In the program I'm in, we have 5 weeks of quarter left...we just switched clinical sites and Clinical Instructors...we have IPR's due, Nursing Care Plans due, a pharm test every single week, and Med Surg II test every 2.....needless to say, we students are stressed to the gills...and that includes me.
Today, first day of the new site, new Instructor, new earlier hours, I had to retake my nursing math test and pass or get the boot from the program, after waking up every hour or so all night, leaving home before the crack of dawn, dropping my kid off at his temporary daycare, working on the floor all day long, and post-conference, I had to sit down and take this math test that was going to decide my immediate future.
Yes, I prepared, yes i visited the nursing tutor, yes i practiced the online tests and looked at the practice sheet off and on all day....but then I got to 2 questions that didn't look familiar and my brain shut off...SHUT OFF. I did the rest of the test and went back to these 2 and sat there and stared and stared and stared....and then the tears began to leak...finally I slid over a couple chairs toward my new Instructor and told her my brain had shut off and I just couldn't think and was there anything she could tell me that could give me a clue on how to approach these....she very calmly took my test, looked it over and then looked at the 2 i couldn't figure out. Then she turns to me and says...."I don't see why you wouldn't do these the same way you have done the others....you just need to ignore the unnecesary information.." and handed the test back to me.
With that, I looked at the 2 problems again, reread them and suddenly I saw what she was talking about, did the problems and started to recheck my test...and then she said...."you don't need to do that, you got all the others right, just let me look at those 2."
After she looked at them she turns to me and tells me she doesn't know what I'm crying about, I got a 100% (she had a big goofy grin on her face..)...and suddenly the world was brand new again...the past 3 years I've spent getting to here wern't a waste.
After the past three clinical Instructors I've had...her calmness, patience, thoroughness, organization practicality, experience, caring and humour has me eagerly counting down the days until my next clinical days...well, this is how nursing school should be.
Thank you to all you Clinical Instructors - sometimes it's YOU that makes the difference.
K, back to the books, pharm test at 1130 tomorrow.
