Best advice

tatara · Oct 31, 2009

I say, with all respect, please explore this site. Read on and you'll get answers. You'll be moved.

GeneralJinjur · Oct 31, 2009

Get as much sleep as possible, review anything in A&P that puzzled you the first time and check out the students tab here at AllNurses. There is tons of good advice to be found here.

Lola77 · Nov 1, 2009

work in a hospital as a tech - you will learn so much AND it will make it easier to get a job after school.

whawk · Nov 1, 2009

is a nurse tech like a CNA?

skyandsydneysmom · Nov 1, 2009

Yes, a nurse tech is much like a CNA. You learn skills like d/c a foley, d/c an INT but for the most part it is the same job.

DestinedRN09 · Nov 1, 2009

I agree with all the other posts and I will say at the very least make the most of clinicals if u cant get a position as a tech. also, do an internship, get reference letters from clinical instructors.

skyandsydneysmom · Nov 1, 2009

If a local hospital near you offers a Student Nurse Intership program apply as soon as you are eligible. The program I am in only required completion of the first semester. I shadow a RN 3 days a month and change floors every month. I have seen way more than I would ever see during clinicals for school. It is an awesome experience!!! I also pick up a small number of hours as a CNA (tech, PCT, whatever) there which gives me more exposure. There are times that I get stuck with a nurse that does not want to teach me a thing, but even then I learn a ton about hospital politics, etc. Also, because I am already an employee of the hospital (it is a paid position) I will have employment opportunities upon graduation that others will not have. I highly recommend that you look into this! Good luck!

tiffanyleigh0212 · Nov 1, 2009

Im still just a student too, but the hospital our school works with offers internships after completing one year. You work usually one full shift every pay period, sometimes more if they need you and you're available and make $12 an hour. I think it's a great opportunity.

smileedee · Nov 1, 2009

What a wonderful post! I can tell by your question you are eager to get started and you are going to be an asset to the nursing profession. My best advice to you is not just to prepare your mind, but to prepare your body and your spirit as well. You will transform totally as a person over the years, and you will want to care for yourself the same way you are taught to take care of your patients, as a WHOLE, not just one part.

I started out as a CNA in a nursing home at age 21, in 1988. I am now 43. I have worked Med/Surg, Ortho, Inpt Psych, Drug Rehab, Youth Corrections, OB, Hospice prn sitting with the dying, nurse management, financial services, physical rehab, private duty peds, Med Psych. I had up to 4 jobs at a time - 1 full time, 1 part time, and 2 prns, just to take care of my family. My career has been rich and varied. Pretty much any subject that is discussed in a hospital setting I understand and have participated in. But my son's friends didn't know what his mom looked like until he was in middle school. I have 2 herniated disks, 5 bulging disks, spondylolysis, and spondylolisthesis, and chronic Epstein Barr. I have stayed in miserable jobs long past times I should have left because I didn't take time to go back to school, so I didn't qualify to move up on the career ladder in spite of my experience. I have been physically taxed and emotionally depleted on more than one occasion. But my resume is awesome. That's worth a lot to employers, but my body is shot out and there are certain jobs I will never do again because I didn't take care of me early on. I am upbeat and cheerful, but my family knows I am tired and achy a lot of the time. And I still work full time, and will have to for a long time to come.

Don't forget your life, your health, your family, your happiness. Take care of YOU. Take care of your BACK. Get to the gym and get to training those abs! Enjoy the things around you in your every day. You will eventually finish nursing school. You will get that experience and be able to take care of patients. The part I want to make sure you know is that when it is all over you are still you, not only a nurse. Don't forget!

One more thing, once you are a nurse, NEVER EVER try to be a nurse to your family when they are very ill. If you put yourself in that position and make a decision and it is wrong, you have the guilt of responsibility with you the rest of your life. I see other nurses, and doctors, too, do it all the time. They walk in and try to take over the care of their loved ones. So how will they feel if something goes wrong? HORRIBLE! Let the providers get paid for what they get paid to do, and you sit back and be wife, daughter, sister, or mom. It is so much easier that way. Naturally if someone is doing something stupid, it is ok to step in, but other than that, just try to relax.

Good luck and congratuations on your decision to be a nurse! WELCOME! :redpinkhe

tatara · Nov 1, 2009

Being a Nurse is a commitment. You will tirelessly be always giving part of yourself to the vocation.

Once you get into nursing, no matter if you finish the program or not, even if you retire early or quit sooner than expected, you won't be the same person ever again. The learning you will get from nursing school to the most complicated situation you will try to handle as you experience dealing with the sick and the wounded in spirit, will change you in many surprising ways. Nursing will be part of who you are. You will carry the honor and prestige up to your grave for as you live you life, you leave permanent marks to many people whose lives you have touched.

Nurses are not born, they are made. There are no ex-nurses, only retired ones.

I have said these in a previous post and I think it is worth sharing to you too:

Seek yourself.

-Try to identify what motivates you, or think how you get inspired in accomplishing even the little things you do everyday.

-Love what you do. Put your 100% into it.

-Reward yourself

-Laugh, smile a lot

-Picture yourself as how you always wanted to be, choose a role model (an admirable, successful nurse whom you can get to talk and be inspired with)

-Count your blessings

-Appreciate little things that tend to get unnoticed like how a sincere thank you from a patient makes you feel inside

-Have positive and happy thoughts every after shift as you head home

-Write down or have a journal of those that you did during the day which you are unhappy about or which you could have done better given another chance

-Do not succumb into failure, instead, remind yourself that before they became somebody, they too started as nobody

-Pray

I know they are easily said than done, but just try. After all, it is always possible to have fun and enjoy your nursing program as you experience the peculiar ways into which you learn.

I hope you chase your dreams and make them a reality. God bless you.

:redbeathetatara

Chixie · Nov 1, 2009

Best advice that i can give is invest in some good shoes, your feet, back and legs will thankyou for it later.