I'm back!

My second year of nursing school has officially started. Which means I'm already exhausted! I've struggled to decide if I should continue this blog, mainly because of the time commitment but also because I've realized that deep nursing content is kinda boring for non-nurses. I mean, do you really care that today I learned how to hang IV piggyback medications? Does anyone even know what that means? However, in our Psych theory content, we've learned that journaling is very therapeutic for stress release, so technically this blog is still beneficial to my psyche. I've decided to compromise and instead of listing the boring and gruesome details of the skills I'm learning, I'll focus more on the human aspect of what I'm going through.

That said, have I mentioned that I'm exhausted? I went from having a nice and relaxing summer to having to get up really EARLY again and put in long days learning complex content! And boy have I lost a lot of information! I was embarrassed and horrified yesterday during a review session when I couldn't remember some of the normal lab values I used to know so well. Time to get back out the flash cards... Even though I'm complaining, I'm actually relieved to be back in school, because it means that I'm finally making progress. I'm tired of living in a transitional state and look forward to actually starting a career, making some money, and moving on with my life! And graduating to "Second Year" nursing student status is like going from a freshman to a senior. Suddenly we are cool and the ones who know something. The new first year students look at us with awe and envy and we have now earned the right to shake our heads sadly at them as they trudge by us in the hallways. To differentiate ourselves we get to sew patches on our sleeves that announce to the world that we are now experienced second-year students! [See crappy picture above.] Thus far I've only managed to sew one patch and have two more to sew this weekend.

I think I'm going to like this year a lot better because we finally get to learn the complex content, give the scary drugs, and make the big decisions. Last year we were so limited in our scope that I never felt like I was actually nursing. This year, the RN year, is how I will truly become a nurse! So far I really like the instructors too. They are much tougher and have higher expectations, but that motivates me to exceed their expectations. We get to do a short psych rotation at the state hospital and I was super thrilled to learn that I'll be working in the forensics department with patients who've committed crimes. (That is not sarcasm, by the way, I actually requested it.) I want to start with the scariest scenario and see how I handle it, and then I can decide if I want to a pursue a career as a psych nurse. I've found myself very inspired by our psychiatric content and our orientation at the state hospital and feel a strong pull to investigate this avenue further. We are already starting clinical rotations next week and I'll be back at Salem Hospital, this time on a general medical floor. In the past I've cared mostly for post-surgical patients, so this will be a challenge. My instructor has assured us that she is going to assign us the "most complex" patients as possible. Here's to not holding back and jumping right in!!!