Interesting Back to School Experiences After Getting My GN in May

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

Hi all!

Well, despite my sworn statement last May that I was NEVER EVER EVER going back to school - I'm taking 2 classes this semester. Partially for prerequisites for an accelerated BSN, partially for future endeavors.

It's been interesting being in class, seeing all the fresh students still very much in the struggle to obtain a degree. The courses I'm taking don't actually include nursing students (that I know of!). As a nurse and professional, it's quite different to be in class with my new experiences. 3.5 months out, and I feel like a different person.

I think the biggest difference is confidence. I'm taking physics, and previously I got scared-off after the first class. This time around, I feel overall very confident and when I don't, I think "If I can be a nurse, I can certainly do THIS."

It's also interesting to be out in the world after 4 hours of sleep having worked an overnight shift. My classmates seem so innocent and inexperienced. In lab the other day someone lost something and remarked "well, it's not the strangest thing to ever happen". Thinking back to my insane night working with a couple totally demented totally outrageous patients who spent a lot of time ripping their clothes off, I thought "nope, not even close". (And heck, we all know even that's not that strange.)

Standing in line at the bookstore, there were 2 nursing students (obvious first years, by the books they were getting). You should have seen them. They were so proud, conversing loudly about their nursing courses and nurses in general. It was truly adorable. I did feel a twinge of pity, however, and I reminisced about the days when I felt like the smartest kid at college, only to graduate and be the dumbest at work. Oh, how woefully does that chip fall from one's shoulder as a GN.

Anyway. It was just interesting to see how drastically my perspective has changed.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Thanks for saying it all in such a delightful way. You are so right on in your observations! Make sure you are in a BSN completion program where there are only RNs because that does make a difference. You don't need to be in classes with students who are still learning the basics to get through NCLEX. You have bigger fish to fry (er, learn). Good luck. I went back for my BSN after being an RN for 10 years. You definitely see things from a different point of view!