Day One of Semester One 05.16.2016
I woke up at 6AM, well who am I kidding, I didn't sleep! I got out of bed at 6AM, hopped in the shower really excited to be able to finally wear my scrubs! I think that was the most exciting thing to me about going to nursing school at first, now I can't wait to get out of them when I get home. Oh how the times have changed!
Once out the shower and in my scrubs, I do my hair and my make up, because it's the first day of classes and everyone always puts in effort the first day or week. I leave the house around 6:45/7:00AM and head to my friend and classmates house to pick her up. We are so giddy and excited to be starting the journey together! We get to campus no later than 7:15AM and our class doesn't start until 8:00AM so we wait around, expecting no one else to be there... Yeah right, there is about 10 other classmates waiting outside the classroom, we're all talking, comparing what we brought with us to class and who's read what to prepare for the class. My friend and I decide to head to the cafeteria to buy some coffee, and their closed :/ So we sit inside waiting for them to open, and they did, at 7:30AM. We got the fresh / first pot of coffee they made and headed to class, again expecting it to still be empty since it was now 7:45AM and we don't start until 8:00AM. Again yeah right, the room is full of the other students, in fact we had to sit in the back since we were probably the last two to walk in that room. We set our coffee down on the table and save a seat for our friend who was still on her way to class. When she arrives, she sits next to Camille, my friend, and the professor shuts the door. Samantha (another classmates) turns around and looks at my binder, with EVERYTHING that the professor sent us printed, and says wow! how long did that take you? I laugh and tell her it took me a few hours and about 2 ink cartridges to print but I didn't want to miss any of my paperwork. She turns back around and our instructor tells us all that we can't have any drinks with us in our class. Camille and I just looked at each other like crap, there goes our coffee lol.
A few hours later and our professor gives us our first break, it's around 9:30AM and we have to be back within 15 minutes so we head outside and start to drink our coffee as fast as possible so as not to let it waste. We head back to class and while our instructor is teaching he tells us that he really likes when people tell personal stories that pertain to the lecture, so one of the girls in my class announces that she's a PCA and tells us some stories about her patients. I was thinking OMG that's so cool I want to be her friend!!! I'm such a nerd I know.
Around 12PM our instructor finally lets us go and we head to the cafeteria for our lunch break before our dosage calculations class, we start talking about our excitement and our nerves and how this is just so incredible. We head to dosage class and sit there for 2 hours with our instructor, she's pretty amazing I have to say, and strict and lot of people didn't like her but I had a feeling she was going to be one our best instructors. She turned out to be my favorite instructor, and I can't wait to be in her class again in October for Peds.
Day Two Semester One 05.17.2016
Ah the day where the fun stuff began, my very first clinical day! This day was going to be a very long day, we started at 7AM and didn't leave until 7PM, which I guess is okay since that's pretty much what our shifts are going to be like for the rest of our lives.
Today we learned the basics, hand hygiene, PPE (personal protective equipment), Precautions (when to put on the PPEs), we learned about sterile fields, we learned how to take blood pressure, how to take the apical pulse, and so on and so forth. It really was awesome because we learned so much that day, but at the end of it all I was exhausted.
On this day is when we formed our group, it grew from 3 of us (Nadia, Camille, and myself) to five of us (Nadia, Camille, Lyndsey, Samantha, and myself)! Samantha is the same girl that spoke to me the first day about my binder, she happened to be assigned to the same clinical instructor as Nadia and myself, Camille was set with another instructor. We have no control where we go though.
Lyndsey was the PCA from the other day! I was so excited to be her friend!!!!
She also happened to be assigned to the same instructor as Nadia and myself, and so the four of us were going to be together on hospital days!
Honestly now that it's our third semester, I don't know where I would be without my girls! They are literally my rock! We've all been so stressed out in front of one another that we feel like we've been friends for years. I'm glad that I met them and when you start your school I suggest you find yourself your group of friends that are your rock. I'm not saying that people who aren't in nursing school won't understand what you're going through, but those that are in it with you will understand it and probably feel the same way that you do, so I suggest finding that group of friends that you know you wouldn't survive without!
This post was just about the first two days, look out for the next post on how my first week of exams (4 to be exact) was, and how well, or terrible I did on them! These exams were difficult, and it's only going to get harder from here on out!
My name is Stacy, I'm a twenty-four year old college student hoping to one day be a nurse. This blog is my place to vent, and share my life story with you all! I hope you guys enjoy, and please contact me with any question!!!