Moving Forward!

I'm officially a Level III Nursing Student! Most people say if you finish and pass Level II, you pretty much have passed nursing school because it's supposed to be the most difficult semester. Not only did I pass, but I got straight A's! I was proud of myself for finishing the hardest semester of my life and doing it well. It's kind of funny that I've gotten my best grades in my hardest semester.

I ended the semester with my Maternal-Child Rotation. I had a really enjoyable clinical experience, but it was interesting to say the least. I loved NICU, postpartum, and Newborn Nursery. I didn't love my L&D experience, but I had some interesting preceptor RNs that tainted the experience. I'm not giving up on that dream because of a few bad nurses, though!
This is a picture of our second rotation Level II clinical group with our instructor who is a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) like I am hoping to become.

So, what now, you ask? I started Level III and we are all over the place during this rotation because it is community and mental health combined. For the first half of the summer, I am doing hospice care with Circle of Life hospice agency. We go on home visits to care for patients that are in the last 6 months of their lives. I had my first day last week and it was so much more than I expected. I really enjoyed my experience and the veil to Heaven seemed very thin. It is very much an honor to care patients in such an intimate, personal, and difficult time in their lives. It is also just as much about caring for the family as it is caring for the patient.

Then we are also doing home visits in a retirement community on one other day of the week. I have my first visit this week and I'm really looking forward to it.

The second half of the summer I'll be at a Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Health Facility. I'm really excited to work with this population. It should be interesting.

And, last but definitely not least, I was hired as a Student Nurse Intern at a local hospital! I'll be working one, 12 hour shift per week. I work under an RN, but do most of his/her duties with his/her supervision. It will be GREAT experience and will make the transition to RN after graduation go much more smoothly. The program lasts until graduation and for the first half we get to work on a different unit each week. After that, we talk with our preceptors and figure out which floor would be the best fit for us to finish out the program on. The best part of this is that I'll already be employed by this hospital and so the chances that I will get hired on as an RN after graduation go up! Our school workload has decreased to 4 days a week, so it won't even cut too much into our family time.

Things are moving along and time is flying! December 4th (convocation) and December 5th (graduation) will be here before we know it!