First day of class!

I know this is two posts in one day but I wanted to separate them since one was orientation and one was for classes! SO. Wednesday was our first day of classes. I am only taking two classes this semester because I will be continuing to work full-time because a) I am not rich and b) school is not free. My two classes are Advanced Physiology & Pathophysiology and The Role of the Advanced Practice Nurse. The physiology class meets on Wednesdays from 850-1130am at Valpo. It is also an option to attend class virtually online using a headset and microphone, but I don’t plan on doing that unless I absolutely have to because I have literally no attention span and if I am sitting on my couch I will likely not pay any attention. The class seems fairly straight forward. Lecture for three hours, then three exams and a final, with one paper and project in the middle and a few small quizzes and assignments each week. But nothing really crazy and it seems like he is generous with posting practice exams and repeating questions. And we are supposed to read 80-100 pages each week which I am OBVIOUSLY not going to do. Be real. So that’s that class. The other class is online only. There is not time set for the class to all be online or anything like that, it’s just online presentations, discussion boards and assignments. There is a big paper and presentation due once throughout the semester but I don’t think it is going to be anything too difficult. So those are the two classes I am taking. I feel like kind of a slacker because a lot of the people in my class are trying to work full-time and go to school full-time but I just felt like it was going to be too much. I figured I would rather end the semester thinking “Hm. That wasn’t so bad, I could have taken another class,” rather than “Cool, I already failed a class.” So I think things will be very manageable with just the two classes. Stay tuned on how things go!

 The picture is of my physiology textbook, to demonstrate that apparently in grad school they can charge $240 for a USED textbook and not even spring for the extra cash to put a picture on the front.

It's been a while...

I know some of you are thinking... "Lindsay, it's been three years, we thought your blog was over?" Well, so did I. BUT now that three years have passed, I have decided to make a valiant return to school. This time I will be taking on the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Valparaiso University (in Indiana where I live now). I have LOVED going back and reading through this blog and remembering the memories and emotions I had throughout my Bachelors degree and it is my hope that continuing to blog throughout this program will benefit me in that same way. I also always enjoyed having an outlet to write how I was feeling and the emotions that were brought out by certain patients, families and faculty. I chose to continue to use a blog I already had rather than begin a new one in the hopes that I could have one place to document my ENTIRE nursing school career, from undergraduate to doctorate. SO that being said, I hope anyone reading this will come on this adventure with me...It's gonna be a long one :)

 This week was the start of school! Monday was graduate school orientation for everyone entering any program in the graduate school. So it was basic information that applied to everyone (how to check your email, register for classes, use the library, honor code, attendance, etc...) ALSO, there was free dinner. Tuesday was DNP orientation for just the new DNP students. There are only 15 students total starting the program with me. Two or three are post-master's students and everyone else has just a Bachelors degree. So I feel pretty cool that out of all the people that applied (I have no idea how many that is but in my head I've decided it's a lot) I was accepted.

Tuesday was MUCH more informative. Other than all of the practical stuff (student ID, Nursing ID, parking passes, more about the library) we actually got to learn about the program. The morning session was with four faculty members, all of whom have their doctorates. It was very informal and everyone got to ask any questions they had about the program. It was great to get to know some faces and get some advice about things like full time vs. part time, time management, deadlines, etc. Then we went to a session with the nursing librarian. Yes, the nursing school has its own librarian. She spent two hours teaching us about databases and searching and how to find things in the library. It was much more helpful than I was thinking it would be. After that we met with students that are currently in the program, while enjoying FREE LUNCH. The students we met with are all in their last year of the program and we basically did the same thing we did with the faculty and asked questions. This was also really helpful and very honest since there were no faculty members in the room while we were talking to them. We also had some sessions on the computer labs, online info, and using the “virtual classroom” if we choose that option. It was a ton of information for one day but I did leave there feeling like I had somewhat of a handle on what to expect throughout the program, which I was desperately needing. Wednesday was the actual start of classes, which I will put in its own entry.

 I also wanted to put a little info on what this program is. It’s a doctoral program that is designed to take three years if done full-time, or six years if done part-time. It is my hope to complete it somewhere in the middle by alternating full and part time as work allows, since I will continue to work as much as I am able. At the end of the program I will have a degree called the Doctor of Nursing Practice. Once I complete this degree I will be able to test to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. To answer the “what will you do with this degree?” question, there is not one answer. The DNP is designed to be the “terminal degree” in nursing, meaning the highest degree available within the nursing scope of practice. So with this degree I can be a nurse practitioner, administrator, professor, or a number of other things. I am hoping that throughout this program I will figure out exactly what it is I want to do! I will explain more as we go along! Thanks for reading and taking an interest in what I’m doing, I promise most of the entries will NOT be this long :)

True Life: I'm a NURSE.

So I promised an "I PASSED THE NCLEX" post and here it is! On October 13th, I passed my NCLEX, which is the exam that makes me an official Registered Nurse. Since then I've started my new job at Butterworth Hospital on an oncology unit and I'm working full time as a registered nurse. It seems unreal that these past five years of school are over and that nursing school is behind me now. All of the doubts and fears and tears and work to get here all suddenly seem worth it. It was definitely a long road, but now that I'm here it doesn't seem to matter how hard it was to get here. I'm so happy with my job and with how much I am learning everyday. I feel more like a nurse all the time and I love it :)

It's kind of sad for me to say that this post officially concludes Lindsay's Nursing School Adventure. Thanks for coming along for the ride! I know it wasn't always as exciting as I promised it would be, but I enjoyed writing it. I hope my real life nursing adventure will be even more exciting :)

DRUMROLL PLEASE.....

I GOT A REAL JOB.

The update is coming a little bit late, but truth be told I kind of forgot about my blog since school has ended. Anyway, I have been job hunting for about 2 months now and after two phone interviews finally had an in person interview with the nurse manager at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids for an adult oncology (cancer) floor. I know what you're all thinking. "DONT YOU WANNA WORK IN PEDS?!?!?!" Yes. Yes I do. However, if I could pick any dream job in the whole world it would be pediatric oncology, so working on an adult oncology floor? AMAZING OPPORTUNITY. I will learn so much and I know I'm going to love it. The nurse manager that I interviewed with was very nice and seemed like she will be a great boss. In each two week period I will be working 7pm-7am for 4 days and 3pm-11pm 3 days, which included every other weekend. I feel so lucky to have been able to get such a great job for my first job! I'm definitely looking forward to starting :)

The last part of my nursing journey is coming in about a week. On October 13th I will take my nursing state boards, called the NCLEX. Once I pass this exam I will officially be a Registered Nurse and be able to start my job! The human resources person that I have been talking to says that I will probably be able to start on Monday, October 24th, so it's coming up VERY quickly.

Stay tuned for my hopefully happy NCLEX update next week, which will officially complete my NURSING SCHOOL ADVENTURE.

The waiting game.

Yep, waiting is pretty much all I have going on these days. The week after graduation me and about 40 people from my class took a four day review class to essentially cram all of nursing school into four days and help teach us how to pass our boards that are coming up. So since the review class ended three weeks ago I have moved back home, had my tonsils out, and not studied even a little bit for the NCLEX. I have had a phone interview with Spectrum and talked with a recruiter and now I am just waiting to hear back from them about a second interview. And if I don't hear anything by next week I will call and see what the deal is. So pretty much the next few weeks I am going to be studying for boards (for real because I will probably be able to take them in about 3 weeks) and continuing my job hunt! So stayed tuned for hopefully some blog entries titled something along the lines of "OFFICIALLY A REGISTERED NURSE" and "GOT A REAL JOB." Hopefully these posts will be sooner rather than later. I'm ready to get this real life thing rolling.

It's still crazy that Grand Valley started classes this week and I didn't! For the first time in 17 years I am NOT starting school in the fall. Still super weird.

But GREAT.

[Please enjoy the funny (but entirely unrelated) pictures I found when searching for "waiting" on Google images.]

Officially a college graduate :)

So as you know, I "graduated" in April from Grand Valley with the cap, gown and the whole shebang, but then I still had one more semester of the nursing program. So last Saturday I ACTUALLY really finished the nursing program. This ceremony was really great because it was just for the nursing program, so it was like 64 people in my class plus about 15 Master's students that were finishing this semester. So it was very personal. We all got to write a little thank you to be read as we walked across the stage and we had a slideshow play full of pictures of us. We got to pick the songs we wanted to walk in and out to but due to some technical issues, they never got to play. Overall though the day was really nice, and it was nice to get to spend it with all of my nursing friends as well as my parents and Dan. It was kind of sad to be done, but the following week we had an NCLEX review class so I still got to spend another week with my friends :) It still feels a little bit surreal that I'm actually done with college. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was moving into my dorm. It definitely doesn't feel like it's been five years since then. The nursing program part of college was my last five semesters. I NEVER thought that I would get there. I cried all the time. I wanted to quit, change my major, do something easier. I hated so many of my classes, but I knew that if I stuck it out and could get there, it would all be worth it. Now that I'm done, I know that it was worth it. I have a degree that's actually useful. I love being a nurse. And I am so excited to get a job and start real life. So here's to the end. I NEVER thought it would come and I am SO excited to see what comes next!

Future Me

If you've never heard of FutureMe.org, it's a website that let's your write emails to yourself and set the date that you want them sent to you. Once you write them you can't read them again until the date you set them to be sent. So about two months before the end of the semester when I was majorly lacking motivation (obviously because I was procrastinating on this website) I wrote an email to send to myself the day of my pinning ceremony, which was last Saturday. Here it is! I HIGHLY recommend you check out the website :)

Dear FutureMe,

Today you made it! You are officially done with nursing school. I know how hard it has been to stay motivated this summer, but it has paid off. Right now you haven't even started your capstone paper, and are just about to finish your leadership rotation. Pinning still seems so far away. I don't know how you are going to find the motivation to finish everything, but I know you will do it, you always do. Today is the end of college. Five years and today it is all worth it. The tears, the frustration, the doubt and the fear. It's all worth it because today it is over. It is bittersweet. I hope you enjoy every second of this day. The people you are spending it with are amazing and they have been there for you for the past year and a half, and I hope you treasure spending this day with them. I'm sure you will cry, but that's okay. Take it in because after today everything is going to change. But you will figure it all out. Remember to thank mom and dad today, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. I hope this day is everything you hoped it would be. Don't stress out about what the next few months will bring, everything will work out :)

Congratulations! YOU MADE IT.

Smile today,
Me.

Paper chain progress!

One of my classmates also has a nursing blog and he took all of my paper chain pictures and put them next to each other so I wanted to do the same thing to show how far we have come! The paper chain started at 250 days, then the next pictures are at 150 days, 100 days, 50 days, 6 days and 1 day! Today was my last final EVER of college, and even though I didn't study for it, it went fine and I PASSED. Tomorrow is my pinning/recognition ceremony which is really the end of nursing school. It all still feels so surreal. I can't even believe it :)








NO MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!! :):):):):)

KRISTIN GOT MARRIED!

On an unrelated note, Kristin got married this weekend! Kristin is one of my bff's in the nursing program and I have known her since our first nursing class last January. On Sunday she married a man that she has been with for TEN YEARS, and myself and five other girls from my class got to be there to share the day with her. This group that went to the wedding is the same group from the "Friends for Life Christmas card." I love these girls so much and I am so glad that we were all able to be together for Kristin's wedding. Also, Kristin is having a baby in October (hopefully on my birthday) and I cannot WAIT :)Enjoy some pictures of us at the wedding! It was beautiful <3

Four days until the real world.

Yep, I feel like the little girl in the picture because in 4 days nursing school will be OVER! Last week we finished up our community health rotation at the health department. Tuesday was our last day at Core Health and I got to go out and shadow the nurse on her enrollment visit. The visit took about 2 hours and I got to see how the nurse enrolls a new client and all of the information that she needs to collect. It was kind of a cool way to wrap up my time at Core Health. I really didn't love our involvement in the program just because we only had time to go on usually one or two visits each day and we never got to see the same clients more than once. So because of this we really never got to build any kind of relationship with the clients or really teach them much of anything. It was nice to see all of the things that the program does and in that was it was a good experience, I just don't feel like we really got a whole lot out of it. So after that I had a visit with one of my health department clients buuuut she no-showed and both of the phone numbers I had for her were disconnected. So that was a bust. So we spent the rest of the day working on our teaching/learning presentation.

Thursday we presented a timeline of our LEI (elderly) clients that we have been working with for the past five semesters. It was actually kind of cool to hear everyone talk about their clients and see how different all of them are. Then we ran through our presentation a few times, did our evaluations with our instructor and left at noon to go to lunch :)Overall the health department was an interesting experience. I don't feel that I really got a ton out of it, but I definitely did learn some things. I learned to consider the environment that people live in, the resources that they have available to them and what they are going home to once they leave the hospital. I also learned about TONS of resources in Grand Rapids that I never even knew existed. I also got to see many different areas of the health department, like the TB clinic and the STD clinic. It did open my eyes to a lot of the problems that people in lower socioeconomic status have to cope with in order to care for themselves. So although it wasn't my favorite rotation, I did gain a lot of insight and I think I was able to get something out of it that I can apply no matter where I work in the future.

So moral of the story, I'm glad that community health is over because it means we are one step closer to being done!

Also today we presented our teaching/learning project and got a 99% on it :) Win.

BOOM.

91% on my Capstone paper???

Don't mind if I do.

I will now dramatically throw away all of the research articles that I used to write it :)

Also, took the HESI exam today (predictor for the NCLEX, which is our licensing exam). Did I rock it? No. Do I care that much? Not really.

Still calling this day a WIN.

Teaching/Learning Project

Today my clinical group did our Teaching/Learning project at the Children's Center. We taught them about summer safety, including helmet use, hydration, water safety and sunscreen. I did all of the teaching with the kids and had fun seeing everyone :) Then we did four different stations for the different areas. We also got water bottles donated for each child and we got 10 bike helmets donated to the center. The kids really were into it and had a lot of fun. It went really well and I'm so glad that everything worked out! I'm also glad it's done. We still have to do a presentation on the project on August 2nd but we are mostly finished with it already! My group is very on top of things. It's wonderful.

The pictures above are of the front and back of the poster we used with the kids and one of us getting trained on how to properly fit bicycle helmets! :)

This is my now.

I know my blog updating skills have been horrible lately, but it's because the past few weeks have been absolutely crazy it seems. Since the last update I have had two LEI visits, finished my entire LEI binder and turned it in, finished and turned in my Capstone paper, learned how to get my RN license, applied for jobs, and had 6 more days of community health. Phew! A lot of happenings. Here's a quick summary to catch you up on some of things that have been going on lately!

The most notable thing in the past few weeks has been my CAPSTONE. My Capstone paper ended up being about 19 pages of fun, which I was still finishing the night before it was due. Typical. But I actually feel really good about it and I found out my clinical instructor is the one that got my paper to grade so I'm hoping I will do well on it since she has said she's a fairly easy grader. I will get it back a week from today so stay tuned for that! *Cross fingers* The capstone was the one really big thing standing between us and finishing school and it has been the sole source of everyone's never ending stress for the past 9 weeks. We are all so glad it's over. I have never felt more relieved to have something taken out of my hands as I did when I handed in that paper.

Community Health has been going pretty well. It's really boring and kind of frustrating because we never really know what's going on and it's all very flybytheseatofyourpants when we get there in the morning. It's okay though. I have been going on a lot of visits with my community health worker in the mornings and getting more involved in the teaching during those visits, but it's difficult since most of the people I see it is my first time meeting them so it's hard to build any kind of relationship. I also got to spend a day observing in the Tuberculosis clinic and another day observing in the STD clinic. Both of them were really cool experiences and I feel like I actually got something out of being there. In general though, I am not sure how much I am gaining from this rotation. I know that I am learning about the community and about resources that are available to those that can't otherwise afford them. I'm sure I'm getting more out of it than I realize. Tomorrow we are doing our Teaching/Learning project at the Children's Center, which I think I talked about earlier. But we are teaching the kids about summer safety, including water safety, hydration, bike and helmet safety and sunscreen use. It should be a good time, I'm excited to see my kids and for everyone in my group to meet them. I think they're kind of great :) We only have three more days of community health and then I am done with clinical forever. Crazy.

Last week we learned about how to get our LICENSE!!!!! It's kind of a big deal. We also learned how to send in our application for testing, get fingerprinted, background checked, etc. Pretty much everything we need to do to become real RN's. It was the most useful lecture we have had all semester. Sadly I'm not joking. So probably next week I will get that all filled out and sent in and then go and get my fingerprints and background check done! I also applied for JOBS today! I applied for a few at Spectrum for adult Med/Surg, about 5 at Helen Devos, one at Metro and one at Zeeland, so hopefully I will hear back from someone in the next few weeks. I hate the waiting game.

I am amazed at how fast this semester has started going. Starting about 3 weeks ago the semester just started FLYING by. We only have 16 days left. Two weeks from Friday we will take our last final. I feel like it's going so fast that I am forgetting to take the time to enjoy these last few weeks. These are the last few weeks that I will spend with all of my nursing friends. The last time I will be in the CHS building. The last time I will do so many things. So I am trying to take it all in and stop trying to wish it away. The photo is of my tattoo. It says "This is my now" and it is my reminder to myself to appreciate the moment that you are in because right now is all you have and it's the only "now" you will ever get. So my goal for the next two weeks is to enjoy every second of it and every second of my time with my friends. I can't believe 5 years of college ends in 2 weeks.

Core Health & Home visits

Okay, it took two more days, but I finally feel like I actually know what is going on in Community Health. So half of our rotation is with Core Health. Core Health is a Spectrum Health program that uses community health workers to follow people with congestive heart failure and diabetes. The community health workers (CHW) visit the clients in their homes for the entire year that they are in the program, usually once every two weeks. So every morning from 9-12, we go over to core health and follow a community health worker on all of their home visits. The idea is that the first week we follow them and just watch, the second week we do vitals and some teaching, and then the weeks after that we keep taking on more responsibility until we are leading the visits on our work and the CHW just kind of watches. It's pretty cool I guess. My CHW follows all patients with diabates. It's definitely different to follow someone that isn't a nurse, but I think it provides a different perspective and I'm hoping to learn a lot.

The other half of our day is spent at the Health Department. At the health department we have three of our own clients that we have to go out and do home visits with, so I called today and set up all of my appointments for next week. Hopefully everyone shows up and things go well! I also got the official okay from the children's center for us to do our project there so I'm very excited about that :)

ALSO Core Health is right across the street from Ferguson (where I did my Mental Health rotation) so I went over today and talked to some of the residents that I always hung out with there. It was really cool to see and talk to them again! :)

Below is just a summary of the Core Health Diabetes Program:

Our Diabetes Program
The Core Health Diabetes Program helps individuals with diabetes, or those at risk for diabetes, improve their health. Working with your doctor, we will:

Educate you about your disease and how to access care
Motivate you to live a healthier lifestyle

Our Services
You will receive one-on-one visits from a registered nurse (RN) and community health worker (CHW). Depending on what you need, our services will help you:

Set personal health goals
Learn about your diabetes and how to better manage risk factors
Connect with community resources

How Our Diabetes Program Benefits You
You will benefit from our program by:

Understanding how to take care of yourself and your health condition
Becoming a self-empowered diabetes expert
Building your confidence and personal strength
Improving your long-term health

Eligibility
Participants of the Core Health Diabetes Program must:

Have Medicaid insurance or are uninsured
Be 18 years or older
Live in the Grand Rapids area
Be able to perform everyday activities such as bathing, dressing and eating on your own
Be at risk for, or diagnosed with diabetes

Your doctor may refer you to this program, or you may call 616.391.6135 for enrollment information.

Cost
There is no cost to participate in the Core Health Diabetes Program. Call our office at 616.391.6135 to find out if you qualify.

What You Can Do
The safest and best way to prevent or treat your disease is to make healthy lifestyle changes, such as:

Be active
Eat right
Lose weight
Quit smoking
Take your medicine as recommended by your doctor
Know your numbers
Understand your disease as much as possible
Keep scheduled doctor appointments

Should be a good time! Only 38 days to go!

KCHD Day One..

So I started my Community Health rotation started today at the KCHD, Kent County Health Department. I was not excited but tried to go into it with a good attitude. I didn't get lost getting there or getting into the building so at least that was a good start! Then I thought that today was just going to be orientation type stuff, the tour, going over the syllabus and assignments and all that jazz. Nope. We had two speakers come in and talk to us, one about safety when doing home visits and the other one about Healthy Kent, a county program based on Healthy People 2020. Then our instructor tells us that we are just jumping right in today and following public health nurses on home visits. Some people followed nurses while others followed dieticians and social workers. All of the people that we went out with though were part of a program that works with pregnant moms and their babies up until they are one year old. So I went with my nurse on four different home visits around Grand Rapids. It was actually kind of informative but definitely not something I am really interested in as a career. So moral of the story, I still don't entirely know what I am going to be doing in Community Health but I know a lot of the stuff we are going to be doing is with the CORE Program, and we have that orientation tomorrow morning so then I will know more. Also, we have to do a "Teaching/Learning Project" this semester and last semester they did it at a daycare program at the YMCA. Before I knew this though, we all said where we work and I was talking about working at the Children's Center and long story short, we are going to do our project at the Center as long as it's okay with them. Which I'm sure it will be :) So I'm really excited about that. I love my kids and I love when my friends get to meet them, so it should be fun.

Hopefully I will know more tomorrow!

End of Leadership and half way done :)

I know, I know, I said I would be better at updating. Yet here we are...ten days later. Haha I guess it's better than the 20 days I went between the last two entries! So I promised a more thoughtful reflection of my time in my leadership rotation and here it is. Leadership was such a great experience. I really enjoyed feeling like I actually knew what I was doing and being somewhere long enough to get comfortable there. This experience on the other hand, makes me just want to be done with school that much more. Once you spend 6 weeks in one place, getting to know the floor, the daily routine, the medications and ALL of the staff, it really sucks to just pack it in and leave. Leadership also made me see that I am ready to be a nurse. I am able to work with other nurses, physicians, techs, and families and really do well at it. This also makes me just want to be done with school and have a job. Somewhere that I can put it the work to learn all about and then once I finally get the hang of everything, I can just STAY there. On my last day a bunch of the nurses that I was in a room with asked my instructor if I could just skip community health and stay with them the rest of the semester. I wish. We are at the point now where we are starting to job hunt and I'm working on some networking with people I know in the hospitals and getting ready to start emailing people and applying. SCARY. I'm hoping that with the help of my preceptor (who has worked in almost every area of the children's hospital and knows EVERYONE) and other nurses that work down there, they will help me get in touch with some of the managers on the floors to send in my resume. Networking. Boom. I hate playing this game....Stay tuned for the job hunt updates.

Also this week, my group did our evidence-based practice presentation on Tuesday. It was about the effectiveness of transitional interventions to prepare families to move from the acute/critical care setting to home. Super exciting stuff. 30 minutes of fun to be exact. But I'm glad it's over and that we did well on it. I also had my final evaluation for my leadership rotation. Don't worry, I passed. My instructor thinks I'm awesome and continued her semester long goal of peer-pressuring me into going to grad school. Not gonna happen, but I appreciate that she thinks I should.

I also finally picked a capstone topic for SURE. I'm doing "Reducing hospital emergency department visits for asthma in school age children." Sounds exciting right? I've determined that nursing is not even remotely exciting this semester. So yay capstone paper. I already have 21 articles for it and I'm super pumped to start reading them. Bleh, so over this.

In other news, had our first exam today, worth 20% of our grade. Studied for literally less than an hour. 95%. Damn I'm good.

44 days! The picture of the paper chain is when it had 50 days left, it's getting so tiny :) Oh, and the semester is half way over.

And I start my community health rotation. I literally could not be less excited.

5 weeks down and 50-something days to go

I've been a big slacker lately on the blog, which I regret because I don't want to quit updating this close to the end, but I think it's just because honestly, I am getting tired of talking about nursing school and kind of ready to be done. I haven't been meaning to neglect it, I just don't have tons to say! Leadership has been really great, for lack of a more eloquent way to say it. Last time I updated I had only gone to three days of Leadership (in the pediatric sedation unit, if you forgot), and now I have been there a total of 11 days and have only two left to go! In the last few weeks I have learned so much about communicating with families and talking with doctors, nurses, techs, and just a whole lot of people. The department that I am working in is just incredible. I really enjoy all of the nurses and nurse techs that work there and it has really made this rotation a wonderful experience. I have gotten very comfortable with telling families about the medications we use, what is going to happen before, during and after the procedure, and giving discharge instructions. I am getting much more independent and able to take on more responsibility each day that I am there. My preceptor is wonderful and we get along really well. She is great at answering all of my questions and letting me take on more responsibility, but not in a way that pushes me into anything she doesn't think I can handle. While sometimes I am out of my comfort zone, it's in a way that pushes me to be better, not in a way that scares me. Honestly, it's just been really great. I am really enjoying it and I feel that even though I may not be working on a floor and getting that kind of experience, I am still learning so much about working with other people and about communicating with patients and families. I can't believe it will be over on Tuesday!

I promise to write a more thoughtful and reflective entry later this week when I have more time! This week I am preparing for my Evidence-based practice presentation that my group is presenting next Tuesday, finishing up all of my evaluations, journals and paperwork from Leadership that is due on Wednesday, and continuing to work on my capstone paper, so it has definitely been busy! I am looking forward to finishing Leadership on Tuesday, having class on Wednesday and then taking 5 days off before my presentation and the start of my next and LAST rotation next week!

When I went to google "Leadership" I brain-farted and typed "Leader fish" and whelp, got the picture of just that. A Leader fish. I like it. Leader fish it is.

I also almost forget the not obligatory countdown update at the end of each post! What was I thinking?

**DRUMROLL PLEASE**

53 days to go! :)

(New paper chain picture soon!)

Leadership fun!

I have been telling people about my leadership rotation all week so this post should be pretty easy :) I started my leadership rotation on Monday last week, then went Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Leadership means that instead of doing clinical in a group, you do clinical all by yourself and you have a "preceptor" which is a nurse that you work with everyday. You work around her schedule, and she is solely responsible/in charge of you. The goal of the rotation is that by the end of 6 weeks, you should be doing about 90% of your nurse's job all by yourself. My nurse has an AWESOME schedule. She works Monday-Friday from 8-5 (or some really close variation of that, i.e sometimes it's 730-430). This is great because of a few reasons: a) I don't have to get up at the legitimate crack of dawn like I have for other clinicals that I had to be at by 630 b)I have no problem getting all of my hours in c)I can get all of my hours done in 5 weeks. So basically it's a really good deal for me. Everyone is fairly jealous of my schedule. And I'm okay with that.

So what am I doing for my leadership you ask? I am at Helen Devos Children's Hospital (by far the coolest hospital in Grand Rapids and essentially my dream place to work once I graduate). I am working in the Pediatric Sedation Unit. So basically what we do is sedate kids for an procedure that would be be painful or that requires the kids to lay perfectly still. They do a lot of lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirates, biopsies, scopes (egd's and colonoscopies), castings, MRI's and other scans, central line insertions and port insertions and removals. I've gotten to see a TON of really awesome things. The role of the nurse in all of this is to very similar to the role of the OR nurse, except they do much more teaching and assessment than an OR nurse. The patient comes down to the room and meets the nurse there. She then tells them all about the procedure and teaches them about the medications we will be using, how fast it will put the child to sleep, how long the procedure will take and what to except after. She then gets the child all prepped and hooked up to the heart monitor, gets a pulse ox on and lets them pick a bandaid for after we take their IV out. Then she starts the IV (I can't do this because students aren't allowed to do IV's in pediatrics. At all. Ever). I do however get all the supplies out to start the IV, help the nurse start it, then as soon as its actually in the vein I do everything else. So I guess it's okay that I can't actually start them. So then during the procedure the nurse records vitals every 3 minutes and monitors the patient, and helps the doctors with anything they need. Right after the procedure the nurse is the one that stays with the patient as they wake up, takes all the leads and tape off, removes the IV and then talks to the family about what to expect for the rest of the day. She also gives all of the discharge instructions. So the nurse is DEFINITELY very busy during procedures. She also gets and draws up all of the medications, that's sort of a crucial thing I forgot. The medication we use to sedate is called Propofol and it puts kids to sleep in about 15 seconds, which is actually pretty funny to watch sometimes. It is jokingly called "Milk of Amnesia" because it has an amnesiac effect and after you come out of it you have no memory of the procedure. Fun Fact: It is also what Michael Jackson used to "sleep" and what killed him. When I Google-Imaged it I found mostly pictures of MJ, including a whole series of really hilarious by insensitive shirts that say "GOT PROPOFOL?"

So this week I started doing all of the vitals, getting the patient hooked up to the monitors, and doing discharge instructions. Next week I will add drawing up meds to the list, as well as all of the teaching at the beginning of the procedure. By the end of next week I'm hoping to be doing at least 50-75% of what my nurse does, with her supervision of course. I really like the unit that I'm in. We get to travel all over the hospital to do procedures sometimes, and I get to see so many different things and work with doctors, PA's, NP's and lots of other people. It's very cool and I'm very happy with it so far :) Next week I am going on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday then heading home for a long Memorial Day weekend!

76 days to go.

The Beginning of the End!

At the end of NUR 315, my first nursing class, I got all mushy at the end of my post and talked about how nursing school would never be better than it was then and how it would never be the same as it was with my friends in that class. I said that it wasn't the end, but it was "the end of the beginning." Well here we are now, and I was completely wrong about things not getting any better. In the past 3 semesters since then I have made so many more great friends, gotten to know almost everyone in my class, and had so many amazing times. That brings me to today. The beginning of the end. Today was the first day of our LAST semester of nursing school. It feels so surreal that we have come this far. Yesterday I volunteered to go into NUR 320 (The hardest semester of the program and the semester everyone panics about) to talk to the students about the class. Basically the professors leave the room and let a few of us just take questions and give advice on how to get through it, what they should and shouldn't do, if they can work during clinical, how to study, is it really that bad, etc. It's kind of fun and kind of funny to think that it's already been a year since we were in their shoes. Today was my first day of class. This semester, well for the first 6 weeks, I have seminar from 8-920, which is a group of only 5 of us that meets to talk about clinical and all kinds of stuff. Then we have theory from 9:30-11:40, then a break, and then theory again from 12:30-2:40. It's a lot of class in one, but then I remember that it's still not even close to as bad as NUR 320 was. Haha. I spent a lot of time today just getting organized (shocker) so that I can feel like I have some control over my life. Everyone in my class makes fun of my obsessive organization but I think secretly they're just jealous. First days are just always so overwhelming that if I don't get organized then I feel like I can't handle it. As far as first days go though, today wasn't that bad. We had a med calculation test due today, which was 20 questions of calculation IV drip rates, flow rates, how long it will take IV's to run, etc. And we had to get 100% on it. I did. Boom. And it was nice to see all of my friends again. The worst part of this semester will probably be that we have to write a Capstone paper. 16 pages. Minimum 25-30 references. Not looking forward to THAT. But hey, such is life! I think this semester is gonna go by super fast. I start my leadership rotation on Monday, so stay tuned for that.

Picture is of the paper chain when we had 100 days left, but now we only have 86 days to go! :):):)

I GRADUATED today.

Yup, even though I still have one semester left until I am officially done with the nursing program, today I got to rock the cap and gown and walk across the stage. Last week was my last week of class and I only had class on Monday and Tuesday because clinical was done the week before, so it was a really quick and easy week! Then I got to go home for a few days for Easter and to spend time with my family. This past Monday was my final exam, which was cumulative and I stupidly spent approximately four hours studying for because I was home for Easter and voted that time with my friends and family was more important. I don't really regret that decision though. Ended up getting an 80 on the final and a B+ in the class, so I'm pretty happy with that overall. So that's the end of Nursing 420 and now we are in our FINAL semester. Awesome.

Which brings me to today which was GVSU GRADUATION! Because there is no graduation ceremony in August, students that are finishing up in August can either walk early in April or come back and walk in December, so we all voted for April :) So Thursday my friends Cheryl and Kathryn and I got together to decorate our caps so that they would say "RN" on them so our parents could see us during the ceremony. They are adorable. Mine has rubies and pearls on it so represent the sorority. I figured it was a good way to mesh together my two worlds in college: Alpha Sigma Alpha and The Kirkhof College of Nursing. Then Friday my mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin and grandma ALL came up here for graduation. We went out to dinner at Carrabas and just hung out until late. My parents got me real pearls for graduation. How fitting if you know me. I love them. Then this morning I met up with Kathryn and Cheryl (And Matt and Casey) so we could all take pictures before graduation. The nursing students also got to have a whole room to ourselves while we waited to go into the arena so we had plenty of times for pictures and chatting. And we all got to sit together during the ceremony. No one fell on the stage, and the ceremony went really quick for having 1200 people (there were another 1300 at the 3pm graduation!!) It was an amazing day. Then we went out to dinner at Logan's and then the fam headed home already! Fortunately I have all of next week off so I will be heading home probably tomorrow to spend some time at home before I start the Spring/Summer semester.

I can't believe that I graduated today. Five years later. It still feels very unbelievable that we are SO close to being done and to being nurses. I loved being able to spend today with some of my favorite people, both family and friends. I am so thankful to have such a caring and wonderful family, and for the amazing friends that I have made in the nursing program. What an awesome day :).