It has been a LONG time since my last post. Honestly, this blog is the last thing on my mind, ha. Nursing school has been the most difficult thing I have ever done. I love the friends that I have made in my cohort, and we help each other survive week to week.
A quick overview of my first semester goes like this:
My Foundations of Professional Nursing class was stressful, but mostly enjoyable. I can insert Foley Catheters into a male or female, I can insert an NG/NE tube, I can check vitals, give a bed bath, help patients ambulate... and more. Clinical for this class was so much fun and helped reinforce that nursing was a good choice for me. My professor was so awesome... hilarious and she cared about her students.
Health Assessment was TORTURE... pure and utter TORTURE. I do know how to do a good bedside assessment, though, and that was the point... I'm glad to be finished with this class.
Pharmacology was so difficult, but so great. This was primarily due to an amazing professor who is probably one of the best lecturers I have had since starting school. I still have so much to learn about Pharmacology, but I have a wonderful base of knowledge because of this class.
I held it together and stayed strong up until the end of the semester during finals week. I have never worked so hard to make a B... And B's I made... in all of my classes. This was difficult for me since I made A's all through my 4 semesters at Ozarks Technical Community College where I got my gen ed courses done. In my defense, if OTC's grading system were to have been used, I would have made all A's... but alas. I was warned that this would be the case, and truthfully, I brushed off the warning because I had good study habits and I was determined... but I just couldn't figure out what I needed to do in order to pull off an A.
Back to the melting down bit. In Foundations we had to take a test called the HESI. It is supposed to predict how well you will do on the NCLEX-RN (nursing boards)... anyway, the test was worth 5% of my grade if I passed the first time and I would get 2.5% if I passed the second time. Well... I didn't make a high enough score to pass on the first time... and it hit me hard. I cried and cried and cried... but I eventually pulled it together... got a study plan figured out, and on my second try I passed with flying colors. I made a 1045... which the passing score is 900. So YAY... But still I mourn that I could have gotten an A in that class if I would have passed the HESI on the first try... oh well... moving on to semester 2.
I am no longer a nursing school baby... This semester I am taking Medical Surgical Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, and Aging and the Older Adult. I am nervous, and I do not know really what to expect, but one thing is for certain, I will give it my best, and I will hopefully survive to see semester 3. It will likely be Summer Break before you see another update from me, but I wanted to let it be known that I am still here! ha.
The semester begins tomorrow. Please wish me luck... say prayers... ha, whatever! I'll take it.
Until I resurface,
Amy
