What were you doing last year?

I was starting Med-Surge 3 and wondering how on earth I was going to manage 3-4 pts on my own! Now I routinely have at least 7 and barely blink, although I might whine a little when I first see the assignment .

Last year I was an LPN working at a nursing home that I loathed. I was also taking courses towards completing my BSN.

This year, I'm working at a small rehab hospital that I love and I will be graduating next year in May!!!! I am so excited!

Last year, I was miserable, missing time from work, ready to go crazy, and exhausted, with an extended orientation on night shift. My manager wasn't sure I was going to be able to hack it.

Now I'm mentally stable, in my second full semester of graduate school for my MSN in Nursing Education, on day shift, have a social life, and am helping out with new grads and nursing students. I'm on a policy committee and my NM says she'd be willing to have me orient to charge nurse this year. I'm so much happier and comfortable in my position. I started in July 2009 and waited until April 2010 to start asking about switching to a days position. I filled in a few day shifts and even a few weeks, but didn't start FT on days until August. I've grown a lot and although I still have questions, I know most of my medications and my communications skills with doctors, colleagues, and patients have improved vastly!

Ohh that's an easy question.

This time last year, I was in my third semester of nursing school taking Med-surg, Leadership and Management, Research. I was itching to get nursing school over with so I could start working as a nurse and quit my broke student life.

Fast forward to one year later, I kind of miss school but I'm enjoying the things I'm learning as a nurse and amazed at how much I'm growing as a person through it all. There is a lot of stress, a different kind of stress from nursing school stress but I'm hanging in there for the long haul.

Let's see, one year ago this week... *pulls up calendar for November 8-14, 2009*

Community health, psych, nursing leadership and nursing research classes. Psych clinical and preceptorship in CV-SICU. SON Dean's Circle member and class rep to the Student Nurses' Association. Had just gotten my invitation to Sigma Theta Tau. On the planning team for our cohort's post-pinning party, which was getting insane because we were graduating in a month and still nailing down menus, DJs and other such stuff. Working in the nursing lab as a TA, mini-seminar instructor and Jill-of-all-trades three days a week. Selected for VIP tour duty when the SON threw the gala opening for its new educational institute downtown. Student rep on the admissions interview committee.

...Yes, I was an ABSN student. Was it that obvious?

Now? I'm working full time midnights in emergency, am on the board of my Sigma chapter, am planning a major tutoring initiative between Sigma and the SON out of which we're going to spin a three- to five-year research project, still go down to the lab once a semester or so to talk to incoming ABSN cohorts, do guest lectures for the LPN program at the same facility, am studying for the CEN exam, and have at least two old professors who are leaning on me to apply for a clinical instructor position.

Academia and practice (especially in the EC!) are two entirely different kinds of stress, but I love them both and can't wait to see where I progress to a year from now.