At the beginning of this summer session, one of our professors collectively asked the 60 of us class-of-2017 nursing students why is it we are wanting to pursue this field.
"To help people and care for people," was the most prominent response.
Help people? Care for people?
Have I ever really liked doing that? Doesn't that require compassion and sensitivity, loving, care and kindness? Are those characteristics I possess?
If I had to answer the question as to why I decided to persevere towards the nursing field, "because I want to serve people" would have not been my answer.
Well, a lot can change in five weeks.
* * *
It has been a challenging five weeks, but it has been worth it. And since my first semester of nursing school has been completed, I wanted to share 5 lessons I have learned thus far.
1. "Helping" people is so overrated
When my sister was in her elementary years, there was this online computer game she was addicted to, Poptropica. She was introduced to it at school and made her own account and continued to play on it after school at our grandma's house like literally every day. It was slightly annoying for me, since sometimes I needed to do work on the computer and I enjoyed to play my own online games. I hated Poptropica; I saw no point in the game. When I asked my sister why she enjoyed playing the game so much, she answered:
"I like to help people."
She explained that the overall purpose of the game was to help other 'poptropicans.'
"A video game where you help people?" It made no sense to me.
Well, what kind of nurse thinks helping people is overrated, rated too highly? According to dictionary.com, 'helping' is defined as the giving of aid, assistance, support, or the like.
But Nurses are to be so much more than an aid or an assistant.
Nurses take on numerous roles: teacher, counselor, leader, communicator, advocate, and change agent, just to name a few.
Nurses who work effectively possess numerous characteristics: independence, fair-mindedness, egocentricity, humility, perseverance, confidence, curiosity, sensitivity, compassion, flexible, and honesty, to just name a few.
In my sister's video game, she 'helped' other poptropicans to 'level up' and continue through the story mode. 'Helping' is overrated because it is easy; you don't have to smile or care about the person to administer pain medication; you don't have to necessarily cover the patient up while you rub a preventative topical treatment all over the naked body. You can help someone and not care. However, serving someone takes passion. A nurse must put on and take off role 'hats' with flexibility while incorporating client-centered based characteristics into practice.
Anyone can help, but it takes a multitude of characteristics and skills to serve.
When my sister was in her elementary years, there was this online computer game she was addicted to, Poptropica. She was introduced to it at school and made her own account and continued to play on it after school at our grandma's house like literally every day. It was slightly annoying for me, since sometimes I needed to do work on the computer and I enjoyed to play my own online games. I hated Poptropica; I saw no point in the game. When I asked my sister why she enjoyed playing the game so much, she answered:
"I like to help people."
She explained that the overall purpose of the game was to help other 'poptropicans.'
"A video game where you help people?" It made no sense to me.
Well, what kind of nurse thinks helping people is overrated, rated too highly? According to dictionary.com, 'helping' is defined as the giving of aid, assistance, support, or the like.
But Nurses are to be so much more than an aid or an assistant.
Nurses take on numerous roles: teacher, counselor, leader, communicator, advocate, and change agent, just to name a few.
Nurses who work effectively possess numerous characteristics: independence, fair-mindedness, egocentricity, humility, perseverance, confidence, curiosity, sensitivity, compassion, flexible, and honesty, to just name a few.
In my sister's video game, she 'helped' other poptropicans to 'level up' and continue through the story mode. 'Helping' is overrated because it is easy; you don't have to smile or care about the person to administer pain medication; you don't have to necessarily cover the patient up while you rub a preventative topical treatment all over the naked body. You can help someone and not care. However, serving someone takes passion. A nurse must put on and take off role 'hats' with flexibility while incorporating client-centered based characteristics into practice.
Anyone can help, but it takes a multitude of characteristics and skills to serve.
2. Worrying is faulty and defective
Here is a look into my journal entry from 4 Aug 2015:
I know its bad to worry about my feelings, God. Its so selfish to want to not be hurt, to be afraid of pain. Its selfish to have me and my worries always in the forefront of my mind. Its selfish to want something for my own benefits, for my own feelings. Help me be selfless; 'cause I don't like feeling weak and vulnerable.
"Our worry leads us astray and allows Satan a foothold into our lives. Since “sin” is, at its core, “missing the mark” that God has set for us, then worrying is not living up to God’s standard. Jesus made the mark clear here, and our sin is failing to believe that God will care for us, even though He promised to do so. Of course, we all fall short of this mark and allow ourselves to worry. And you’ll find quite a bit of worry in the Psalms and in the actions of Jesus’ followers. That’s why we have to be even more grateful that God sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, including our lack of trust in Him." ~Bible Study Tools
Worries can be detrimental to not only us as an individual, but also others, such as the clients for which nurses care. Fixating and dwelling on worries, things that cannot be taken care of in the present moment, can lead to injury or the nurse or the client, a bad grade, or a failed clinical day. Being preoccupied with anxiety and troubles can lead to forgetfulness; the nurse forgetting to lock the bed/wheelchair, the nurse forgetting to lower the bed to the lowest position, the nurse forgetting to put the bed side-rails back up. Although those examples are seemingly small things, they are safety precautions, and if harm is done to the client, the nurse can be liable for negligence and battery. It may seem insensitive, but I must put temporarily swallow my personal problems in order to deliver the best patient care possible. Plus, when you lose yourself in your passion-nursing, your problems don't seem so bad; after all, you could have it worse.
{Matthew 6:25-34}
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. . . Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
3. Knock the negativity and don't complain
Complaining is a pet-peeve of mine.
"I think we should get extra credit."
Uh, no. This is nursing school, not high school math class.
"Clinical days are so long."
10 hours really isn't that much. If you are complaining about working now, how do you think you will last in an actual job, a career?
"I think we should only have to do one objective sheet for our care plan."
Practice will only help; and we need all the help we can get, especially if we want to be the best nurse we can be.
So seriously, if you are contemplating joining a nursing program, remember that sometimes things will be thrown at you that don't make sense, that seem extreme, and may make you want to pull your hair out. These hardships are only getting you ready for the real world; if you can adapt while in school, you will be able to adapt anywhere; whether that is going from a med-surg nurse to a hospice nurse or going from working in America to working in Africa.
Complaining focuses your view on the negative, making life a little harder and a lot more miserable.
I got a lot of work to do on this one: Positivism can help not only your mood, but your results, such as test scores or clinical days.
Yeah, it's hard to be positive sometimes; sometimes its a matter of are you going to laugh or are you going to cry.
To keep sane, I am going to choose to rid complains, smile, and laugh.
Complaining is a pet-peeve of mine.
"I think we should get extra credit."
Uh, no. This is nursing school, not high school math class.
"Clinical days are so long."
10 hours really isn't that much. If you are complaining about working now, how do you think you will last in an actual job, a career?
"I think we should only have to do one objective sheet for our care plan."
Practice will only help; and we need all the help we can get, especially if we want to be the best nurse we can be.
So seriously, if you are contemplating joining a nursing program, remember that sometimes things will be thrown at you that don't make sense, that seem extreme, and may make you want to pull your hair out. These hardships are only getting you ready for the real world; if you can adapt while in school, you will be able to adapt anywhere; whether that is going from a med-surg nurse to a hospice nurse or going from working in America to working in Africa.
Complaining focuses your view on the negative, making life a little harder and a lot more miserable.
I got a lot of work to do on this one: Positivism can help not only your mood, but your results, such as test scores or clinical days.
Yeah, it's hard to be positive sometimes; sometimes its a matter of are you going to laugh or are you going to cry.
To keep sane, I am going to choose to rid complains, smile, and laugh.
4. Time is precious; and so are workouts
Time management is a famous word in nursing school; the 'million dollar question' is: how are you going to spend your time? Would you like to finish your care plan; would you like to study for your second test of the week; would you like to write your clinical reflective journal; would you like to write your nursing philosophy paper; would you like to spend some time de-stressing and do some cardio or weightlifting; or would you like to sleep? Or maybe the question is: when can you sleep?
Time is precious. Time can sneak away from you. Time can bring changes. Time can heal brokenness.
Workouts are precious. Workouts better not sneak away from you. Workouts can being changes. Workouts can heal brokenness.
Really though, "exercise increases levels of metabolites for neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and serotonin; exercise releases endogenous opioids, this increasing levels of endorphin; exercise increases levels of oxygen to the brain and other body systems, inducing euphoria; and through muscular exertion the body releases stored stress associated with accumulated emotional demands" (Berman, Snyder & Frandsen, 2016, p. 1020).
So whether you are studying for an exam, spending time with a loved one, or working out, know that the way you spend your time is important. Prioritizing - something central to the nursing field.
Time management is a famous word in nursing school; the 'million dollar question' is: how are you going to spend your time? Would you like to finish your care plan; would you like to study for your second test of the week; would you like to write your clinical reflective journal; would you like to write your nursing philosophy paper; would you like to spend some time de-stressing and do some cardio or weightlifting; or would you like to sleep? Or maybe the question is: when can you sleep?
Time is precious. Time can sneak away from you. Time can bring changes. Time can heal brokenness.
Workouts are precious. Workouts better not sneak away from you. Workouts can being changes. Workouts can heal brokenness.
Really though, "exercise increases levels of metabolites for neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and serotonin; exercise releases endogenous opioids, this increasing levels of endorphin; exercise increases levels of oxygen to the brain and other body systems, inducing euphoria; and through muscular exertion the body releases stored stress associated with accumulated emotional demands" (Berman, Snyder & Frandsen, 2016, p. 1020).
So whether you are studying for an exam, spending time with a loved one, or working out, know that the way you spend your time is important. Prioritizing - something central to the nursing field.
5. Being a nurse is really hard, but its worth it
Yeah, I'm sure you heard that nursing school is hard; I heard it too, but I never realized how challenging it would be until I lived through a 5-week nursing boot camp. Information is thrown at you by every direction, and you are challenged to catch it, remember it, apply it, and pass it (the test that is).
The information part by itself isn't the hard part.
What's hard is all the voices in your head telling you you can't do this.
What's hard is being in on campus, pretty much alone, and being pinned down by your worries and fears, tears unable to fight off the mean and degrading thoughts.
What's hard is wondering if God is on your side; and even when you know he is, you don't always feel that way.
The hard this is the mental aspect of nursing school; how much stress can you deal with and what are your specific coping mechanisms.
Are you like me and you push it to the side as long as possible, and then you bread down in the middle of a clinical day?
Are you like me and you walk down campus, all alone, and go to the library to study; and even when there are people in the room, you still feel alone?
But you know what makes all the hard parts worth the pain? Success.
* * *
Yeah, I'm sure you heard that nursing school is hard; I heard it too, but I never realized how challenging it would be until I lived through a 5-week nursing boot camp. Information is thrown at you by every direction, and you are challenged to catch it, remember it, apply it, and pass it (the test that is).
The information part by itself isn't the hard part.
What's hard is all the voices in your head telling you you can't do this.
What's hard is being in on campus, pretty much alone, and being pinned down by your worries and fears, tears unable to fight off the mean and degrading thoughts.
What's hard is wondering if God is on your side; and even when you know he is, you don't always feel that way.
The hard this is the mental aspect of nursing school; how much stress can you deal with and what are your specific coping mechanisms.
Are you like me and you push it to the side as long as possible, and then you bread down in the middle of a clinical day?
Are you like me and you walk down campus, all alone, and go to the library to study; and even when there are people in the room, you still feel alone?
But you know what makes all the hard parts worth the pain? Success.
* * *
One of the best feelings in the world is the peace and joy you receive when you feel as if you have found your niche.
