Sigh of Relief

Some people blog about their kids, crafts, or cooking. I have school. That's what I blog about, and the two people that read my blog are probably sick of reading about my boring milestones. Well here's another one.

I finished my preceptorship.

A preceptorship is where you are with the same nurse for 135 hours and at first you shadow her, but by the end she is following you around to make sure you are ready to graduate and not kill people.

I have to say that at first I was extremely nervous about this. I asked to be assigned to pediatrics or OB because those are the two areas of nursing that I am interested in. I didn't care what rotation I was in, day or night shift, or which hospital. I just wanted to do ANYTHING in either of those areas.

I got Oncology.

I was terrified. This seemed like a very overwhelming and intense area to be followed around instead of doing the following. I honestly did not know if I was capable of this kind of work.

All I can say is that over the four weeks that I was on the Bone Marrow Unit, I grew and stretched more than I ever thought possible. Every single day I felt out of my comfort zone. Zach reminds me that the more we are out of our comfort zone, the more we are progressing. I did things I didn't know that I could do and I am a stronger person and will hopefully be a better nurse for it. It helped me put my life in perspective. The patients there are so grateful for everything you do for them. They are all in a fight for their lives and it is so inspiring simply to be around them.

I tried to keep track of some of the things that I did there for myself to remember. At first it was learning the ropes, getting used to pumps, getting familiar with central lines, charting, and orienting myself to the unit. As I progressed, my nurse was great to teach and guide me through passing medications (and there are A LOT, especially IV piggybacks), learning cap changes, drawing labs every morning, severe nosebleeds, hanging platelets, giving report, chart checks, central line dressing changes, and lots of TLC.

Oh, and I got really good at giving popsicles.

The best part about the entire experience is that at the end you have a giant sigh of relief. Not just because you are finally finished, but because you realize that maybe you can do the whole nurse thing and that it's not totally impossible.

I also finished all of my psychology clinicals which were an adventure by themselves, but I can now officially retire my Weber scrubs. Yea!!! One step closer and about 50 days to go.

One more pic of the burlap sack otherwise known as my uniform, before I pass it on to the next nursing student

Me, Amy, and Callie in freezing Wyoming at the Wyoming State Hospital. Good times.