A Week in the Life of a BSN Student
1/22/2015 – Dustin spoke to the incoming class of first-semester sophomores for fall 2015:
A week in the life of a nursing student is no ordinary week at all. Each day will be filled with a different lesson, new struggles and even a few failures.
How many of you have been awake to see the sun rise? How many have seen it two days in a row? Three days? A week? Well, prepare for that to happen for your next three years of school! I’m kidding, partially, but your days will start early and end late. You’ll spend countless hours in the nursing building -studying in the third-floor lounge, practicing skills in the lab, attending meetings for our various wonderful organizations like UNAAC, SNA, Research interns, Skills Lab Interns.
There will be shifts at the hospital that seem closer to 24 than 12 hours. There will be moments during studying when your eyes are bloodshot and you have enough caffeine in your body to fuel a NASA spaceship. This is hard ... but it is oh so worth it. You have to opportunity to BE the change we ask for in life and in the medical field. Don’t take this opportunity lightly as you step forward in your nursing career, because it starts today.
So a normal week for a nursing student is quite a bit of work. A huge piece of advice I can give is to get organized as soon as possible. If you’re not used to carrying and using a planner, get used to it fast. This planner will be your life source for the next three years. Every assignment, test, and online assignment can be mapped out and keep you from losing you mind! I usually like to finish any assignments I have due before I start studying, but that is just a personal preference. I think most nursing students can attest that you can not start studying the night before a test, unlike some of the other classes you may have taken up to this point. I like to start studying a full week, if not sooner, before an exam. This gives you time to actually understand and comprehend the material being asked, not just regurgitation of information, which will help you tremendously on tests and in practice. This is why it is so important to stay organized. You not only need to know what is on the docket for this week, but the coming weeks as well so you can allot adequate time for studying and practicing your skills.
You will also be spending time at your various clinical sites each semester. Clinical usually takes up an entire day, so that is another thing to plan for. Clinicals are an excellent experience and it is where you will learn the trade of nursing. Make sure to take the knowledge from class and try hard to apply it during clinical for the week. That is one of my biggest regrets of nursing school is not intentionally trying to apply information from class earlier in the week to clinical.
This may seem like a lot, and it is! Nursing school is like a full time job, but don’t let that deter you from having fun. The planner is not only used for school but fun as well. Make sure you give yourself breaks and plan activities to get away from school for a while. Plan on getting adequate sleep and exercise throughout your week and doing things with your friends on the weekends. Yes, you will have to sacrifice the occasional Friday or Saturday night out, but to accomplish great things we all must sacrifice.
One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give to you is to take advantage of the fabulous faculty and staff here at the College of Nursing. Not only can they help you with anything you can possibly think of, they WANT to help you! Before I came into the College, I never really talked to my professors. Most didn’t seem approachable or gave the impression that they really cared. That can’t be further from the truth here. I can’t tell you a time that I have emailed a professor and didn’t get an almost immediate response. I still visit old professors just to see how they are doing and get advice for my future.
he week in the life of a nursing student is HARD ... but you will miss it when it’s over. You will never again have the opportunity to bond with 80 other people with different backgrounds yet all striving for the same goal. Your days at the hospital where you have been pooped on, peed on, and thrown up on and just want to quit, but there will be a patient that makes you forget all of that.
As you start your journey, just remember the reasons you got into this, the ones who have sacrificed so you can be here, and the ones you sacrifice for to make this possible.
