A week in the life of a Nursing Student

who also works

So many of you have asked me about school and what I do at the hospital, I thought I would share a little about what a typical week in my life is

Monday

Alarm- 6 am
Wake up, eat breakfast and get ready for the day. Review some notes or check in on our school website for any announcements about homework, etc.

Off to work at 9 am. Room patients, answer phone messages, give some shots, document document, document (there is a little time for gossip and goofing off) then Lunch. This is the only time I have to run errands, make calls, pay bills, etc. If I have nothing that needs doing I will eat lunch and flip through a few magazines (one of the benefits of working in a doctors office--free subscriptions ;0) If I am feeling really studious or have an extra project for school I may work on that for a bit. Then back to work until 5 or 6 pm.

Home and dinner. I try to take a few mins to relax before dinner. I will usually straighten up the house while Dave cooks. Dave is nice enough to cook every night and help me get the kitchen cleaned up. He will also do some dishes during the day and try not to make too much of a mess. Then we clean up dinner dishes and I hit the books. Monday nights are for finishing up my Clinical worksheet and studying Pharmacology modules. This is my routine between 7 and 10 pm. Then time to shower, hang out with Dave for a bit and off to bed.

Tuesday

alarm- 6 am

up, work, lunch, dinner all the same as before. Tuesday night homework includes class prep ( assigned reading and worksheet) answering on line discussion questions (where we have to be sure to site our sources of info) and taking an online quiz for class. If there is a test in class I will review and re study my material until bed/shower at 11

Wednesday

alarm- 6 am

Up and breakfast, prepare my back pack and make sure I have all the papers/assignments/books I need and pack a lunch. Leave Cedar City at 7:30 am to get to Huricane (where we meet some more carpool buddies) by 8:30 and Colorado City by 9 am. Class/lecture from 9-12, then lunch. We usually hang out in one of the 4 buildings on campus or outside if the weather is nice. During lunch we print off next weeks class work so that we have it to take home and work on. then we have Pharmacology from 1-3. We get back to Cedar City at 5 pm.

Wednesday nights after dinner/clean up I will usually take a little break and watch a tv show or 2 then hit the books. I have an online pharm quiz, pharmacology on line lectures to listen to and reading/note taking for the on line lecture. I also have to start on my pathology sheets (we have 5 every week, due on Friday morning) that outline disease processes and patient care for particular conditions. Then bed/shower at 11 or so

Thursday

alarm 7 am

work/lunch/ home/ dinner same as Mon and Tues

Thursday night homework: Finish patho sheet, take on line anatomy quiz and class quiz for the following week. I also have to get book bag ready for clinicals the next morning and pack a breakfast/ lunch. I get the coffee pot ready to go and early shower at 9 pm. I try to go to bed at 9:30 or 10

Friday

alarm 3:30 am

Coffee, coffee, coffee. Get ready for clinicals (which includes donning a pure white scrub top and white pants, don't forget white shoes) and leave the house at 4:15 am. Off to Hurricane to meet extra carpool buddies by the freeway exit. We get down to the hospital in St Geogre at 5:30 am and wait for our nurse assignments. Then we have to go locate the nurse and deliver the news that she gets to have a student follow her around all day. We then listen to shift report to get info about the patient we will be caring for that day with our nurse. By 7 am we are getting patients up and doing assessments (giving the patient a quick exam to listen to heart/lungs and check body systems) and passing morning meds, being sure to document along the way.

Then at about 9 am I have a little time to look up patient info on one of the patients I am taking care of to present to our clinical instructor. We need to be prepared to answer questions about the patient, their admitting diagnosis, their plan of care, their labs/ test results and why the results are abnormal. We fill in our clinical worksheets on the patient and get their medical history, med list and document our assessment of the patient.

At 9:30 am I break away to present my patient and eat a quick snack for breakfast. After that, I continue to take care of patients, pass meds and hopefully do something cool like start an IV or insert a foley cath, or even change a dressing on a gnarly wound. During the day I will get about 1/2 an hour for lunch and a few breaks to work on clinical worksheets.

Then we have post conference at 4 pm where we discuss our day with our instructor and fellow students and will usually have a few case studies to do together. Our instructor always has a snack for us because she loves us.

We get back to Cedar City at 6 pm, and I get out of my white scrubs as soon as I can. I have a NO HOMEWORK ON FRIDAY NIGHTS rule, so I will usually hang out with Dave and watch TV. I have no energy for anything else. I am always asleep by 8:30 or 9

Saturday

no alarm

Even though I don't have an alarm set, I am up and ready by about 7 am. I will usually do the deep cleaning (sweep, mop, dust) and clean the bathrooms. I like to set the oven timer for 1 hour and do as much housework as I can for that hour. I usually get most of it done and finish the rest Saturday night. Then I hit the books--discussion questions, start on class prep, read/study and work on test reviews when there is a test coming. We also have Care Plans due 3 or 4 times during the semester, These are 6 or 7 pages about a patient and their disease process (down to the cellular level) and their prognosis. It has to typed in MLA format and includes nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions (things that you would do to care for this patient as a nurse--remembering that you need to educate your patient, be an advocate for their care and provide emotional support as well as passing meds). I will get these done on the weekends so I don't have to worry about finding time during the week. I will also do any other papers or special assignments that we have.

I will do homework most of the day, but will spend Saturday night doing things with Dave or going out, maybe just relaxing and watching TV. This is the only night I have to get any grocery shopping done so I will make a list and go to the store with Dave if we need to.

Sunday

no alarm

I am up at about 8 am. I start on laundry and will do homework and laundry all day. I finish up pharmacology lectures and fold/put away laundry in between. There is usually only 4-5 hours of homework left and Sunday nights are free. I like to take a long bath and have a quiet night. I will sometimes need to drive up to Scipio to take Drew back to meet his dad. I try to mentally prepare myself to do it all again next week.

Stay Strong

The stress of school, $, and work stuff is getting to me. It was nice to take a little reality break this weekend and hang out with Drew and Dave. Hunger Games was a great escape from it all.

School is going well, even if it does cause stress. There is just a lot of studying and "busy work" but I love clinical days....taking care of patients in the hospital is great and I feel like I am in my element. We will be going to the Bodies exhibit in Vegas in a few weeks. It will be fun to have a little time to have enjoy my classmates outside of school. There is only 5 weeks left of class.......it went by so fast. This time next year I will be stressing about passing my boards! It will happen too soon.

Dave has a few good leads for jobs, we will see how things unfold in the next month or so. I say a little prayer every night. I have faith that we will make it through this.

Really? ! ?

Just when we thought things were looking up! I am so frustrated! Dave got laid off. It is not like we haven't been here before, but really.......why now! We had such big plans for this year.

All we can do is have faith that it will all work out. And, I am counting my blessings. It certainly could be worse.