One Month To Go!!

It is June 30...which means, just under a month to go and I will GRADUATE!!!!!  I am counting down the days (29 to be exact) but that includes days off and weekends...I haven't yet figured out exactly how many days I am in class/clinical...yet.  Oh, I do know I only have five more days of clinical!!

Today was my last first day of clinical.  My last clinical rotation in nursing school!  This all feels surreal!!  Today was great.  I shadowed a nurse practitioner and was able to see prenatal, postpartum and gynecological appointments.  It was very different, in my opinion, to be in a doctors office setting, as opposed to a hospital.  It felt a lot more personal.  I actually really enjoyed it.  I do not think I want to look to work in a doctors office, but I think I will enjoy this last clinical.

I start my last new class tomorrow as well.  We start Issues and Trends.  Our professor seems amazing already.  I have only have email interaction, but she is so understanding of where we are in the program and has already given us info about the course.  How wonderful, right?!  She seems like a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of this semester.  We won't have any exams in this course, just participation points (40% of our grade) and a group presentation (60% of our grade).  Seems pretty straightforward.  I already have my group AND we have our topic for our presentation.  We are going to look at the image of nursing and how it has changed over the years.  Should be interesting :)

We had out Ethics presentation on Thursday.  It went well.  I feel like I was the weak link in that group, but the rest of the group did a great job!  We had a thorough presentation and I am pretty sure we got an A.  Now to just get through the last lectures of that course AND write my 10 page ethics paper.  I originally wanted to write on something with fertility, but I am just write about immunizations and public schools.  I find vaccines to be a hot topic and I get all fired up about it, so why not do more research about them!  Trying to focus on the positives here.

I remember a year ago, this was my first week of my first clinical.  What a difference a year makes.  I never could have imagined what I would feel a year from that time.  I know I still have a lot to learn and more confidence which I am sure will come with time and my first job.  I know I have come a long way and I am proud of myself.  I didn't think I could make it through...and I know I am not quite done yet, but I have more confidence in myself to know that I can and I WILL finish this program.  I will feel accomplished with my diploma AND my notification that I passed NCLEX.  Until then, I will partially hold my breath ;)

In other news, I may have the opportunity to be a research assistant to a pediatric nurse practitioner at a children's hospital.  I spoke with the PNP last week to get more specifics and it sounds like a fantastic opportunity.  I am waiting to hear what my next step would be.  More to come!!

Ok, off to shower and get ready for a long day tomorrow.  It's also supposed to be in the 90s tomorrow with a heat index of 100!  Good thing I will be in air conditioning all day :)