Last Semester of Nursing School (INTERNSHIP ON ONCOLOGY UNIT)

Hey Beautiful People,

Again, I apologize for not posting as frequent as I should or should I say as I like. I have been overwhelmingly busy finishing up my last semester of nursing school. Looking back to the time I started in January 2010 till now, the time has flown by quickly.

I will post a couple more times to this blog sharing with you my joyous experience of graduating. I will give a detailed view of how I studied for the NCLEX and the whole testing for the NCLEX just so others can take from my experience and apply it to their nursing experience in some way.

Bringing everyone up-to-date, I started my final semester on May 24 and the classes that is required of us are Nursing, Trends, and Issues which discuss different trends in nursing, such as, how nursing has evolved from the Florence Nightingale days up until now; and how accelerated nursing programs are becoming very popular. Also, it talks about the issues of nursing such as ethics, legal, nursing licensure and the code of ethics. Finally, it talks about how nursing can be a rewarding career for those who chose it as a profession.

The other class thats required in the final semester is Internship. In this class, we meet to do practice NCLEX questions, have guest speakers from Human Resources talk about how to write a resume/cover letters and they provide interviewing techniques that prepares us for landing a job as an RN. Along with this course is a scholarly project that is done with a group.

The internship class is apart of the actual internship, which is on the Oncology Unit. I started my first day of internship shadowing my preceptor and watching how she organizes and develop a time management plan for all of her patients. This day in particular, my preceptor had 4 patients, I noticed that she was not only very well organized, but she was a great team player. Whenever call lights would go off she would answer them and help out other nurses if they needed it. At the end of the day, my classmates all would leave the unit an hour early for post-conference to discuss our experiences on what we observed and the plan of action the following day when we would be taking care of all of our preceptors patients.

Let me fill you in on how the internship works, its every Saturday and Sunday except for the weekends of July 9 & 10 and July 16 & 17. The start time is 7:00am, but we have to report to our units at 6:45a.m. we end our day at 6:00p.m. I decided that I would print off time management sheets, because I saw how my preceptor was so organized the day before, I had to make sure I stayed on top of each patient having their medications on time. Initially, we we're to start off with one patient, but I decided that if this is what I will be doing in 3 months or less on my own, I need the full experience of taking care of 3-5 patients on my own.

I had the experience of taking care of a Bone Marrow Patient and I also had the opportunity to hang platelets for a patient who had Leukemia. I have had a range of different types of oncology patients from lung cancer, ovarian, myeloma, BMT, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and the list goes on and on. I love my preceptor she is very thorough and explains everything about the patient and things I need to know that will help me better take care of the patient. I like that my preceptor is with me every time I administer medications, just in case I need to ask questions. I also find that my assessment skills are improving each day with all of my patients. I have to agree with all of my previous clinical instructors, that assessment skills come with experience, the more assessments yo do the better you become.

I had the opportunity to start an IV on a patient, but I was unable to get a blood draw. My preceptor said that with chemo patients, getting a good vein can be challenging. After I tried and could get a blood draw my preceptor tried and couldn't get a blood return as well. The hospital nursing supervisor was called to try and get a blood return and she was unsuccessful with her attempt. After all of that I didn't feel bad that I couldn't start the IV, but I have had the chance to start a few on my own during the internship.

I am finding that the internship is very valuable and I am very thankful that my school has made it a requirement for the second degree curriculum, because this allows for the transition from student nurse to graduate nurse a little more easier.

I know that I may sound like a broken record, but I will try to post and update you all on my final 3 internship clinicals. My final day of classes and internship is August 6 so I will do my best to fill everyone in on my last few weeks of nursing school.

Peace & Love