Off to a Swell Start

The first week of the semester is done! I have to say it's actually been rather enjoyable. This semester things are a little different than they have been in the past semesters. First of all I'm only taking 12 semesters. In this program they build in 3 credits this semester and 6 credits next semester to take general education classes. The only problem with this is that I already took all the general ed classes I needed because they changed their requirements so much. So I'm lucky enough to only have 12 credits this semester! (I'm not complaining!!!)

So this semester I have 2 clinical classes and 3 other classes. The clinical classes are split into 8 week increments with the first one ending the friday before spring break. So for this first 8 weeks I'm in my critical care clinical. One would think this would be done in the ICU but not at Marian. They think that surgery patients are critical care, when they often get up and walk 8 hours post surgery! (that might be a little bit of complaining) But the bright side is that I really like our clinical instructor. I think I honestly learned more from her the first day of clinical about the GI system then I did during anatomy, physiology AND pathophysiology! So to put it lightly she ROCKS! (one major plus!)

My only fear with clinicals is that I'm not going to upto date with my clinical knowledge for when I become a real, actual nurse? I have to say this thought right now gives me the most anxiety. I'm just fearful that I will not be able to take care of patients correctly. I feel almost dumbfounded everyday during clinical because I've missed something somewhere. I don't know if thats my fault for not paying close enough attention or if it's the what seems to be complete lack of organization of this program. I mean we don't get our schedules until the friday before classes start!(I'm not kidding!)

Either way I guess I just need to learn to be more comfortable and confident in myself. After all I've worked at the hospital for almost 2 years now and the nurses I talk to say that you learn the most after you are on the floor.
So as of right now my hopeful plan would be to get a job on the floor I currently work because I think the experience and knowledge I will gain from working there is irreplaceable.

But anyways other than the clinical class, I think the other classes, research, informatics and roles and are all just a bunch of busy work that it will just take dedication to stay on top of.

So thats where we are on this lovely last spring semester of nursing school for me! I have my first exam this Friday so I had better be busy studying till then! Hope everyone has a good week!