The End Is Near!

      Merry Christmas, all! I randomly stumbled upon my old blog and re-read some of my older posts. It is SO FUNNY to look back and realize that I honestly had no idea the life I was going to live out while in nursing school. I can proudly say that I made it through some of the toughest curriculum I have ever faced in my life. I, along with my classmates and now friends, have dealt with our fair share of stress and laughter throughout these last four semesters. However, I believe I can speak for most of us and say this last semester was pretty much HELL. I continuously described it as the "gatekeeper" class before going onto preceptorship this coming Spring and I still say that to this day. Now, to shortly re-cap nursing school!

*ADVICE: Don't go to nursing school if you are not ready to fully, if not 90%, devote yourself to it, end of story.

First nursing picture. What a BABY!

      Alright, first semester was truly the transitional stage. I practically had to adjust my way of thinking, literally. Nursing school teaches facts and assessment, you have to learn how to critically think yourself, which sucks. I still remember my first day of clinicals and my sweet partner and dear friend, Caitlin. We spent hours in our patient's room doing what we can do now in 10 mins tops! HAHA! We have grown so much. Our patient was super great though, I couldn't have asked for a better one to start off my clinical experiences. I had an awesome clinical group as well, we all got along very well. The actual class' themselves weren't too bad, but as I look back each semester had one "hard" class. I would say, hands down, Assessments was the toughest class my first semester. It involved a great deal of critical thinking and application which gets a lot people in trouble because we are all so conditioned to simple memorization and regurgitation of the information.

First clinical group! Seriously hated those white uniforms.

 My other two classes were Patho and Concepts which basically taught one to "have a heart" for patients. I enjoyed both classes and they have carried me far. Another awesome fact about first semester is that you are subjected to "lab". Yes, lab, where we basically were taught all our skills. Lab scared me worse than taking actual tests, simply because each week we were given a timed calculations quiz. If anyone knows me then you know I HATE math. Needless to say, I passed, but I stressed. Along the lines of calculation quizzes we were introduced to "calculations tests" and "ATI", both sucked. Basically, you have to pass the calculations test with a 100% in order to start clinicals and you are only given X amount of times to take it. ATI, dear Lord........I hated that, too. Each semester we have to take a final ATI exam based off the classes we took and with the program being so difficult mostly all of us fail. We basically walk into those tests every semester knowing if we get above a 60% we did something right. As you can see, first semester was all about trying to stay afloat, balancing personal life and school and simply passing in the end. It helped a lot to gain the friendships I did then. I joined a study group which really helped when it came to needing support and understanding of the literal hell we were all going through. I loved my new friends and were truly grateful for them. I owe them everything.

The crew. LOVE these people!

     Second semester came quickly and I was starting fresh. I had made it to my second semester of nursing school and I was looking towards the future with hope. My class began to form closer bonds and stronger friendships were being made. Now, our class had advanced from the 1st floor to the 3rd. For some odd reason I felt this to be of some achievement, but soon after realizing how terrible the chairs were I wished for the 1st floor once more! This particular semester I was set to take Acute, Pharm and EBP(basically a research class). I was READY! As the semester progressed we took our usual calculations exam(BLAH) and adventured back into the hospitals for more clinicals. Once again I had a GREAT clinical group with an awesome instructor. This semester pushed for much more knowledge pertaining to drugs, administration and of course, autonomy. *FACT: working IV Pumps is scary when you first start, just saying. Also, another random fact: entering a patient's room for the first time on the shift is a little intimidating; first impressions are HUGE. As for the actual classes, Acute(Med-Surg) was this semester's tough course. It was basically an accumulation of issues and disorders across the lifespan. Pharm was interesting, but having a friend who understands it a lot better than you do is pretty helpful, too. EBP was cool if you like writing papers and doing research...overall, I passed. BOOM. At the end of the semester the senior graduating class presented their preceptorship presentations and how inspiring it was to sit and listen to those that were once in my place. I knew if they could do it, so could I .

One of our many end-of-the-semester dinners!

      SUMMER!!! Not really. AUM actually goes year-round, which I like. The thought of getting something done sooner is just more appealing. The summer went by SUPER FAST! This semester was focused on OB and Community Health. OH MY GOD THIS SEMESTER WAS STRESSFUL. No, it had NOTHING to do with the material or tests, but EVERYTHING to do with BUSY WORK. I am not a fan of busy work, I see no point in it; however, for one of my classes it was found necessary. I wanted to pull my hair out at times, yes, but I pressed onward. Clincals were VERY INTERESTING for OB and by interesting I mean I saw two live births. Yeah, its not for everyone, myself included. At this point I had had three semester's worth of clinicals and none of which interested me. I was seriously getting worried at this point.

Birthdays are the best. :)

I LOVED OB though, but I honestly believe it was the teacher, she was amazing. Very knowledgeable woman! Community on the other hand did not appeal much to me at all. I was actually really sick for about a week or so and missed three clinical days, two of which I really wanted to go, oh well. The thought of Community Health and reaching out to those in need and/or living on the streets in need of medical care really interests me, but unfortunately I didn't get much of that style of outreach. The one thing I hated about this semester were all the group projects we had! You could have been in up to four different groups doing polar opposite topics, so on and so on. IT WAS RIDICULOUS. I believe the main complaint was just that. Overall, I passed once again and a nice two week break stood between me and my last semester of nursing school before preceptorship!

     Fall was here and I was so ready! I felt good, but I was knew it was going to be a SERIOUS CHALLENGE! Our whole class had heard how difficult this class was and that it took serious critical thinking skills and application. We were advised to even get an NCLEX book to study to prepare for tests. This class was Acute's big brother called, CHRONIC...the thought of it still makes me want to get in the fetal position. So much hard work, drive and determination went into this class. *Random Fact: I cried for the first time in nursing school over this class. It was only for about a minute due to utter exhaustion towards the end of the semester, but hell, I got mad and did something about it, I studied! My only other class for the semester was Leadership. My teacher was AMAZING!! I LOVE HER.

Fourth semester: Professionalism Day. We look so...professional.

She is so real and so easy to talk to! She truly inspires me to continue my education. Clinicals were more in depth and interesting. I had a few critical care clincials in which I worked in ICU's and I must say, it was pretty neat. I felt all my skills coming together and assessments becoming more advanced. I was fully understanding the relation between labs and the patient's diagnosis and/or status. I was actually beginning to love nursing school. However, all this began to slow as tests were being taken and grades were being delivered. This class was becoming quite a SHOCK to us all. The main issue I felt was that we as a whole would study, study, study and for most of us it would not reflect in our test scores. This was something new to most of us. The uneasiness we all felt after tests was simply vomit worthy. I will honestly say that I have never felt such stress in my life. I was backed into a corner for our fourth and last test before our CUMULATIVE FINAL and I had to do well. I studied four weeks for a test that the majority of the class failed. I am still bitter. We were given only a WEEK to study for our final. We had issues about that along with others and unfortunately nothing was done. Exactly one week later and experiencing shakes, irregular heart beats and malnourishment due to the inability to eat real food I took that damn final. I honestly felt good about it afterwards. That night I received my grade knowing good and well some of my fellow classmates had not passed. It was so hard to look at my grade, but it had to be done. Knowing for the first time ever that I had to make a certain grade in order to pass I saw a better grade than what I originally needed. I cried. I cried from pure joy and utter exhaustion. I had pushed myself so hard that even the thought of eating was taking away time from studying. I pray to God I never have to do that again.

The night we found out we passed fourth semester!

     Here I am now, enjoying a stress-free Christmas. I look joyfully ahead towards this next semester and I hope for the best. I hope to work with a GREAT nurse, one that is patient and willing to teach me not only skills, but also show me by example what a nurse is suppose to represent. I am nervous, yes, but I believe that reminds me to stay humble and willing to learn. I am unsure of what the future holds, but I do know I will be preceptoring at UAB in downtown Birmingham. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and I am excited to be apart of such an institution!

       Now, onto the short, yet awesome, behind the scenes of nursing school! It is SO IMPORTANT to keep a social life during this time. They say to take time for yourself and friends and goodness it so true. I have gained such amazing friendships during nursing school! I have had the joy of becoming close to quite a few people and partaking in dinner parties, game nights, slumbers, end-of-the-semester parties, movie nights, experiencing Montgomery's night life, baseball games downtown, intramurals, and so much more! I've even been blessed enough to have met someone is school that has truly changed my life forever. We have been together for almost eleven months now and it has been a blast! We share our nursing school experiences together and so much more; he is simply God-sent. I look back at how our relationship started and it is all so funny. Something I never saw happening did in fact happen and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Jake is one amazing guy.

We got SO MUCH free Chick-fil-la!

DINNER AND GAME NIGHTS!

New man. Hiking in Birmingham.

Intramurals! I had a blast getting back to my old volleyball roots!

Surprise beach trip from the boo. Sunburns suck!

       All in all, I think I can say nursing school has changed me for the better and I am taking away a lot more than what I ever imagined doing so. Roll Tide and go Warhawks!