I survived my first week of nursing school! Only 61 more to go...again, not that I'm counting. It is now Monday evening of a 3 day weekend. I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed all over again. It, thankfully, is not nearly as bad as the night before this program started. I have less fear of the unknown, and now fear of the workload that is ahead of me!!
Last week, our Freshman year, went better than I expected. I am more than impressed with this school, program and professors. The professors are incredible, caring, supportive, strict and experts in their field. It is reassuring and challenging but at the same time I know that they will help us all succeed and train us to be great nurses! Our course was Fundamentals of the Professional Nurse. There was a lot of information packed into 5 days. Somehow, I got an A in this first course! I will do my best to keep this up. It was so exciting to know we are already going to be different. We were told our friends are going to hold us to a higher expectation and we will see people differently( we will always be assessing!). I already found myself catching a nurse on TV using inappropriate communication skills! I know, I am quick to judge after only a week into this, but I already completed a year of course work, right?!
Our next course is all about nursing assessments, which we are told will become second nature to us in know time (aka we will be practicing these skills NONSTOP for the duration of this program). We have a lot to read, videos to watch and practice NCLEX questions to keep us more than busy. We have lab in this course as well. We will be tested on taking vital signs and learn to do a basic head to toe assessment of our lab partners. Let the fun begin!! We started this two week course on Friday afternoon, due to having this Monday off for Memorial Day. Our professor is a former pediatric nurse, which is probably why I liked her from the get go. She also devoted some of her lecture to the mission trip she did last year and plans to do again over our spring break in March of 2014. I am VERY interested in looking more into this and hopefully getting the opportunity to participate. She took 7 students to Montana to an Indian reservation to help implement heath records for the kids. I think this will be an amazing experience; and also look great on a resume! We will get more info in the fall. At that point, if we can afford to pay for the trip, we have to apply and a committee chooses which students will go. More on that later (code for I will most likely beg for donations!)
Erin is home from her beach weekend. Jackson and Aramis are beyond thrilled, as am I!! We missed her lots, but glad she had the chance to go and relax and get in some beach time. I am reminding myself again, this whole process is stressful on her as well. She is stuck putting up with me and my stress (crabbiness), anxiety (short temper) and my absence. My Erin is the BEST!
Off I go for week 2!
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