During the last few weeks of being in the actual classroom it was packed with lots of information, tips and case scenarios. We had to memorize 9 different scenarios, 4 of them we had to know by the time we did our midterm exam and the other 4 we needed to know by the time we did our final exam.
For these scenarios we needed to answer questions about them ie) The Diagnosis of the resident/client, what are the causes of the diagnosis, how to care for the resident/client and then we had to act out the scenario in front of our instructors. We had a partner that laid in the bed and acted as the resident/client and you had to narrate everything you were doing to your instructor to show them that you know what to do and how to give care properly. Our instructors would also ask us questions about what we were doing and why we were doing it. This was definitely the most stressful thing I went through during the whole course. If you didn’t pass your case scenarios you did not get to proceed with practicum and you had to repeat your scenario and pass it before you were cleared for practicum.
Thank goodness everyone in my class passed theirs with flying colors 🙂 During the last few weeks our instructors were trying to give us lots of tips and information for when we start practicum. Before our practicum started we went to our placement sites once a week for 4 weeks, this was to help prepare us with what was ahead of us and a chance to meet the residents and the staff before we started full time work experience there. This really helped prepare us for what was ahead of us , it made us all a little nervous and scared but myself and all my classmates were so excited to begin practicum. I was so excited to finally be able to put all my new found skills and knowledge that I’ve learned over the last 6 months to the test!
During the last month or so of class we also did another course that was all about how to look for and apply for a job, helped us vamp up our resumes and cover letters and we also did a mock interview. This was helpful for me because it had been a long time since I had been in an interview and it was nice to brush up on my skills. I have been so happy with Stenberg all through my course, my instructors have been so good and have done everything they possibly can to help prepare us for practicum and help prepare us for working in the real world. The instructors really pushed us all towards the last bit of classes but I didn’t mind at all – it helped to show me just much I have learned and made me feel very confident.
