I can’t believe the time has come that I am entering my last semester of nursing school. I am most excited about starting the job search process, having more time in the clinical setting and completing preceptorship later this summer (and finding out where I was placed for that!). All of those things that were just mentioned that I’m the most excited about, I am equally as anxious for those same things too. I love the anticipation of going to clinical each opportunity we get, however a main goal for this semester for me is to work on my confidence in the clinical setting. The past two times that I have gone to clinical in some moments I found myself holding back when given the opportunity to be hands on and practice a skill first, and I want to be able to let myself take the chance and learn. Not having as much clinical time up until this point in our program has been limiting and I believe that with the significantly increased number of hours we are about to have will be a great learning chance to get caught up with everything. I am also anxious about our Nursing 456 class just based on what peers have said about the class, so I need to let what has been said go and breathe and put my all in and focus and learn. After completing an exam or a big assignment, I will celebrate by giving myself some time and check something off my Maine To-Do list that I want to accomplish before I move back to NJ.
Planning my weekly schedule will be a big challenge at first since it will be different having 3 asynchronous classes along with 1 clinical course in person. I believe that starting the semester off strong with making a plan with when I will dedicate time for each course will be my best bet to follow for a successful completion. An example of a SMART goal would be to: Complete my weekly transitions assignments on the Saturday of the week that they are due by midnight, as they are due by midnight on Sunday. Allowing myself a day will give me space in case of a very busy or hectic week and still have enough time hopefully to complete what I need to submit. In addition to planning out when I will be doing course work, I would want to make a plan for myself in the beginning of each week what assignments are due and when, where I need to be and when, when I have time to fit in going to the gym and possibly planning out meals so that I don’t have to waste spare time on that.
The Nurse Logic 2.0 Modules had four sections of lessons to review prior to completing the advanced quizzes. The Knowledge and Clinical Judgment section was helpful in going over the styles of learning and the explanation of each of them helped me identify that I am a tactile learner. Being hands on and in simulation is very helpful for me to remember concepts and I take detailed notes in lecture but need to keep re-writing them. Along with learning styles, this section also laid out strategies for success that are realistic and important to hear again as I approach this new summer semester. The next module was focused on Nursing Concepts and in this I focused on the sections as an advanced student nurse as it reviewed the 5 rights to delegation, time management strategies and styles of leadership that can be seen on the unit. The next module was Priority Setting Frameworks which goes over the 7 frameworks that can be used in nursing practice and NCLEX questions. The last module went over testing and remediation strategies which included tips of things to do and not to do on days of exams, how to come up with a code for answering questions and not to change that code and question types that can be seen on the NCLEX. Even though we had been exposed to this material before, it was good to brush up on it again and hear all the modules over as we approach our final semester. I will definitely use the testing and remediation strategies module most with my upcoming ATI assessments.
