Service With A Smile

Service, a term I am familiar with.  As I sit here tonight, I have a few things going on that I can relate to that word.  Service, what I will provide (hopefully) to my patient tomorrow.  What I will provide to my future patients as a nursing student and as a future RN.  I give a service to my wonderful, supportive, stressed out wife.  Tonight we are sitting at our dining room table, which rarely happens!!  She is typing away prepping for one of many meetings she has coming up.  I do believe her service plays a vital role in many children, parents and other teachers daily lives. Her service may not always come with a smile ;)

Tomorrow I have my second 12 hour shift at the hospital.  I am even more nervous than I was last week.  Although, in the moment it always seems worse.  I now know what I am walking into tomorrow morning at 6:45.  I will catch a 6:05am train to be on the unit by 6:45.  I have a vivid recollection of what last Wednesday was...it's like the first day on a new job.  It's overwhelming, scary, nerve racking, thrilling, and educational.  I really like the patient interaction; conversing and learning about an individual.  I do not like the feelings of inadequacy, nervousness, anxiety, worry and the constant feeling of being in the way and out of place.  A few classmates and I were walking out of school tonight, all sharing these same feelings (at least I am not alone!).  It is as if I am starting a new job every six weeks.  Not a fan!!  We all joked how Tuesday nights are filled with nerves and as we leave the hospital tomorrow, we will be all smiles and totally relieved that we made it through another clinical day.  I have my uniform all prepped, bag of supplies ready to go now just  need to pack my lunch and I will be as ready as I can be!  I might be giving medications tomorrow, which is always so exciting and, you guessed it, nerve racking!  There is a common theme here!  I may also have the chance to observe in the ICU.  No clue when that will be, so I will be ready whenever.

Another service in my upcoming months is the service trip!!  I get to go on the service spring break trip in March!!  It is going to be freezing cold and snow covered, but I don't care.  There are only five students, including myself, heading to a small school where we will be put to work.  We will be helping to give well-child health screenings, health promotion teaching, and possibly observing in a medical facility.  In the evenings, there is talk of cultural immersion and lectures we will listen to.  I have a meeting with the professor who is taking the trip with us and the five students.  I am sure to have a lot more information about this trip.  We have five guys in our class of 75 and three of those guys will be on this trip.  Only two girls, of course we are both named Katie, because there are 23 forms of Katie, Kaitlyn, Catherine in our group of 75!! Crazy!  In the next few months I am in search of a warm winter coat and maybe a new pair of warm snow boots!

Service with a smile; I must keep this in mind tomorrow.  Even if I am terrified, I need to stay positive and know that I will get through this.