First semester completed!

Published Dec 21, 2014

15 Posts

Wow, well it hardly seems true, but I truly completed my first semester as a real nursing student. I never called myself a nursing student when I was taking A&P/microbiology etc, because I was not officially accepted as a student at that point. Now I truly do feel like a nursing student. I feel like I know so much (more than before), yet nothing at all.

I am no longer a complete newbie, and am preparing for my second semester already by forming medication grids and studying for OB/MS-1 in advance. I completed my class with an A, however many students in my class barely passed the class with the cutoff grade of 75%. I am saddened when I watch the other students. Although there are a few passionate hard working students in the class, many are not willing to study, complain, and do the bare minimum work that they can complete in order to pass the class.

One of the "assignments" that we were given this semester was to evaluate our personal nutrition and make a summary after several days. I was the only person who did this and made a summary. I am not saying this to imply that I am a better student or participant, but I wish others had gone the extra mile to do this optional assignment. I can only figure that others did not want to spend their time doing this assignment because there was no extra credit.

So often, I observed students complaining about doing "CNA" work, giving bed baths, making hospital beds, and other basic work that we all must learn and complete. I guess I wish that students had a better attitude about nursing and caring for their patients in the clinical setting. I feel honored that I am able to participate in client care, no matter what the activity involves, whether making a bed, changing a diaper or providing medications. It ALL makes a difference. My heart aches to see so many students who don't give the program their best effort (or even a decent effort or any effort with a good attitude). I find that a good attitude goes a long way; when I was first starting the semester, for example struggling with a blood pressure cuff on a real patient for the first time, I found that joking and poking fun at myself and being extra kind to my client worked wonders, never did I have a complaint while I was working out flaws in my technique and learning better ways of completing tasks. (Not to mention humility! It is a MUST in nursing!)

What are experiences that you guys had in your first semester? Did you start at a hospital or long term care/rehab setting? Observations? What changed through your semesters?