Final Reflection

It is almost unbelievable that I am sitting here writing my “final reflection.” In fact I am sitting in the exact spot in which I have done most if not all of my assignments in the last three years with my pug by my side. I am still very unsure about how I feel about this “graduating” thing. I have many emotions flood over my as I have been reflecting for the last month or so. I am filled with happiness, sadness, anxiety, fear, and hope. Happiness because I am finally finished with school after 8 very long years. Sadness because I have met amazing faculty and students that I will not be seeing on a weekly basis anymore. Anxiety because I am unsure of where I will end up in the next few weeks, months, and years. Fear because I will not have my instructors and peers holding my hand through it all anymore. And finally, hope, I have hope that I will succeed in everything that I will do here on out.

Critical care was the first rotation where I actually felt that I could do this nursing thing and be successful at it. I don’t know if it is the staff at West Hills or if you receive more respect and trust from the nurses in your last semester. When asked by the nurses, “What semester are you in?” and the reply of “My last” and the excitement of them letting you have so much more autonomy. I actually felt like they trusted me to care for a patient competently. Of course if something went wrong you had them there as your number one resource. I feel blessed to have had critical care in our last rotation. I feel like a learned more in one day in the ICU than I did in an entire semester in Med-Surg. This has by far been my most favorite rotation out of the entire program.

As we close on our last days I can’t help but think about all the memories I have with many of my peers and wondering where the nursing professional will take them. I can’t say right now that I will miss nursing school and don’t think I ever will say that, however, I will miss many of the experiences I had with my peers and faculty.