Second semester began like no other, suddenly my schedule had totally changed and everything I had expected from first semester was completely different?! New professors, new home, new routines… The brand new curriculum came very quickly, and I became very tired and stressed out over the chaos that ensued?! Hindsight is 20/20- and now I realize it wasn’t as bad as my extremely sleep deprived brain thought, but I am still super proud to have “survived.” The beginning of second semester only improved my flexibility, speed, and efficiency skills… so I’m for sure ready to tackle what’s next! Now I am accustomed to the rushed, panicked feeling, and I’ve learned how to channel the nervous energy. It sounds crazy, but that’s the truth! The biggest difference of second semester was the introduction of six week courses, putting the A in ABSN for sure! The biggest curve ball was the Maternity course, I had very minimal women’s health knowledge prior and the assignments and lectures were jam packed with critical, specific & unique information. It was very overwhelming at first, getting through new teaching styles & assignments but the information provided to be very interesting & fulfilling, I also had the opportunity to attend birthing doula “Duke-la” classes, which was so fun + interesting! *Don’t you love this maternity suite? The towels!!
Here is what a “typical” week was like May-June 2018…
MONDAY
- Early wake up call at 5:30 am
- A 12 hour maternity clinical shift @ UNC
TUESDAY
- An early morning & afternoon of homework
- Local community group clinical: 2-6pm at the local Durham Elementary School 🙂
- Then home for more homework & studying afterwards…
WEDNESDAY
- A full day on campus from 8am-4pm
- 8am- Pharmacology
- 10:30am- Maternity
- 2pm- Community & Public Health
THURSDAY
- Another full day on campus, 8am-5pm
- 8am- Professional Nursing
- 10:30am- Maternity
- 2pm- Community & Public Health
- 4pm- ATI Remediation Studies
FRIDAY
- The end of the week usually hosts homework, studying or different scheduled on campus events… ie- skills days, workshops, simulation labs…
SATURDAY
- I spend the first 1/2 of every Saturday with Dillon
- After lunch it’s back to work!
- Time for: HW, studying, and clinical prep work
SUNDAY
- Early wake up call at 5:30 am
- Off to another 12 hour maternity clinical shift @ UNC
- My greatest take-aways so far this semester are: I NEED SLEEP & it’s OK to watch TV! lol
- Unfortunately most nights I have been working until 1-2am then I’m too ramped up to fall asleep, then I panic about waking up late for clinical
- I had to break the cycle! So now I’m just calling it around midnight, watching a TV show to relax, thank you Riverdale! and then falling asleep whenever & as soon as I can
- Everything has been so rushed & regimented lately, including sleep! So I’ve been a stressed out mess -NOT a good look…
- Also- pay attention to the lecture boards during the skills blitz days, the diagrams will help you to better understand the home work later
- If you’re struggling with fetal heart rate strips, use a website like this one: https://fmc.perinatalquality.org/FMDemo/assessment.html to help practice information in live time
- I also utilized information in NCLEX study books + ATI to better understand complicated lecture material
- Trust your gut & learn to prioritize! Don’t ever let anyone get inside your head & scare you out of learning & trust yourself as an emergency responder!