#nursingschool (Semester Three)

My third semester of nursing school ended last week! It was definitely my favorite semester of nursing school thus far - the rotations, the patients, the instructors - all so challenging and good!

We started the semester in Cardiac and Respiratory which I loved! These were followed by endocrine which I also really enjoyed.

Psych was our fourth rotation and my least favorite - lol, I may not know exactly where I want to work, but I definitely know I am not cut out to be a psych nurse! :)

We ended the semester with our final rotation in Neurology. I got to experience the Operating Room for the first time during Neuro Surgery which was just so cool. I felt like a little kid playing dress-up and all giddy in my OR cap, gown, gloves, mask and booties. :) One thing that I had heard before but never experienced was how cold the OR is. It was freezing! My teeth were chattering and my arms were covered in goosebumps nearly the whole time.

As second year nursing students, I was amazed at the change in responsibility. Rather than having an instructor present with us every time we administered medications or performed a procedure, we were expected to perform things independently. Of course, our instructors were always checking in on our dosages, documentation, and our patients to make sure we were doing a good job and our patients were getting excellent care - but not having the safety net of their prompting was so different.  At first, I was totally terrified! However, by the end of the semester, this independence had grown my confidence so much.  I feel more like a nurse than ever and am so excited for the day that I will be out on my own caring for my patients.

So surreal that graduation is only 5 months away! Let me countdown begin!  :)