Archive for date: November 23rd, 2015

We’re almost there! It’s hard to believe that we are coming to the end of our program and the end of our med-surg content. I still feel like there is so much to learn, which is probably  because there is! Going into nursing I was excited about the academic nature of the healthcare field. There is always something to learn and what we know, or think we know, is always changing. Now in the midst of nursing school my feelings of excitement have shifted a bit towards feelings of being overwhelmed. There is in fact an enormous amount of information to learn and sometimes I feel I am only retaining a very small percentage of it.

Looking back at our first semesters I do have to admit I have vastly more knowledge now than I did at the beginning of the program. The dreaded ATI tests have become smoother and I’ve gained more confidence in the clinical setting.  I’ve learned so much through our clinical rotations and at this point I think I will excel the most through getting out and working in the field.  I’m looking forward to public health next semester and getting to see a different side of nursing than we have seen in the acute care setting.

I’m excited to finish school and start working but it is going to be an interesting transition. I’ve been working for my current employer for five and a half years. I work part time during the semester and always work full time when I can between semesters. I enjoy my current job and love my coworkers. Sometimes I have to work really hard to remind myself why I decided to go to nursing school and make this huge transition in my career in the first place. In the end I know it will be worth it and am really proud of myself for pushing my comfort zone and doing something new but it’s not to say that it has been easy!

I often find myself in the situations that I now respond differently. A couple of month ago, I helped a person who was stung by the stingray on the beach. I guess the stingray hit the artery because the blood was squirting from the leg of that young boy. I immediately started acting in the way I would not have acted before the start of the nursing school. I introduced myself, asked for permission to help, sent for a life guard/extra help, got a towel and asked him to push above the wound, etc. It was weird to me that other people did not seem to know what to do. His friends even attempted to stop the bleeding by pushing below the wound (I asked him to elevate the foot and press above bleeding site. They took it literally and started pushing above, but the foot was up, so they were actually pushing below – that would not have helped to stop the bleeding!).

My friends also often ask for my advice and explanations of the health issues. I am always happy to share whatever I learned and be helpful for people around me. I do hope that I will be able to remember all of the basic things I have learned and turn this foundation into a more working and practical knowledge and experience.

As I near the end of nursing school, I feel both excited and apprehensive. I am so ready to be done with the constant stress that nursing school causes, but at the same time, it feels like I will be stepping out of a protective bubble into the real world. As a student, I felt like I could make mistakes, and not have to worry about looking too bad in front of people that matter. Now I feel like I will be expected to know how to perform my duties like a seasoned nurse even without being one in front of my workmates and supervisors.

 

The NCLEX is of course also weighing heavy on my mind. I know that I have to do so much more preparation to be ready for it. As of right now, if I took it, I may just get lucky and pass it, but those are not odds I am willing to take on. I want to feel fully prepared for it and plan to study intensely for it as soon as I graduate.

 

Despite all of this stress, I do look back on my first semester and can proudly say that yes, I am concerned about the difficulties of being a nurse, but I do feel like I will in time be a good one once I get over the new nurse hurdles. There were several times throughout my schooling that I did not know if I could honestly say that I could become a good nurse and it does give me a boost of confidence to compare my skills to the lack of skills and lack of confidence I had the first year of nursing school.