As my four years of nursing school come to a close in a few short months, I am beginning to realize that very soon I am going to be one of nurses I’ve looked up to my whole life. I’m excited to enter my first job and use all the skills I have worked to learn over the past four years. I’m excited to be the emotional support that people need while in the hospital, as well as the person caring for that person when they are sick. Thankfully, I have already agreed to a job this summer as a camp nurse which takes a little bit of the stress out of my first nursing job because it is a group of staff I have worked with before. I will celebrate with my family, friends, and roommates who are also nursing majors. Having a graduation party will be a good way to close out the past four years and start my career as a nurse.
I am most anxious about getting my dream job in the pediatric emergency department. This is something that I have dreamed of prior to even getting accepted to nursing school, so getting that job would be very special to me. I am also anxious about being a nurse to my own patients. I know you are never alone when you are nursing, but to have my own patient assignment is still stressful. To prepare myself for the semester and stay on track for the NCLEX, I will do assignment sooner rather than procrastinate and then stress to get the completed. Also, I will ask questions of my peers and professors whenever I am confused. I have a history of saying I will just figure it out myself, but to truly understand the content I need to ask questions. One specific goal of my is to complete each ATI Adaptive exam a week prior to their due date to allow myself to complete a fraction of remediations each day. That way I will be able to make meaningful corrections and learn from my mistakes rather than rush through the remediations.
From the ATI Nursing Logic Modules, I learned how to look at questions and think like a nurse when answering. Also, I learned how to prioritize patients along with many basic nursing concepts. These helped me to further myself as a nurse, but also as a test taker. I feel that I could answer a question logically even if I do not know the specific drug/concept/etc. the question is referring to, by using clinical judgement.
Samantha, what a great way to start your career – I’ve done camp nursing, and I loved it! It should also prepare you well for pediatric emergency nursing. You have a solid plan for success – definitely reach out whenever you have questions. We all get by with a little help from our friends!