Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [NCLEX-RN]

A memorable July 3rd, 2013

Oh NCLEX-RN exam; where to start with you, I just don't know. I have to say I am thankful, relieved, excited, grateful, blessed,...I will NEVER, EVER, EVER have to take that exam again. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience just the way I wanted. The End.

Okay...here's a little more detail in order of events. When I first began to anticipate taking the NCLEX-RN board exam at the completion of nursing school I really wanted to take it before the end of June. Well, as seems to go in my life anytime I REALLY have a timeline set-in-stone (or so I thought) it doesn't usually go as planned...long story short I renegotiated with myself and settled considering my circumstances that before the 4th of July would be okay. So as soon as I received my ATT (Authorization to Test) from the National Council Licensure Examination people...the earliest time slot I could get that was before the 4th of July was on Wednesday, July 3rd; 2 1/2 hours away from my humble abode....way to be Ashley sticking to your guns on getting the test date you wanted. So I set all my studying and schedules for this date and went to work....later on when I recover from my PTSD from NCLEX I may do a series on how to be study NCLEX to prepare to pass the first time...in short Kaplan, in long Kaplan...anyone who is going to be taking the NCLEX-RN exam should REALLY invest in Kaplan, it is worth every penny! All and all I studied for 30 days (not including the 4-day intensive course through Kaplan), and an estimated minimum of 120 hours total. End result- I took my exam in an hour and 30-40 minutesish, successfully completing and passing the exam the first time with out too-much pain.

As I said the exam was 2 1/2 hours away from home so my mom and I got a hotel the night before and headed north. We scoped out where the test center was, relaxed in the hot tub, and watched my all-time comfort/ favorite/ relaxing movie The Parent Trap. Got up bright and early at 6am, Perkins for breakfast and off to the test center (I was the second to arrive).  

After taking the exam I was exhausted and just wanted to shower and nap. Not before stopping at the local Starbucks for the coffee I hadn't yet had that morning. Since we were already up North we drove up the shore (after said nap, shower, and coffee) and headed for one of my favorite spots; Gooseberry falls! I did not know at this point I had passed, but I did know I finished in my goal time and questions that I wanted. I was done studying at that point and could at least celebrate that. These photos are from the afternoon with my mom! I would have wanted it no other way :) 

  Seriously, the weather that day was PERFECT, couldn't have asked for better!

This is my very tired, but happy face after taking a long intimidating test knowing that it was done 

(little did I know... I would NEVER having to do it again!)

Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [Commencement]

I graduated! I officially graduated! It took me 5 crazy long years but I did it! As I look back over everything that has happened the past 5 years from traveling on training trips with the swim team, going to Africa for class, getting up early for clinical and practices, staying up late to study, I did it! Sometimes these days, especially in my family filled with college graduates where it is expected that you graduate from college some of these mile stones don't feel as important. Deep down though I know it is. It has equipped me to pursue a career I love and put me in a place to really help and serve others at a whole other level. Here's a few pictures from the day. I only received 3 tickets for commencement to my mom, dad, and Aunt came to celebrate with me and then afterwords my family met us at a local Mexican restaurant, even my cousins and Uncle from Chicago came up just for the weekend! I have a really loving and supportive family, and today was no different! 

      These three girls Steffanie (BSN), Melanie (BSN), and Laura (BS in Respiratory Therapy) have been so important in my college experience. They were my teammates, classmates, cheerleaders and friends through the good/ bad/ and ugly. They know me the most and I am so glad that we were able to take this journey together! (First photo of the day and one of my favorites!)

Alli (far right) joined us a little later in the morning for pictures. She's off internationally to teach an elementary classroom, so happy and excited for her! I swam with her for 3 out of my 4 years of college swimming, and was her "big" sister. 

My Aunt Heidi flew up from Chicago before the rest of her family joined her to be at my pinning ceremony to pin me. She has been at every major event and celebration thus far in my life and look forward to many more to come!

Catholic hooding ceremony/ service before commencement.

Grand march to the auditorium where commencement would be held...finally my mom noticed me!

Very proud parents! (they love me lots!)

To this day one of my favorite photos of my dad and I.

Photo with Steff and Chrissy nursing friends who were in clinical with me all the way through nursing school.

We're done!!!

Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [Pinning Ceremony]

Undergraduate Baccalaureate Nursing Class of Spring, 2013

Something that is unique to nursing that was probably one of my favorite celebratory parts of completing my undergrad was the pinning ceremony. Each nursing school is different and traditionally the idea of pinning ceremonies is "passing on" the art and gift of nursing from one generation of nurses to the next. So for my class this happened the Friday evening before graduation. But enough talk and more photos!

  My mom on the right, aunt on the left. My Aunt has her doctorate of nurse practice and was the person to "pin" me on the night of nursing pinning.

Me and my two brothers. Zach (16) on the left and Ryley (20) on the right. I may be the oldest but never the "biggest". 

 

 Photos with my parents after the ceremony.

It was very nice to have my moms parents there that night to celebrate with me and the completion of nursing school.

A few photos from before pinning ceremony outside the chapel!

 

 Above is a photo of Rachel, Jacki, and I we all went to Africa together in January.

A picture with my coach from four years of college swimming and Melanie!

Pinning ceremony was a great way to end finals week and start the celebration of graduation weekend! I was surrounded by my classmates, professors, coaches, family, and friends that made this possible for me and for that I felt very supported and blessed.

 "Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, 
the believers and the thinkers, but most of all, 
surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, 
even when you don't see it yourself"

{A quote I found on pinterest and had it on my slide for the slideshow before the ceremony began}

Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [a metaphor]

As I reflect back I realize that the blog posts from the month of May onward there are a lot of details left out of events in my life. Now that I have more time on my hands, I mean... I feel that now is an appropriate time as any to share some pictures from the past months leading up to now, especially today, where I am officially able to say, "I am a nurse".

The above photograph is the picture taken of me before my undergraduate baccalaureate pinning ceremony in front of the entrance to the chapel on campus. I did have one post mentioning pinning ceremony {here}. 

Nursing school, and really the entire undergraduate college experience is a chapter of life that is very unique and like no other I have experienced thus far. In regards to being a nursing student it really feels like the iron man triathlon race made up of three parts the swimming portion, biking portion, and ends with a marathon (running 26.2 miles). However, the race really began before the getting to the "starting line" - with a lot of preparation and practice. 

Metaphor   

Sign-Up: For me this was before I even started college and was embedded in my process to choose a university. Which really is probably a separate post in itself. However, for both the iron man and nursing school step one is to choose to sign-up and put your name on the dotted line that says, "Yes. This is what I want to do!"

Practice makes perfect: Once you commit, you gotta do it! Both with athletics and nursing school it's not about the one day you wake up and you're ready to race, you gotta prepare yourself for what's to come. In nursing school this means (at least) two years of prerequisite courses in math, social sciences, lab sciences, and other liberal arts required courses (for me this took 3 years). This is the part of school where you learn, or after not-learning, learn again how to study, perform on tests, and memorize an obscene amount of facts that at the time just seem unnecessary. This is where I had to prove to my university and the nursing department that I was an eligible student for their program. 

First year of nursing school// swimming: You start out nursing school feeling on top of the world! I had just gotten accepted into the program I wanted (and felt like I deserved) and was ready to race through the next two years and be done with it!....well as you may imagine I was quickly taught a lesson in humility because this "race" is long and requires a lot of patience, hard-work, and perseverance. If I was going to be successful in nursing school I needed to take it one week, one day, and sometimes even one assignment at a time. Along the way I was introduced to some very crucial professors and friends that helped me up when I was down, and were my cheer leaders when I really needed (because they knew exactly what I was going through).  It was a combination of my stubborn nature, and determination that really got me through this first year of nursing school.

Second year// biking: This is the part of a triathlon that I think sneaks up on you, has potential for wipe-outs, and is the first test of endurance. I went into my second year of nursing school feeling confident, being told that the first year was the hardest and thinking in my head that it would be all "down-hill" from here...oh boi was I wrong! I to this day will tell anyone who asks, I LOVED the first year of nursing (well-it's all a mater of perspective). Put nicely, the second year was rough. BUT, I learned a lot about myself, what capacity I have, and solidified that nursing was the right career choice for me.

I have a feeling (never attempting a triathlon myself) that after biking you want to be able to celebrate a moment, over halfway!...but then again, that one part left is really the most important one, ...the ultimate test of the preparation and hard work you've done to get to where you are. So celebrations are short-lived, like graduation and pinning rehearsal I felt like I could only allow myself to celebrate within reason knowing what was yet to come.

Preparing for NCLEX// marathon: This parallel of comparing NCLEX to a marathon was introduced to our nursing class quite early on in the second year of nursing school. NCLEX-RN is an exam that was going to take an immense amount of effort, emotional perseverance, and time. Preparation for this exam would need to be done in small pieces over a long-period of time, like running a marathon (it really takes a long time!). Every time a teacher said this my stomach turned. I am for one NOT a test-taker, testing and Ashley just do not mix. Yes, I knew that at the end of my schooling I would need to take an exam but up until this point ignorance was very much bliss. This is my identical feeling to running, I hate it, and for sure not in a million years would willingly sign up for running a marathon, let alone an iron man...but I wanted and felt that it is my call in my life to be a nurse...so I had to keep going; so I did. I studied starting the Tuesday after graduation up until the day before the exam. For this very reason is why today I can say I not only passed my exam, but passed it on the first time. Not because it was easy, not because testing is my thing, but because I worked and worked my ass off to pass giving up a lot for the month of June to make taking this exam a once-and-a-lifetime experience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woah, that's a lot of words...I apologize for being long-winded (hopefully it makes up for a lack of blog-posts in June). Even now as I look back over the past 5+ years, I know this isn't the only..and probably not going to be the hardest "race" in my life, but it is certainly one I will never forget. It's these experiences in life that test our tenacity, perseverance, and ethic that can make the most impact. Even though it has been a few days since I found out I passed I still find myself reflecting back over the experience and the journey which is what made the "end" so special.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I start the next "chapter" in my life as a "young-adult"/ "20-something", there is a lot of unknowns and still a lot of learning and growing to be done.The next which I will begin relatively soon will be applying for my first professional job that will be the start to my life-long career in nursing. I don't know how long or how short it will take to find a job, but I pray that whatever comes ahead of me is the right fit for me right now in this time in my life.

As I sit and type this all out, I really once again am filled with so much appreciation and gratitude of all the people in my life that have supported, loved, and cheered for me along the way to make this whole journey a success. I will be forever grateful and in awe of how God provides exactly what I need when I need it.

I say thank you to you -if you are reading this and were apart of making this happen. Whether you were my elementary school teacher, boss, co-worker, teammate, friend, or family member, I am so thankful for having you in my life. This is also an invitation to get a cup of coffee, go to the beach, and spend time together...well one because I have a lot more time on my hands than I have ever in my life, and two because I want to be able to be there for you too!

What got me through nursing school especially was a quote I found early on in my college career;
Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense"

The blog-posts for the remainder of this week will be mostly filled with pictures of celebrations and happenings surrounding pinning, graduation, and NCLEX
{Consider this your warning ;-)}

one step closer.

source.

It's at the end of days like today where my brain feels like mush, a sense of accomplishment sweeps over me, and then I decide to not settle on the success of today to instead look at the goal of the future. At my University's nursing school they require all of their graduating bachelors students to pass a NCLEX predictor exam before they will release my name to the board of nursing to sign up for a test time to take our boards. The first opportunity was during classes in the last month of school, the second opportunity was at the end of a week-long intensive Kaplan review course, the third was two weeks following that course which happened to be today. The bench mark for those exams which "predict" us to have a 98% chance of passing the first time is 65%. I did not make that bench mark either of the first two opportunities, so I had to wait again to take the test today. Each exam is a different format with completely different questions, however today must have been when the stars aligned and I passed. Passing for me was nice, but the best was seeing that all my hours in the library and studying over doing things that other young-adult-new-college-graduates would do which is enjoy their "last-last-summer-of-childhood"...This is not really an exam though that gives me permission to stop and wait until I get a chance to test, but reinforces that what I am doing is the right thing and that I should continue to press forward and prepare. 

Because really,...I REALLY want to be a nurse when I grow up! 

Nursing Pinning Ceremony {let the celebrations begin!}

Cell pone pic on the morning of my last clinical.

Tonight is the night that I have been looking forward to since I started school; my nursing pinning ceremony. The pinning ceremony is the culmination of the initial journey to the professional nursing education.Today nurses do not wear their traditional whites and nursing cap in the health care environment. So instead of receiving a nursing hat we will receive a nursing school pin. I am choosing to have my aunt pin me. She is the only nurse in my family who also happens to be a doctorate of nurse practitioner (DNP). It is special to have her pin me for many reasons, but most importantly she has been with me in my journey through life even from birth and I am so thankful to have such a loving role model in my life and now for my career. Of course I get to get dressed up, get my nails done, hair fixed, and take lots of photos. The thing I look forward to is sitting alongside all the nursing students who went through everything with me, alongside me to get to where we are to day. In addition to my peers all of our clinical faculty and professors will be sitting with us and welcome us into the profession of nursing. For this I am so thankful to have had many great role models come before me to teach me and nurture me into the nurse I want to be.

We have a slide show of thanks to everyone and this is the quote I chose to have on mine:

    Everyone who has been in my life and came alongside me were this to me, and I will be forever grateful for my parents, brothers, extended family, friends, roommates, teammates, and anyone who even for a second heard me vent about happenings of nursing school. It was those people in my life that believed in what I could do and sometimes pulled me up off the ground to help me get to where I am. 

I couldn't have done it alone! 

Thank you to each and everyone of you for your support. 

We did it, Class of 2013!!

Finals Week Complete!

Steff, Sarah, Mel, and I on our last day of class in the JDA auditorium with our nursing class. We started in those seats and ended in those seats.

For my last finals week of undergrad I had two things I had to complete; a final research paper and presentation to my clinical faculty and classmates. This is probably the first finals week of college where I have everything completed by Tuesday of the week, and it's been the nicest gift! As this part of my life comes to a close there's been a lot of things that have come full circle, and really have been more meaningful than I anticipated. My undergrad experience is different than the majority of students who go straight from high school to college as an undergrad and finish in 4 years. I did go straight to college following high school, however I did not complete my degree in 4 years. I have come to terms with that, and looking back at everything that has happened and opportunities that have presented them-self in this last year I wouldn't change anything. I lived in traditional dorms for 3 years, and a suite on campus for my 4th year. For my final year of college I transitioned to living off-campus in a house with 3 other girls, for me it's been a good learning and transitional place for me, really representative of what this year has been and become. Through all of this I never owned a car (and still don't) and used public transportation, carpooling with classmates, my dad's "taxi" service, or borrowing vehicles from people. I still can't believe it, I think my future children will be dumbfounded when they hear about this. I have made really important friend ships, connected with really important faculty role models, and at the end of the day I think I made the right choice of college for me. This doesn't mean this school is perfect, or everything went my way, but what it means is it has served its purpose and has prepared me to be launched into real life with a firm foundation.

I am beyond thankful for everyone who has helped me in my life to get to where I am today, and I cannot wait to see what is to come. I will take the remainder of this week to celebrate and soak in these moments, because they are once-in-a-lifetime sort of moments. I will make the most of them and these wonderful people around me that survived it all with me!

Hurray to the last day of finals, and have no more obligations to fulfill before I walk across the stage on Saturday to be recognized for my undergraduate degree and accomplishment!

Turning in all my nursing text books (for cash) from the last two years that I never plan on using again!

last class of my undergraduate career!

Senior Nursing Class of 2013

I love this photo of all of us, don't we "clean up" nicely?! After my final class of my undergraduate career I really felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, not just of myself but of our entire nursing class. We did it! I woke up to my alarm this morning at 6:45am and was so excited and thrilled I don't know what came over me. College has been the most rigorous academic experience I have had in my life, and the past two years (4 semesters) of my nursing school has been the largest balancing act I have ever had to keep control of in my life. I have grown to be an independent woman that can withstand so much more than I ever thought I would. I am thankful for this experience, and so excited that one week from today I will be walking across the stage to receive my "nursing pin" which is done at a nursing "pinning ceremony" which is a rite of passage and tradition for nursing school. I am anticipating that night will be far more emotional, but today, today was pure bliss! I am so excited to close this chapter of my life and jump on forward into the next one.

On the left is taken before my first clinical ever (fall 2011) - happened to be an AM tour, the right is on the day of my last clinical (May 2013) ever as a nursing student. Either I am really good at faking it or I look far more rested in the photo on the right...

The truth is I definitely don't plan on ever wearing my white scrub pants again, and the scrub top either. However I have accomplished and been present for so much in these scrubs. I hope that I never lose the spirit of learning and growing as a continue on in my career of nursing. I also feel that in these scrubs I was able to be very present with my patient's because I had the luxury of being a "student". Regardless I pray and hope that everything I have learned in nursing school, and every part of me that has grown into a stronger, smarter nurse I can take with me wherever I end up!

This was Ashley (my roommate) and I on the drive to campus for our last class!

What an awesome way to start my weekend, now let the weekend and next week of festivities and celebration begin!

Oh wait....I still have to finish a paper and complete a presentation; THEN I can celebrate!!

A day of //lasts//

{Week 2}
#BlogEveryDayInMay

Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.

Day 9, Thursday: A moment in your day (this can be just a photo or both a photo and words)

 

   

   

So I intentionally waited on posting this "day 9" topic until today. Yesterday was a big day of closure from one chapter of my life. Yesterday morning I went to the hospital I work at and signed my "resignation" letter, completing my intermittent status as a student-nurse technician. Then went home to prepare for my final clinical at my preceptorship site for nursing school. This meant that once I left that hospital last night the next time I was going to walk into a hospital of employment it will be as a registered nurse. It was a really long and exhausting day going through all the motions of completing my "contracts", I will forever have a place in my heart for my patients at my job, as well as the priceless experience I had on such a wonderful unit for clinical!

The one photo I might regret not taking for a while is one with my preceptor, there just didn't ever seem like the right moment. Hopefully our paths will cross again someday!

Our life is filled with moments, I wish that I had a camera that could just follow me and take photos of each of them everyday. Instead I will continue to learn to hold these memories in my heart and mind, and draw off these positive feelings when I'm needing the extra support. 

Jenni is the best with these prompts; read more about #BlogEveryDayInMay {here}

...what is it that you do again?

source.

{Pause}

I do want to get to the later half of this post for #BlogEveryDayInMay. However, I want to be honest, today has been the most draining day both physically, emotionally, and mentally. The even harder part is, that I feel like I keep saying that more than ever in the last semester of school. It is like a snow ball rolling down a giant mountain, it keeps getting bigger and gaining speed. It's one of those days where I want to throw my hands up in the air and say, "kick me while I'm down, why don't ya?!".

Nursing school is hard. Nursing is hard.

No one ever said it would be easy. 

But sometimes, what's even more frustrating is when I'm trying to play by the rules and I still get knocked down.

I am trying to stay positive, but I'm running out of steam. 

I will continue to do the best that I can, with where I am at, with what I've got left. My mom used to say that all the time, "just remember,...I'm doing the best that I can, with what I have, with where I'm at!"

{19} days until graduation. 
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Day 1, Wednesday: The story of your life in 250 words or less (or one paragraph... no one will be counting your words... probably)
Day 2, Thursday: Educate us on something you know a lot about or are good at. Take any approach you'd like (serious and educational or funny and sarcastic)
Day 3, Friday: Things that make you uncomfortable
Day 4, Saturday: Favorite quote (from a person,from a book, etc) and why you love it
Day 5, Sunday: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don't have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member

Day 6, Monday: If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question, 'what do you do'?

What do I do? Well without using my job title, or the sweet little box that I've checked for 19 years of my life "student" the description could be something like this:

I am a hard worker, by necessity, and try to keep up with the curve balls that are sent my way on a daily basis. I have two calendars that I am constantly double-triple checking to make sure I didn't double-book myself. I am trying to master the artistry of being a successful multitasker, to try to accomplish everything I have signed up for. I am a learner in almost every role in my life. Learning is the highest priority, may that be in the hospital, a swimming pool, or classroom. I am an independent thinker and problem solver trying to stay ahead of complications and stress so that it works out better for everyone involved. I am a lover and loyal to all of the people in my life because life is far too precious to take for granted. Ultimately, in everything I do I try to live in the moment and do the best that I can in everything that I do. I strive to be the best "Ashley" I can be.    

So how about you, what do you do?

Check out Jenni's blog {here} to see what all these posts are about?!
#BlogEveryDayInMay

Funk.

 

source unknown.

I am in a FUNK. And I don't like it, but then again...who does?
Everything is going as it should be for any student who is in their final semester of nursing school, for the most part, and I am on schedule to walk across the stage at graduation on May 25th.

BUT. It's the little things that are throwing me off, it's the little details of everything that I am trying to keep up with, and more times than not, I can't seem to get it exactly right.

My shift for the afternoon got called off at my preceptorship because of low census...unfortunate because it puts me back up to needing 5 shifts completed in the first 10 days of May.

When my inbox has over 4 emails that are important that need to be attended which includes action and follow-up my stress level increases exponentially.

So here's to one day at a time, 42 days until graduation, and knowing everything happens for a reason and will get done in time.

bad case of the mondays.

Chrissy, Melanie, Steffanie, myself, Elizabeth, & Danielle. Photo Credit - Scott.

 

I had a bad case of the Mondays' with spurts of productivity, and spurts of pure laziness; and still a to-do list with 8 things still left on it. Then I got this photo emailed to me from my previous clinical instructor. 

Hands down, it made my day for more reasons than one. But I must say this clinical rotation, this group was one of the best memories of my nursing school experience thus far...pretty sure it'll be hard to top it!

Goodnight. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good one!

nursing student blahh.

 

source.

Okay, I will admittedly start by saying I HATE this saying. However, when I start to embrace the journey of my life with all its mess, kinks, road blocks, detours,...I start to understand the importance of this. I have realized that I thrive and truly succeed when I take one thing at a time, spend less time worrying and more time doing, when I am slow to anger, quick to forgive, and work my hardest at everything I do. This is so much easier said than done, especially right now. Right now I have all these things coming up in my life, like impending doom, and I am trying to breathe, take things one task at a time, and embrace the moment. It will be a long time before I am a student again and I really should embrace this time in my life.

{trying} to live in the moment. 

Last, first day of undergrad!

source.

Today was the last, first day of school as I know it. The future of "first days" are never going to be quite the same as this one. We started our final nursing course this morning quite similarly as we started our first one, with a scream. Letting all the excitement, anxiety, anticipation out...kinda weird I know; not entirely my thing. We then were split into groups making posters on what we thought nursing was and what we've learned it to be, connecting it with the mission of our university to lead and influence. 

We then were split into our faculty adviser groups where at the end of the meeting were told our preceptorship assignment, I discussed in an earlier post {here}. My top 3 choices: oncology, post-op ortho/ neuro, ER/ Trauma with pediatrics being my preference population. 

Drum Roll Please...

...I was assigned to an adult oncology unit

I am really happy to have a focused unit that is not just a general medicine floor, and particularly an oncology unit. There has been many points in my life that nursing sparked my interest, however even more influential were those personal experiences with families experiencing cancer. Those experiences I had are what really influenced me to go to nursing school and a long-term pursuit of eventually working in a pediatric oncology department.  

I'm really excited for what this opportunity and experience has to offer; I plan on making the most of it. 

The biggest challenge of this clinical experience is the location of the hospital, and transportation to and from each shift. This final semester of my schooling has probably put the most pressure and stress on my parents and I both financially and logistically. I am deciding that at this point I have to walk by faith and know that everything happens for a reason and all the details will fall into place.

Not too long after I found out my placement one of my facebook friends posted a bible verse as her status;

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. 

\\Deuteronomy 31:8\\

This was a really good reminder as I was getting caught up in the logistics.

I will graduate this May 2013, ready or not, here I come!

Hello {February}

 

Download {here}

So I'm not really sure where I want to go with this post, as it is 12:21pm and I just got up a little over an hour ago, made eggs// toast// coffee and am choosing to deny that I will be leaving my house again at 2:40pm to head to work for day 3 this week. But I digress. 

My final semester of my undergraduate career// nursing school starts Monday. It has been an entirely long journey of 5 years to get to this semester and I cannot tell you how excited/ anxious/ ready I am for this semester to be over and graduate. However, as an RN there is this little thing called the board test that I have to pass following graduation and that, THAT is quite intimidating. Before I can even think about that I have to finish the 120 hours of precepted experience with a supervising RN at an assigned hospital and unit of which I haven't figured out. Additionally as I mentioned have no idea how the transportation is going to work out so as I finish out this week and start class Monday, I anxiously wait the news to hear my placement. For those who are praying people I would appreciate the support sent your way of that because I have no idea what to expect and I just want the experience to be the best fit for me, my supervising nurse, and faculty adviser.

As I finish out the last weekend of work and activities, hopefully having a spotless room at my parents house before I leave I hope that I can make the most of every moment and opportunity from now until I graduate on May 25, 2013. 

I'm excited for what's ahead, but I need to live in the moment for now taking everything one day at a time, really being open and making the most of the good, bad, & ugly. 

Happy weekend everyone! Happy February!

one week. last semester.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:6-8 NIV)

Stolen from this blog {here}

 

Source unknown.

In one week from today it will be the beginning of the end of the most crazy adventure I've had for 5 years, my last semester as a undergraduate nursing student. CRAZY. If I think about it too long, look at the schedule a little too closely, heaven forbid start counting the days until graduation I start to freak out a little bit. 

In the next week or so I will be finding a lot of things out that will determine how stressful, crazy, intense my last semester of college will be, and to be honest, that's intimidating! I have walked a life where I try to take things as they come, assume that God is bigger than it all, and everything happens for a reason. Que preceptorship assignments. If you don't know already I do not have a car, and will not be able to afford one anytime soon (originally I dreamed maybe by this point I would have been able to save up for one; life had other plans). The final semester of nursing school is spent doing 130 independent hours with an assigned-supervising nurse at a designated hospital in the greater twin-cities area, with this being said it could or couldn't be off a major transport line, it could be night shift/ day shift and any shift in between which means my family and I are going to have to be very creative in transportation during this time or that something or someone that I cannot see at this time would have to interceded to make the transportation more manageable. I am mostly writing this post to be transparent and honest about this situation, and so that I can have everyone around me in prayer that all the details will fall into place. 

Here are my top 3 uncertainties right now that I can use the support and prayer from the broader community:

1) Transportation

2) Assignment, that the placement I get and the supervising RN is perfect for me. Not a perfect person, but she or he is open and honest with students, pushes me to be my best, and gives me challenges and opportunities to learn with 100% support from them

3) I will have an open heart and mind to whatever the assignment is so I can make the absolute most of the situation by being able to learn and grow both personally & professionally regardless of the placement (my top three choices submitted were oncology, post-op//neuro or orthopedic, ER/Trauma {w/ pediatrics})

I know everyone wanted to hear more about my trip, and I will be getting to that (I promise!), however I felt as though this is what is on my heart and mind and thought it was the most important to share for today. 

Happy Monday everyone!

Monday's Ramblings

 

source unknown.

Today was the FIRST SNOW of the season; winter officially has arrived here in my parts. As for my personal opinion of snow; I would be content if I had snow on the ground for 2 weeks a year from from say December 20th to January 4th...something like that? On top of the snow, my roommates have officially decorated the house; or as I said, Christmas has vomited everywhere; I love Christmas, don't get me wrong, but I just have to get past Thanksgiving first. 

News in Nursing School - First test of my peds class; and I'm feeling fairly confident, but at the same time I won't know how I really did until I see my score. Professors announced wouldn't be before Friday.....that's so far from now! I have my second week of clinical this week, and am looking forward to spending more time on the unit and getting more acclimated. Additionally, we had the official meeting introducing us to our FINAL NURSING CLASS EVER in our undergrad career- - is this really happening? I have to choose my top choices for my preceptorship and where I want to spend all 120 hours for my final clinical capstone portion of the class. I'm nervous and anxious. My dream would be oncology peds - but I don't know if that's realistic. My worse case scenerio would be working at the hospital I already work at, I LOVE my job, but I don't want to spend ALL my time there for the last months of college. I would like to mix it up a bit. Ultimately it's out of my control, and I believe that everything will fall into place, exactly how it needs to that will be best for me and my future career in nursing. 

Africa - I officially met with my professor's and fellow classmates and got A LOT of information this past Saturday for Africa and I can't be more excited. However, I really just want to finish this semester strong, and push forward until then. It seems a bit unreal how close my trip is, and how the reality of this trip is hitting me. There's a long list of things that we need to bring, and long list of things we cannot bring; one thing I absolutely won't be bringing is my laptop..crazy a whole month without cell service or a laptop...I'm up for the challenge and think that will be the best part of the whole thing. Completely amercing myself into what Zambia has to offer, and stay as focused on that as possible. 

That's all that's on my mind right now; this week is far less hectic as my last week, and I hope I can take full advantage. 

 Happy Monday to you, and have a good evening// start to your week. 

Monday starts new [NURS 4000]

Today marks the first day past midterms - or for nursing students at my school in the day program a complete switch in class schedule. I couldn't remember if I gave you a overview of my previous course before I talked about it...then I looked and didn't...so before I go into a million posts (that you may or may not care to read.) I will first describe to you this course.

NURS 4000 - PROMOTION OF HEALTH FOR COMPLEX CLIENTS IN ACUTE CARE

4 Credit Course

[Course Description] This course applies the patterns of knowing in nursing to complex clients in an acute care setting. The theoretical base facilitates empiric, aesthetic, ethical, and personal ways of knowing. The focus is on decision making and intervention in complex situations and stresses greater depth in therapeutic nurse-client relationships

[Clinical Description] This course provides an acute care clinical in a hospital setting.  Students have hospital clinical learning experiences in the area of medical-surgical nursing of children or adults.  Students apply the nursing process in these settings as they care for persons with alterations in health.  Students are involved in the care of infants and children, or adult clients between the ages of 18 and 64 years of age as well as those 65 years and older who are either acutely and/or chronically ill. Specific information pertinent to the various acute care settings will be presented at the orientation to hospital learning experiences. Information related to TNC expectations will be presented during the Acute Care Burn Case Study and at your clinical orientation.

For this clinical I will be at a local children's hospital, and on a medical-surgical floor. The instructor said we will have a wide variety of patients with a wide range of simple to complex depending on the week. So I am excited to see what's in store. It will definitely be different from my employment experience at my work because that is a predominately adult/ older adult facility so I don't have the opportunity to interact much with children (which is something that initially made nursing a potential career choice for me). So for anything related to this course it will be labeled under "pediatrics". 

What this means....back to acute care....and the not-so-lovely white scrub pants :(

 ...well I have homework and studying after taking the weekend off for a mid-term mental break!