My Most Memorable Day of Nursing School was........

[Dollface4k6]

Wednesday was my first day of Nursing Clinicals! Needless to say I was terrified of how the day would go. I showed up to my assigned site an hour before we were supposed to be there, just to avoid an inevitable accident or any traffic that would set a bad mood for the day. I waited for my peers to show up in the designated waiting area (the main lobby) and once our instructor joined us we convened in the cafeteria to sign more forms and get oriented to the hospital. After about an hour of direction we began our trek up to our new home on the third floor where I would do my first semester of nursing school clinicals. The unit is a telemetry unit and from the second I stepped onto the floor I knew my life would never be the same.

As the morning progressed we were walked through the nursing station, met some of the staff and learned where the supplies were. After about 3 hours of being in the hospital we all entered the supply closet (all 8 of us plus my instructor) to learn where we would find most of the things that we would need throughout our days. I was pushed to the back of the closet and was listening to my instructor go over where the items we would use most frequently would be found.

Now this is where I should mention that I am claustrophobic. And this is where I mention that I am not a little claustrophobic, I am "never take an elevator and have to meditate on a train" claustrophobic. I kept my eye on the door reminding myself that I was in a safe place and would be leaving the closet sooner rather than later and that I was not trapped in the closet. A staff nurse comes in and asks for a supply from one of the students and we passed it to her. I'm getting warmer and warmer as the moments go on and I can feel the sweat on my forehead. The staff nurse leaves the room and closes the door. Panic sets in. I'm in the supply closet with 9 other people and can't manage to speak up to ask for someone to open the door or to let me out to breathe. I feel my head spinning, sweat DRIPPING off my face and I am suddenly unable to speak. Tunnel vision starts and my field of view becomes bright orange and black swirling colors and the "womp womp womp" begins; now I realize I am going to pass out. It is my first day of nursing clinicals and I am going to be the girl that passes out on her first day. I will forever be the girl that passes out in a closet on her first day in the hospital. And that's all I remember.

I came to in a supply closet filled with horrified nursing students surrounding me. My professor (a nurse practitioner) starts asking me a bunch of questions I can't quite make out and I manage to blurt out "OPEN THE DOOR, I'M CLAUSTROPHOBIC." My professor immediatley starts laughing and sends the other students out of the closet so that I can finally catch my breath, she said that I murmered something as I slipped to the floor and that my face was green and glistening. I was mortified.

My professor decided this would be a good time to break for lunch and walked us to the cafeteria. Although my classmates were extremely concerned with how I was feeling I really just wanted everyone to pretend it didn't happen! We collected our lunches and sat down at a table and my professor started to tell us about her first day of nursing school. She was educated AT a hospital in the 1960s and on her first night of "clinicals" she ran out of the emergency room and vomitted at the sight of man who split his head open after falling off a ladder. And this was when it hit me: Everyone has their worst day as a nurse and that over time the WORST day becomes the MOST MEMORABLE DAY! Surely we will have the days in our education (and career) that take the cake as the best day of our experiences but the most memorable ones are often the ones we intially wish didn't happen. She made a joke out of it that the nursing students in the closet should have been more attentive to my symptoms (a joke of course) and to "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives!"

I would love to hear some "horror stories" (learning experiences) from nursing students, nursing educators and practicing nurses! So tell me...what was the most memorable day for you??