One of the things I’ve been able to enjoy doing this summer has been going to my sister’s high school graduation. It was really exciting to see my sister moving on from one chapter of her life and getting ready to step into another. She will be attending Austin Peay too so I know we will have plenty of fun going to the same college. I’m hoping she can learn from the mistakes I made during college and be a much better student than I was at times. I look forward to her telling me about her college experiences and I hope that she is able to take advantage of everything college has to offer. I do worry if she’s going to be able to make her 8:00 am classes since she is far from an early riser, but I have confidence that she will get the hang of things eventually.

I also got the pleasure of watching my cousin graduate from high school as well. Their graduation was outside in their football stadium so it was really interesting to watch. Graduating high school is a big accomplishment so all you new graduates should be very proud!!

Well I truly hope everyone has a safe and EXTREMELY enjoyable summer! The weather is just too beautiful to waste…

Stay tuned for the next blog!

It’s good to talk to you all again. This semester is about to come to an end in just 3 days!!! I must say this has been the hardest semester of my life. I have had to pull multiple all nighters and drink tons of cappucino but I have made it through. My last clinical was over last friday and its hard to believe that I won’t be seeing my patients anymore. Clinicals were definitely the most fun this semester. We got the chance to experience so many things. My very first patient was someone who was fed through a peg tube. So I learned how to hook up her feedings and turn them off. I learned how to clean around her peg tube and I also learned how to aspirate for any residual. If you future nursing students don’t know what any of that means don’t worry you will!! She was one of the sweetest patients in the nursing home, even though she wasn’t too happy when we had to wake her up and give her a bath at 7:00am..=(.

My second patient was a little bit different than my first. She was a little more independent. Although she could not bathe herself, she could feed herself and she was able to be in a wheelchair for half the day. She probably loved bananas more than anyone I have ever met. And of course they were “Chiquita” bananas. =)). I wouldn’t allow her to eat any other type! My partner Millie (who is also a blogger!) had a patient who was definitely a character. She knew what she wanted and if you were doing something wrong she had no problem expressing it vocally. She also loved to grab people but she could say the sweetest things at times. I will definitely miss her outgoing personality.

While we were in the nursing home we learned how to give medications properly, give insulin shots, and we learned how to bathe our patients. I can’t even count how many baths we did. On the second day of clinical we gave each other intramuscular shots and boy was I pretty much the worst shot giver to ever hit the nursing program!! Poor Millie was my victim and she was so sweet about it but I knew that she was hurting a little bit. I was just sooooooooo nervous! I had never given a shot before and I didn’t want to hurt Millie so I tried to be as gentle as possible. But when I went to put the needle in I was too gentle so I didn’t even break her skin so pretty much i just pricked her, finally I was able to break the skin but the needle kept almost coming out and my hand was shaking, trust me it was like a horror film. Thankfully my clinical group was all able to laugh about it but it was definitely a terrifying moment. Before I ever started the nursing program, shots were the only thing I was really scared about doing. So actually doing it was pretty terrifying but I’m glad I got it over with and I’m confident I will do much better next time!!=)). I will at least penetrate the skin the first time!

Overall, I would have to say that this semster has definitely been a good one. The classes were hard and the tests even harder but trust me, If I can do it working 3 other jobs then you all can do it too!!!! I would advise you future nursing students to cut back on whatever you can because you will have to dedicate alot of time to the program but it is well worth it!! And if you don’t know anyone in the nursing program..don’t worry!!! You will make so many friends once you start. Everyone is so sweet and understanding…it’ll be like a little family. So have fun and enjoy every minute of it!!! It will go by fast!!! If you have any questions or want to know more just let me know!!! I will try to keep you updated!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the year so far. I’m just glad it’s finally starting to get warm around here. This semester has went by unbelievably fast. It’s really hard for me to believe that I am about to finish my first semester of nursing school. It has definitely been tough and I have felt overwhelmed nearly every day of it but I have really enjoyed it. I start my clinicals this upcoming friday in a nursing home so I’m really excited about that. I’m pretty nervous too but hopefully after going a few times I will start to get the hang of it. I’m also really excited that my sister will be graduating from high school on May 24th. She’ll be joining me at APSU. I’m going to really enjoy showing her the ropes around here. She does not know what she wants to major in yet but I know it will eventually come to her. The next few months of this semester are going to be both exciting and a little stressful but I am ready for them and I think I can make it!! Stay tuned for my next blog!

I hope you all are enjoying the new year and had a good Valentine’s Day. The year 2008 has definitely started out more stressful than I thought it would. I had no idea that nursing school would be so hard!!! Yes, I heard the stories about how tough it is but I guess I never fully grasped how much work would have to be put into being successful in this program. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying every minute of it, but the amount of studying you have to do can be very overwhelming at times. For example, next week I have a test Monday and Wednesday, AND I have a 5-8 page paper due that Thursday!! So as you can imagine I’m about 95% bald right now…=(. It doesn’t help that I’m the biggest procrastinator known to planet Earth either. I’m finding out very quickly that procrastinating and nursing school do not go together at all!!! So I’m really hoping I get my stuff together before the end of this semester.

The things I like most about the nursing program so far are the teachers and my classmates. ALL the teachers are wonderful. They all really want to see you succeed and they love for you to ask questions. They’re there for you anytime you need them and they understand the stress we’re going through so it’s really easy to talk to them. Now there are a few instructors who scare me a little bit…they’re not terribly mean or anything, it’s just that they like to quiz you on the stuff you should know and they like to do it on the spot so you have to be prepared. This is hard for lil ol’ Chiquita because she gets nervous when asked questions on the spot so she usually comes out looking like a studdering fool…=(…but you can best believe I hit the books after that and made sure I knew my stuff! I know their toughness will pay off in the end.

Now when it comes to my classmates, you couldn’t ask for a more diverse group. We each are unique in our own ways and we all have different experiences to bring to the table.The love we all have for each other is amazing. We all want to see each other graduate the program and we’re all willing to go above and beyond for each other to make sure that happens. We’re no longer competing to get in the program, we’re all just trying to make it through together. I honestly don’t think I would be able to make it through without the amazing friends I have around me. When a due date is coming up…they remind me, when a new assignment is posted…they let me know, if i haven’t printed my slides out…they print a copy for me, nursing students are some of the most caring people you will ever meet. I love everyone of them and I know we will all make it out!!

So all you pre-nursing students have plenty to look forward to!! You will get the opportunity to meet so many people and the hands-on labs you get to do are a lot of fun as well. Just yesterday we got to examine each other’s abdomens for any signs of enlarged organs or abnormal bowel sounds. Me and my partner were EXTREMELY hungry that day so our bowel sounds were very active…=). Well I guess that concludes my blog for today…please feel free to ask me any questions or give me any advice on how not to go bald in nursing school!! Hope to hear from you soon!!

p.s. Have a Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Now like I said before, there was a few things that went bad this week as well. My car got stolen!!!! Yea it’s true…my very first car..the love of my life got stolen. I was shocked, I mean to walk out to the parking lot and see that your car is gone…it was definitely hard. But guess what…they found it!!! The police actually called me up today and let me know that my car was found. I’m sooooooooooooooooooo happy!!! I was already in the process of looking for another car. So today is definitely a blessed day! But overall, life is going good, I’m doing good in school and soon I should be learning whether I made it into the nursing program or not. I hope you all are enjoying school and most of all enjoying life!! Talk to you soon!!!

P.S. The picture you see is of me and my family a loooooooooong time ago…=), now that my car is back the family is complete!!!

I hope all you newcomers to Austin Peay are enjoying the campus and your classes. I know at first things may seem a little overwhelming, but believe me..you will get the hang of it. I also want to let you know that you will recover from the high prices of your books..=). I truly look forward to what this fall semester has to bring and look forward to what changes are in store for the Peay!!! Thanks for reading and I will be back soon!!

Important Dates

August 21st-Last day for pre-registered students to pay fees at Cashier’s Window

August 23rd-Freshman Convocation @5:45pm in the Dunn Center

August 26th-Last day to claim residence hall assignment, Last day for 100% refund

August 27th-Classes Begin!!

August 27-31- Late Registration

Here is the suggested program of study for a Nursing major:

Freshman Year:
*BIOL 2010,2020 (plus labs)
COMM, Spch Core
ENGL 1010,1020
HIST 2010
Humanities Core
*PSY 1010
*SOC 2010
TOTAL HOURS:33 (Don’t worry this does not mean 33 hours a semester, it’s divided between the two semesters. Meaning 17 hours one semester and then 16 hours the next semester).

*Starred courses are designated nursing prerequisites that must be completed before starting the nursing program.

So freshman year is mostly for your prerequisite courses like english, history, psychology,biology, etc.

Sophomore Year:
*BIOL 2300 (plus lab)
ENGL 2030
HIST 2020
*MATH 1530
*PSY 3100
NURS 2020
NURS 2030
NURS 2040
NURS 2050
TOTAL HOURS:30

As you can see, the first half of your sophomore semester you’re going to be finishing up your prerequisite courses. The second half of the semester, if you’re accepted into the program, you start your actual nursing classes!

Junior Year:
NURS 3010
NURS 3020
NURS 3060
NURS 3070
NURS 3080
NURS 3100
NURS 3220
TOTAL HOURS:24

Senior Year:
NURS 4010
NURS 4040
NURS 4050
NURS 4060
NURS 4070
NURS 4080
NURS 4100
NURS 4220
TOTAL HOURS:33

Your Junior and Senior years will be all nursing courses. Before you know it you’ll be working in a hospital somewhere!

Here are some possible career choices for nurses:

-Travel Nursing
-Ambulatory Care Nursing
-Pediatric Nursing
-Renal Nursing
-Radiology Nursing
-Rehabilitation Nursing
-Substance Abuse Nursing
-Occupational Health Nursing
-Psychiatric Nursing
-Plastic Surgery Nursing
-Wound Care Nursing
-Hospice Nursing
-Maternal-Child Nursing
-Hiv/Aids Nursing
-Dialysis Nursing
-Cancer Nursing
-Cardiac Nursing

As you can see, there are plenty of career options for nurses out there. So you’re almost sure to find a job anywhere you go. Even better…the starting salary for a registered nurse ranges from $39,000-$49,700!! Sounds Good!! Just let me know if you have anything else you want me to find out or if you have any other questions!! Hope to hear from you!!