Nursing: the job of taking care of people who are sick, injured or old.
Nursing School: a school that trains people to be nurses
On our first day of classes we laughed when they said we would lose classmates along the way. Fast forward to senior year and our class size is 12! (I don't want to mention that we started with more than double this number.) Now we look back and laugh at all the late night study sessions, frequent breakdowns, bad clinical experiences, and moments we asked ourselves why we chose this life.
The life of a nursing major, as told by Berea College nursing students.
1. What is sleep? I think I got a whole four hours last night...
2. Sitting in lecture and diagnosing yourself with every disease or personality disorder described.
3. Two exams in the same day? No problem.
Get out the Ben Eggleston grade calculator! What is the lowest score I can get on this exam and still have a 77?
4. Waking up at 5 a.m. for clinicals like:
5. Being treated like a CNA in clinical, but being taught like medical student.
So what does the nurse do?
6. The feeling you get when the nurse says your patient is sedated, intubated, and bathed.
Best. Clinical. Day. Ever.
7. I will die if I have to eat another warm turkey sandwich. Sack lunches twice a week? I'd rather starve.
8. On Wednesday's we don't wear pink. On Tuesday's and Thursday's we wear navy.
9. We have actually been called a cult.
We eat together, we study together, and take trips in the school minivan to Starbucks together.
10. You can't sit with us.
No really you can but you probably don't want to. Our lunch room conversations are not for the weak. But if you like to hear about rectal tubes, c-dif, wounds, feces, urine, or any other topic we may cover feel free to join us (if you can find a spot).
11. I made a 77 percent
YES! I PASSED. If you are complaining about that 90 percent you made on an exam in a non-nursing class, chances are I DO NOT feel bad for you. Long gone are the days of making anything above an 85 percent.
12. I think I'll take a nap.
We sleep whenever we get a chance. But the clinical van is our favorite spot.
13. Every week is finals week.
We have exams on top of exams, on top of check-offs, clinical, reflections, caremaps, papers, case studies, simchart, presentations, and any other last minute assignment faculty throws our way. EVERY WEEK!
14. We aren't just friends, we're family.
It wasn't a joke when they told us our only friends would be nursing majors after junior year. We are a family, and I couldn't imagine what school would be like without my class.
Nursing school is the best and worst thing that has happened to me. I am so thankful for the friends, experiences, and opportunities I have been given during my three years at Berea. Here's to one more year of laughs, early mornings, frequent Starbucks trips, late night study sessions, and becoming BSN graduates.
