’s Post from last year! For more photos of last year’s event, click here!

International Night: This is by far the biggest event held on USG campus and sponsored by Student Event Board. The multipurpose room is filled with tables all around with people representing their own countries. The tables featured clothing, art pieces, food, and the list goes on.  Performance wise, there was singing, dancing, and a fashion show. It even ended with an open dance floor at the end of the night.  This year, International Night will be held on  Thursday, March 31st 6-11 pm.  For more details on last year’s event check out my post from last year.

A playlist is usually a list of songs made by someone or automatically generated by a genre or artist. Unless I am in class, a meeting, or on the phone, I always have music turned on so playlists are a huge part of my life. Listening to music allows me to de-stress and organize my thoughts as well.

Did you know that iTunes automatically creates a “Top 25 Most Played” playlist for the user? I knew, but I never really thought much about it until recently. I realized that the music, the genre, the lyrics, and even the beat differs among each person. People’s playlists and music taste may overlap, but I personally think that it will be very hard to match the top most played songs with each ot her.

For example, a friend of mine’s top 25 most played songs included mostly upbeat and electronic music. I think it somehow fits her perfecly.

When I looked into my own playlist, I realized that my most played songs are mostly soft pop. I think that’s because I love to have somewhat mellow music on when I’m working, doing homework, or writing. I also love to pay attention to the lyrics so I enjoy songs that are usually more meaningful or sounds more sincere (to me, anyway).

What does this say about me? I’m not sure. Maybe I’m a softie. Maybe I’m a workaholic.  I guess it comes with the territory. I am an overworked Grad Student after all.

Either way, it was really interesting for me to see how people’s playlists differs from each other. I think it also shows their personalities through it.

25 is far too many songs to share, so I’ll share my top 10 with you!

1. I love you (Tim Lopez, Featuring: The Wind and The Wave)
2. All of me (John Legend)
3. Eyes Nose Lips (Eric Nam’s cover)
4. Almost is Never Enough (Ariana Grande & Nathan Sykes)
5. Thinking out loud (Ed Sheeran)
6. Dancing on my own (Pixie Lott, Featuring: G Dragon & TOP)
7. Used to love you (Gwen Stefani)
8. Sing for you (EXO)
9. Meet you there (Busted)
10. Say you love me (Jessie Ware)

I hope you guys will check these songs out. They’re pretty great, in my opinion.

What’s on YOUR playlist? 🙂

Me llamo Rachel. Voy a ser su enfermera para este turno.

*Read: Hi, my name is Rachel. I am going to be your nurse for this shift.*

Two weeks ago, I would have been totally dumbfounded by this statement. But thanks to my Spanish for Healthcare Professionals course, I am learning (slowly, but surely) a new and exciting language!

Thus far, Spanish has proved to be one of my favorite classes in nursing school. Learning a new language is challenging (understatement of the century), yet beyond rewarding! I want to give a public thank you and shout out to my incredible roommates and amigas (friends) who are tolerating my constant thirst for knowledge and practice.

A public thank you to my roommate (and her dog) for helping me to hone my spanish skills!

Why spanish? As nurses (especially in the greater D.C. area), we have the privilege of working with patients and families from a variety of diverse backgrounds. Many of my patients are Spanish-speaking, and I felt this lack of language knowledge was greatly hindering my ability to build rapport with my patients.

We are three weeks in, and I can already see my hard work paying off! Thus far, I have gained many useful phrases and grasped some tricky grammatical concepts. Our professor is incredible and pushes each of us to the next level. The course is small, only twelve students, and largely conversational. We all derive from different language backgrounds, making for an interesting mix of levels.

Estoy muy emocionada! *read: I am very excited* to see what this semester will bring for my Spanish language skills! I will keep you posted 🙂

Happy Thursday!