Junior-Senior Year
Junior 1 was my Psych/Community Health semester. I felt that in the classroom, the workload was more doable than previous semesters, but it was a more mentally challenging semester. I had four days in an inpatient clinical site, and I would go to an outpatient clinical site 2x a week. After clinical, I would feel more mentally exhausted, compared to previous Med Surg clinical, where I mainly felt physically exhausted. I think this was a semester for mental health, checking up on each other & being more aware of mental health in our community. I remember my instructor saying, “In psych, you are the tool, you are as powerful as the insulin given to a patient who has hyperglycemia.” Those words stuck with me for the rest of the semester. I learned this semester that it is essential to take care of yourself to take care of others, and sometimes the most caring/healing thing you can do for a patient is to communicate with them compassionately.
There is a lot I could say about this semester, but this is where I solidified my foundation in nursing. This is where theory started to connect with what we were doing for patients in the hospital. Our exams were clinical application style questions based on what we would do in various situations. While the questions were tough, my critical thinking in different clinical situations grew because of it. I felt my clinical confidence increase; at the end of the semester, I completed my goal to take as close to primary care of three patients as possible. Achieving this goal wasn’t easy for me; I felt like I went through a crash course in time-management. For the first time, I tried to structure my clinical day/plan of care for my patients. I learned so much about myself as a student & future nurse this semester. Sometimes the hardest trials shape you for what you are meant to do; that’s how I would describe what this semester meant to me.
Senior 1 was my pediatric/maternity semester! Something I was looking forward to was applying for my capstone/preceptorship placement. My nursing program split my pediatric and maternity rotations in half over the semester. So I did my maternity rotation during the first half of the semester. The vibes were so different on this unit than any unit I’d been in previously that I was immediately interested in caring for moms/babies/kids/families. With this in mind, I knew I wanted a Maternity or Pediatric Capstone. The application for capstone was released when I was still in my maternity rotation, and I hadn’t had my pediatric rotation yet. The night before the application was due, I was struggling whether to put Pediatrics or Maternity first. I enjoyed caring for kids as a nanny/babysitter, so I had a feeling I would like to do pediatrics. I leaped in faith and chose pediatrics. I AM SO GLAD I DID. I can’t imagine myself in another specialty: pediatrics is creative & playful, and I enjoy building relationships with families.
Last semester of nursing school!! This semester I was focused on completing my capstone hours, 180 hours in a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology unit. I couldn’t be more thankful that I got this capstone; it changed my career path in nursing. After my experience in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, I knew I was passionate about caring for this patient population. I enjoyed building relationships with children & their families during their extended hospital stays as well as practicing a detail-oriented, compassionate, and sensitive type of pediatric nursing. I grew so much in nursing this semester; it only makes me more excited to get into a new grad program so that I can grow even more in my nursing practice. Gems I got from capstone: I worked hard in nursing school & it paid off in my ability to care for patients, I am passionate about peds heme/onc, and I am grateful for my crazy adventure in nursing school, it made me a better human.
the nurse serah 