Futurenurses2007

Hi all, it is almost the end of the semester and time to register for the next one. So you don't have to shoot in the dark or you have made the leap and want to know more about what you are facing, I will share some of my own experiances. Remember that these may not reflect all of my classmates or yours next semester.

I started in N4 with Karen. I had a great time! Once again there is a lot of material and not enough time to get indepth on anything. Karen put up practice questions NCLEX style that really helped. Also, part of the class was on line and I felt that we under-utilized it. The virtual classroom could be a way to learn more and share experiances and ask questions. The time in clinical started out scary, "crazy" people you know. It turned out to not be bad at all. The patients were very helpful and sharing for the most part. You do have to keep in mind that their reality is not always the same as yours. Travel in pairs, be polite and remember that above all else they are fellows humans and they are hurting.

N4 is still in progress and I am with Gloria Prieto at County. Gloria is a great instructor. She has a very dry sense of humor, can be sarcastic and demands the highest levels of performance. The nurses at County are very willing to help. They even tolerate a certain level of fumbling. Of course, they are used to students of all kinds and none of the ones I have worked with have objected to teaching. Be on time for clinical, work hard and you will learn, become more comfortable with the skills and will find it begining to smooth out toward the end. You will still make mistakes, we all do, but remember to be honest about them and learn from them. I have been a paramedic for twenty plus years and I still make mistakes and learn from them. I take the precautions for protecting the patients from errors very seriously and I hope you do too!

And last, but not least, have fun. No job is worth doing if you can not have fun while doing it. Taking care of people can be rewarding and fun, so enjoy yourself.

It does get better!!