This is only the Beginning…
It is still hard for me to believe that Pinning is only 3 days away, and I will have completed nursing school! I have worked so hard for so long to achieve this goal and now it is within my reach! It is hard for me to imagine life outside of school. If I am not working on homework or attending class or at clinical, then I can pretty much guarantee that I am still thinking about school or what assignment is due next or mapping out my time so that I can fit is all in. I am so excited to have accomplished this Everest-sized goal. Going through school has taught me that I can be successful at whatever I put my mind to. There were so many times that I felt I would never be able to complete all of the assignments or learn all of the material, but time after time, I did! So many nights I just wanted to give up, but by the grace of God, He kept me going and would remind me over and over again why I wanted to be a nurse.
Going through school I now have a much deeper appreciation for nursing as a profession. I am so proud to be entering the nursing profession on Friday and see it as a great honor! It is something I take very seriously as I have seen throughout these past 3 years the power and responsibility that nurses carry. Power, not in the sense of strength or authority (though they also have these), but in influence over the experience and outcomes of their patients. Nurses have the power to make a patient’s experience the best it can be or the worst. They have the power to make a difference in someone’s life everyday by being present with the person in their greatest time of need. They also carry great responsibility in providing safe and effective care for their patients. Patients and families entrust the care of themselves and their loved ones to nurses. The care nurses provide can mean the difference between life and death for many patients.
When I began this journey 3 years ago, I had some ideas of what type of nursing I wanted to pursue, but tried to stay open-minded each semester except for one area which I was convinced I would never like…Critical Care. I assumed that most of the patients in ICU were intubated and in extremely serious conditions that were too intimidating for me. Since I greatly value patient interaction, I thought I would dislike ICU and would have a very hard time handling the patient situations; however, I was quickly proven wrong. After rotating through the ICU and telemetry, I really enjoyed both areas of care. I loved being able to dive deeper into the situations of each patient I cared for in ICU since I cared for 1 or 2 patients at a time instead of the normal 4/5 to 1 ratio. I was also able to do a lot of nursing interventions and skills that have always intimidated me because I have not had a lot of practice with them and they feel more intense than others. I gained so much confidence in my abilities to coordinate care and assess and intervene appropriately. Overall, this semester has been one of my favorites and I have gained knowledge and experience that have prepared me to enter the nursing profession with a solid foundation that will set me up to succeed no matter what field of nursing I end up in.
