After a wonderful summer break I began my third nursing school semester in the Fall of 2016.
This semester was my "OB/Peds" split, with half of the semester adding on "Community Nursing" and the other half adding on "Nursing Ethics" and my upper level nursing elective "Client Education".
Client Education was a super simple online class that only had discussion posts and one Powerpoint presentation at the end of the semester. I actually learned a lot about the different ways that education is important with all of our patients and the different ways the information can be relayed. The project was to create a PowerPoint where you were teaching your patient (any of patient and topic of your choosing).
My Nursing Ethics class was somewhat in-depth because there were a lot of legal and ethical definitions, and a lot of scenario questions that really made you think about how you would handle those situations.
My Community nursing class was another full blown clinical class, only accelerated. Every had different clinical sites to go to that classified as Community Health sites. For example, some students went to a home health agency to shadow with a home health nurse for the day. One of my experiences was at a local women's clinic. We also had one simulation lab day regarding Community Health where was completed two different scenarios, and two exams were tacked on throughout the time frame of the class regarding the readings we were responsible for.
My OB/peds portion of the semester was the most difficult component to the semester. The teacher we had for the OB portion of the course was an OB nurse by trade who recently began teaching the subject. Throughout the whole entire semester I could not figure out the correct way to learn about Mom and Baby in order to answer the exam questions correctly. My clinical portion to Mom and Baby went just as poorly, and having my professor as my clinical instructor did not make things much better. However, I powered through the weeks of the OB course and stumbled my way to Peds, where I fell completely in love.
For my Pediatric course, the professor was a mainstay faculty member in my nursing program who is actually a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner that also worked at a practice in a neighboring town. This professor was very knowledgeable, and delivered the information in a way in which it was easy to comprehend and apply to the clinical setting.
My pediatric clinical has to be my second favorite rotation, only behind my Med-Surge rotation my second semester. I got the absolute privilege to go to a children's hospital for my pediatric rotation instead of a normal pediatric floor in a general hospital. The commute to this location was the only downfall because no one is a fan of rush hour traffic. However, the experience that I got in this facility is one that I will always remember.
I had always toyed with the idea of being either a NICU nurse with premies or a pediatric nurse. Once I actually had to assess a baby I knew that that specialty was really out of the question. I have always had positive relationships with children - ever since I was a child myself I would always look over those smaller than me at family parties and different social scenarios. Having my pediatric clinical be such a success completely solidified this specialty as being something I would definitely consider practicing for the rest of my nursing career.
Fun Fact about my pediatric rotation: On the second to last clinical day I suddenly got so sick in the morning I almost passed out. I literally fell asleep at pre-conference at six the morning (completely unlike me), and as we were walking onto the specific unit we were on for the day I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out. I pulled my professor to the side and told her I wasn't feeling well and she gave me crackers and juice. I ended up sitting in a secluded, old nurses station that no one really used anymore for most of the morning, trying not to feel sick anymore. It was really embarrassing, and I felt bad for the nurse I was paired up with because I wasn't too helpful that day.
That day showed me that self-care is super important, and that sleep and a well-balanced diet are two key factors in staying healthy. Taking care of yourself first is the only way you will be able to do your job properly and help others. Obviously, if I was really a nurse I would really have to push past my light-headedness and nausea and do the best service I could for my patients.
This semester is also the semester I started an on campus job for my nursing college. It was a simple job with moderate hours; it served a positive purpose of allowing me to again get closer with my fellow nursing classmates and faculty, as well as bring in some extra cash.
I continued to be a part of SNA my third semester, this time as secretary. I really enjoyed this position, as I was able to be more "hands on" within the board of directors of SNA. My main duties were to take meeting minutes for each BOD meeting, organize the end of the semester board position elections, and help other members with their events in any way I could.
Overall, this semester was really difficult, but I learned a lot of important life and educational lessons.
I hope that you enjoyed reading this post! Thank you so much for reading, it is greatly appreciated!
- Michelle
#BSNbabe
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