For those of you who watch my videos on my Youtube channel, you are probably aware that at the end of every semester, I post a video where I reflect on that particular semester and talk about some of the things that helped me pass the courses. This semester (my 3rd semester out of 4), was hands down the hardest semester by far and I would consider it to be the hardest thing I have ever done academically. While reflecting on this brutal semester, I realized that the single and most important quality that helped me get through it was grit. Grit was what kept my cohort and I going when there was no motivation, when we were feeling burned out and discouraged, and when we started questioning whether or not we had what it takes to become nurses. This was the first time during the entire program where many students had to ask themselves if this is something that they truly want. This was the first time where we had to really think like nurses – not only during clinical rotations, but also while taking exams.
For this 3rd semester, I took OB, Adult Health 2 (aka Med-Surg 2), Pediatrics, and Trends. What made this semester extremely difficult was that we were now taking two courses that were completely new to us (OB and Peds), as well as taking a difficult class where the material was adding on to what we had learned in the previous semester (Adult Health 2). Up until this point, everything that we had learned was about adults. This was the first time where we had to learn about children, neonates, and pregnant mothers — all of which we had never seen before. Pediatrics is definitely different from adult care. For example, all of the medications that are given to children are weight-based, something that isn’t necessarily done in adult care. For OB, we had to get used to the idea that we now had more than one patient: Mother and baby (and in certain cases, the entire family unit). It was definitely a huge learning curve not only in class but in practice as well. I am happy to say though that OB/maternity was my favorite clinical rotation by far! I especially enjoyed working on the labor and delivery unit which led me to choose maternity as my #1 choice for my capstone next semester. Last night I found out that not only did I get accepted into a maternity capstone, but I was also placed at the hospital that I was hoping to work in AND I was placed with the same clinical instructor whom I had this semester that made me love OB! One of my classmates from my current clinical group was also placed in the same group with me, so we are both very excited to be together again without our clinical instructor. It was great news all around 🙂
After I announced on Instagram that OB became my favorite clinical rotation, several of you reached out and asked me if I am still interested in dermatology. My answer to that is yes! Dermatology still has my heart and I hope to work in that specialty someday. However, there aren’t any clinical rotations for dermatology in nursing school. I believe that they only have dermatology rotations in nurse practitioner programs, so I entered the ABSN program with an open mind and soon realized that I enjoyed L&D very much. Next semester I will have to decide whether I will pursue OB or dermatology after graduation. The great thing about nursing is that you can always switch and work wherever you’d like! This was actually one of the reasons why I chose to pursue nursing — we have so many options and will never feel bored or “stuck“. As of right now, I am open to work in either dermatology or OB since I enjoy both very much and I’m confident that I can do a great job in either setting. However if I truly had to choose only one, then it would definitely have to be dermatology. Although it is very competitive and hard to break into the dermatology field as an RN, I hope that I can specialize in it after graduation.
So what were some of the things that I did to help me get through this semester?
- PURCHASE A PLANNER! — I cannot stress this enough. At the beginning of every semester, I always write down every single assignment due date, every exam date, and anything that has some kind of deadline into my planner. That helps me visualize when everything is due and I can start planning in advance.
- Stay organized — It is so easy to miss a small assignment or miss an important even if you do not stay organize and write everything down.
- Study for exams in advance — DO NOT wait until the week of the exam to start studying. It is simply not possible to do well on exams in nursing school if you start studying at the last minute for exams. This is not like undergrad where you could get away with all nighters or studying a day or 2 before an exam. There is too much material to get through.
- Take good notes! — I will be creating a Youtube video where I share exactly how I took notes for different classes while in the program. Stay tuned!
- Self care — It is so easy to leave your own care in the backburner since nursing school takes up so much of your time. Take some time everyday to do something that you enjoy and helps you relax. It will help you so much in the long run so that you don’t feel burned out so quickly.
- SLEEP — Your sleep schedule will most likely be out of wack, but try to have a consistent schedule and try to get enough sleep, especially before exams!
I hope this helps you guys on your nursing journey! Good luck ~