Transitioning - student nurse to professional nurse - advice for class presentation?

[notthereyet0]

Senior year here, Yay!!! We have to do a class presentation on transitioning from student nurse to professional nurse. I am wondering for those who might have gone through this transition recently if you would share your wisdom, what you wish you would have known, and any anecdotes that might be pertinent? I always think that personal observations are more interesting than things we read!! Can you help us out? Thanks. I am hoping to take away some tips because I will be there soon.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Technically, you become a professional nurse the minute you get notification that you passed the NCLEX and are licensed :)

As far as adjusting to life as a professional nurse...the one big thing I would tell you is that real-life nursing isn't as cut-and-dry as textbook-nursing. This includes the medical conditions and the patients themselves as well as the work enviroment. So be prepared for anything and everything, especially when things things do not "go by the book."

The second big thing: your nursing education doesn't stop once you pass the NCLEX...if anything, your nursing education is just beginning. There are opportunities to learn in everything you encouter, and the wise nurse will take advantage of as many of them as she/he can.