That's All She Wrote

Hello, and welcome to my last blog of nursing school!

I have officially graduated. There was pomp, and there was circumstance. And a metric ton of pictures. But I did it! Graduated cum laude, inducted into the nursing honor society, which is truly the coolest honor. It's amazingly rewarding to have all my hard work over the past year and a half recognized.

The job search still continues. I've revamped my resume, so hopefully that will help get my foot in the door. It's a troubling market still, but I'm determined to find something!

My NCLEX test date is set for June 16th. I'm ready. We prepared for 16 months, though we didn't realize just how much practice we were getting. I'll probably do a few hundred (maybe 200-300) by next week, but just to work on the types of question, rather than content per se.

And now we've reached the end of this journey. But here I am, standing at the starting line of the next one, ready and raring to go!

Last Class

We had our very last class of nursing school yesterday. I have to say, it was kind of anti-climactic. However, there was a little more celebrating happening after Caitlin and I handed in the final draft of our scholarly project (Informed Consent for Epidural Analgesia in Labor and Delivery: A Checklist to Guide Nursing Practice).

I have to say, on one hand I'm very excited to be done. I'm looking forward to working, having a life again, and being able to do more of the things that I've been wanting to do but couldn't because my time was not my own. I am SO happy for all of the friends that I have made, many of whom will be staying in the area after graduation. I've learned so much in the past 16 months, and I feel like I'm ready to actually be a nurse. My last clinicals and practicum shifts really made me feel that I'm going to do well, even though there is still so much to learn (and I haven't quite chosen a field yet).

On the other hand, I'm nervous for many of the same reasons! I'm nervous that it's time to be out on our own (maybe it's more anticipation, but still). I'm going to miss seeing my friends every day, although I have many promises of hanging out. In general, I'm nervous because I can't figure out which way I want to head. I'm still waiting to hear on jobs. So far I do have an interview at the WHC, but INOVA is taking a looooooooong time to let me know about trauma ICU and the OR. I think when it comes right down to it, I would love the heck out of either job, but I'm nervous about having to choose one.

Well, there's really no use in worrying at this point. I still have two groups papers to turn in and three finals to complete. I have to keep my focus for about 10 more days, and then it's time to practice NCLEX questions! I'm hoping that everything comes together so that I can get my license and start working ASAP... but there I go worrying again!

All in all, I'm in a very happy place. I'm about to be a nurse!

Graduation.... is when!?

I'm not sure how I lost so much time, but I haven't posted since February and here it is April... and now graduation is literally around the corner! I officially have less than a month left of this crazy ride called nursing school.

So, where am I now? I've started the application process, although I suspect I won't hear anything real until I actually have my license in hand (the job market being such that it is). So far my interests have been narrowed down to: trauma, cardiovascular ICU or step down, and OR (generally cardiac or orthopedic). I'm finding myself drawn back to trauma - once upon a time I was an EMT and dreamed of working in the ER taking care of trauma patients. After our trauma lectures, I've re-discovered my love of all this traumatic (much to the dismay of some of my classmates, who all groan "ewww" while I squeal "cool!"). So I'm going to push toward starting in trauma ER or a trauma ICU, and maybe come back to more general (or more cardiac) stuff later. I guess we'll see who decides to hire me though. INOVA has a trauma RN internship/fellowship that I'm crossing my fingers for. I think that would just make my day! And since they haven't yet turned me down, I am going with the hope that it means I may yet be in the running for the internship! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

In the meantime, there are projects and papers galore. I managed to get through the vast majority of stress-inducing work, so I'm breathing a bit easier these days, but there is still a ways to go before I can just focus on studying for finals. In fact, there is roughly two weeks left until I can really delve into finals studying. I guess that's the good thing about having the last few weeks in April pretty much wide open!

So ladies and gents, we are drawing to a close on this blog, but I plan to start a new blog once I get out there in the world of nursing. I'll keep you posted!

A Decade with the Genome Sequence...

I thought it worth noting that NHGRI came out with a Nature paper about the last 10 years since the human genome was sequenced, and about the future of genomic medicine.

www.youtube.com/genometv has the day long symposium posted.

http://www.genome.gov/SP2011/ Has further information.

Yay for the genome!

Final Semester

Well, it's here. Actually, we're about a month into it. The final semester of nursing school. It's time for interviews and studying for the NCLEX in between a chaotic classwork schedule. The good thing is there are NO MORE CARE PLANS!!!!!!! (phew). The bad news is there is a metric TON of other work to do.

I'm feeling really good about this semester. Had my first interview and it went very well. Still thinking about the NIH program and interviewing with INOVA. I start my practicum hours next week in the Fair Oaks ICU, which sounds like it's going to be awesome. At some point, I want to shadow in the ER so I can see if it's something I'd like to eventually do.

In the meantime, I'm trying hard not to be a slacker. I need to work on something every single day in order to keep up with it all. The readings alone are already overwhelming, but the good thing is we're working on all the advanced stuff - we've been learning EKGs, heart attack stuff, trauma, and emergency type information. I'm LOVING it.

I'll try to keep this as up to date as I can, but blogging is sort of a last priority right now, to be frank. I'm so eager to get going with my career so my life can stabilize again. I don't regret going to school, but it's been tough. Now I'm ready to be a useful adult again.

Soon!!