I flew back to Nashville after Thanksgiving vacation and had a mere 17 days until the end of the first semester. Those 13 days included three finals, two 12-hour shifts, and a quiz, so I was prepared to be busy and to feel stressed.
To my surprise, I did not feel busier or more stressed out than I normally feel, and I really enjoyed the last couple weeks of the semester.
I felt more comfortable in the hospital during those last two shifts. I treated patients with very interesting conditions, but more importantly, I was more confident when it came to interacting with these patients, performing assessments on them, and administering their medications.
Since I have only been on a cardiac step-down unit, I have mostly dealt with older patients. However, during these shifts I was assigned to younger patients. In fact, one of them was my age. This was particularly challenging for me; I cannot fully explain why.
We have discussed in class the importance of becoming aware of your own emotions while simultaneously letting them go. The goal is to prevent them from standing in the way of work. That day in the hospital was the first time that I truly understood how difficult it is to successfully acknowledge yet tuck away feelings.
I am surprised at how my clinical skills have improved in 5 shifts, and feel assured that by the end of my six semesters, Vanderbilt will have properly prepared me to practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner.
I am also surprised at how my test-taking skills have improved over the course of the semester. Back in September, I struggled to figure out what material to focus on when studying for tests. I finally understand (for the most part) what is important for a nurse to comprehend and to look for.
For example, when discussing a certain disease, nurses need to be aware of that disease's prevention, risk factors, signs/symptoms, and treatment. It is not the nurse's responsibility to figure out what was the patient's exact path to acquiring this disease, nor should the nurse decide on the exact treatment plan.
It is, however, the nurse's job to help educate the patient on how to best adhere to their treatment.
Since simply stepping foot into the hospital was a stress-inducing event for most of us at the start of the semester, remaining on one floor for the entire five months helped us achieve some level of comfort. Next semester, however, we will experience four different floors.
The rotations include adult health, obstetrics, pediatrics, and a psychiatric unit. I am looking forward to having a more diverse set of experiences, and think that it will be a very insightful semester.
In particular, I am hoping that next semester will help me narrow down more specifically what I want to do in my own career.
Gloria Rothenberg, a native of Livingston, N.J., recently completed a summer internship with 鶹ý and is now a nursing student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Her accounts of the program and her experiences appear in this space from time to time.
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