Category: self-care

When I reflect on my three and a half years I have spent at UNE I am most excited about being able to apply all these skills I have learned to my future practice in the real world. As a nursing student, we are exposed to a glimpse of what it will be like to be a nurse through clinical rotations. These clinical rotations teaches us a lot and helps guide us to our licensure. As nervous as I am to be in the real-world taking care of patients, I am excited to be able to be there for someone else, and help them with whatever they might need. Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a helper in the world, but wasn’t fully sure what type of helper I wanted to be. It wasn’t until junior year of high school where it became clear to me that nursing was the one profession I could see myself waking up every day excited to be going to work. Through the years I have completed so far of nursing school it has been hard to remember what the end goal was. Stress of passing exams, taking care of human beings and being confident in my knowledge has been overwhelming in times. Once I take a step back and a few deep breaths I am reminded of the pure joy I feel holding the hand of someone else and being by them in some of the most life changing moments they might have. The thought of making someone smile or being there for them is the main reason I chose this profession.

As excited as I am to practice in the real world, it is also the one thing that I am most anxious about. Transitioning didactic skills to clinical skills is something that has always been a challenge for me, as I tend to let my fears overpower me in certain situations. Nursing is a very important profession where your entire attention needs to be focused on your patients. As ironic as it is a lot of what I learned in school has helped make me a more confident and stress free individual. The coping strategies I learned to teach my future patients has been utilized first hand by myself. The skills I learned in nursing school has turned me into a more experienced critical thinker and how to remain calm in stressful situations. These are things I will be teaching my future patients. The day I pass my NCLEX and am rewarded by my license will be one of the most important days for me. All the hard work, effort and time I put in will be rewarded the day I am hired at a location that will allow my dreams and goals to come true. I will celebrate by living every day of my life to the fullest and being grateful for everything I have succeeded in life, and reminding myself of all the things I am going to continue to accomplish.

To prepare and plan my weekly study to stay focused and on track to my end goal I will work by taking my notes, asking questions in class, applying my didactic skills to clinical, using outside resources and studying my material every day that is needed. I like to take notes before class and after class to highlight the key points. Furthermore, using outside resources and watching videos has also been utilized after class as well. For me to learn best I need multiple ways of reading such as tactile, visual and audio. By learning what works best for me I have been able to stay organized and confident with my studies. I have learned so much through my classes and the resources my professors have supplied me. By completing the ATI nurse logic modules I learned key ways to study and to take a break before an exam. The nights that I have stayed up all night before an exam were the times I didn’t perform as well as watching a movie or completing stress-free activities. The more stressed I am the less likely I am to attain the information I am looking at. That is something that the modules has taught me and has improved my testing skills drastically. I also learned that putting a little bit of studying in each day is more beneficial then cramming for hours on one day.