A Day in the Life of a Nursing Student

This time of year I find it harder and harder to bring myself to go to class or clinicals. My motivation runs out and I’m just going through the motions to make it to the end. So how do I bring myself to finish the semester? I make an appointment with myself to be reminded of why I started this journey. Then I look up motivational speakers on youtube. Sounds simple, but it helps! Here is a link to one I like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2NJHLcoxJQ

~Amanda

Well I did it! I passed my LPN test! I had a few questions on medications I’ve never heard of, a couple on stuff to do with procedures I’ve never learned about, and a lot of “select all that apply” questions. Let’s just say I was not sure I did well. The whole thing went very smoothly and quickly. I got to the testing center about 45 minutes early and was testing 15 minutes later. My test was only 85 questions, so it took less than 2 hours for the whole process. I hope your experience is a good one too!

~Amanda

Some days are easy. Some days are not. Sunday was one of those not so good days. Although I had started working on a paper that was due Monday days before, I still had a lot to do to finish it. I worked on it for two hours on the car drive to my grandma’s funeral, the two hours on the way back, and then till 5am in the morning. It definately was not something I wanted to do at that particular time, but that is the way life happens sometimes. Death comes at its own appointed time, regardless of our schedule or desires.

I share this to encourage you to fight through the hard times and finish the race. Graduation seems so far away, but it is just around the corner. Keep your head up and your eyes on the finish line. We have all come too far to let anything stand in our way. So jump over whatever hurdles come your way with confidence. As for my grandma, I know she would have been very happy to see me graduate. And that gives me motivation to continue and to do my very best. Keep shining everyone!

~Amanda

I had the opportunity to watch men’s wheelchair basketball at UW-Whitewater a few weekends ago. It was truly amazing to see the skill these men had. We talk about autonomy, and its importance in health care. I was reminded of this as I watched what happened each time one of the players was knocked over.

No one ran to their aid to help them get back up, no one even flinched. In fact, everyone just kept watching the game as if nothing had happened. Most of the time, they could get up on their own. When they couldn’t a teammate, or a member of the opposite team, would help them up.

Although the caring, nurse side of me wanted desperately to run out and help them, I knew that was not the right thing to do. I have worked with a few people who have a spinal cord injury. The greatest thing to see is the look of accomplishment on their face when they do something they didn’t think they could. I heard a quote this past weekend that really inspired me.

“The doctors saved my life. The nurses gave me my life back.”

-Anonymous

I just wanted to remind everyone about the suggestion folder on the Student Council Board in the hall next to A166. The Nursing Student Council is a group of nursing students that get together and discuss changes they would like to see in the program. If you have a suggestion you can write it down and leave it in the folder for the Student Council to discuss at their next meeting.

~Amanda

Hi first and second semester students! I was just wondering if my presentation, and handouts, are helpful to you. Do you have any comments or suggestions?
Thanks!

~Amanda

If you are looking for something to do while you are on the wait list, check out www.BSNatHOME.com. BSN at Home is an ADN to BSN program that partners with Eau Claire, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, and Oshkosh UW campuses. If you are thinking of continuing on for your BSN, I would recommend setting up an appointment with a BSN at Home representative such as Rachel Merkel from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield (merkelrm@uwec.edu).

I was able to meet with Rachel to discuss classes I would need to take to get my bachelors degree, such as Chemistry and Statistics. The additional general education classes you need can be taken online or in person at various universities because they can be transferred. You can take these classes (like chemistry) while you wait to get into the core nursing classes here at MSTC. One interesting thing I learned is that some classes count as credits towards two or three categories.

General education categories include communications, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and etcetera. So a class focusing on the history of psychology may count towards both the social sciences and humanities categories. To see what the category, or categories, the class counts towards you can look it up on the UW credit transfer wizard at http://tis.uwsa.edu/wizards/geInstitutionList.do?reqType=G&clear=yes.

~Amanda

We had our first meeting of the semester! For those of you that have never gone, I suggest coming to a meeting. They have food, door prizes, and they hand out laminated quick reference cards. They have speakers come in all the time as well.

Our speaker this time was a former graduate. It was nice to hear from someone, who graduated here at MSTC, about what it is like after graduation. There was one thing she said that really stuck out to me. She described how nervous she would get before work the first couple months after starting her job.

I get those same feelings when I go to clinical! I get nervous thinking I will forget something, hurt someone, fall behind, do a skill wrong, or fail that week. But after listening to the speaker, I feel better knowing that I will eventually feel more confident and less anxious.

~Amanda

I just wanted to remind you that there are many scholarships still accepting applications! Check out the foundation website for more information.

http://www.mstc.edu/about/foundation.htm

~Amanda

I’ve decided to take the LPN exam now that I have finished second semester. I figure it will be good practice for taking the NCLEX for nursing, and I can work as a LPN this summer to gain experience. I’m excited, but very nervous even though I haven’t finished registering for it yet.

To register you have to apply to Pearson Vue ($200) as well as the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services ($90). You can register at Pearson Vue online at http://www.vue.com/nclex/ . You can find the forms you will need to send to the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services online as well. This website is http://drl.wi.gov/prof_docs_list.asp?profid=22&locid=0. Once both places receive the forms and payments they need you will be sent a letter called an authorization to test, which you will need to schedule an appointment to take your test with Pearson Vue.

I have learned, so far, that you need a valid driver’s license with the correct name and address that you used to apply with. My driver’s license has an old address on it, so I guess it is time to go in and get a new one! I’ll let you know if there are any other speed bumps along the way…

~Amanda