TAMU Nursing Students: Year One

[MUSIC] What are the expectations and apprehensions of a first year nursing student? Natalie Hills sat down with three from Texas and the University to find out. [MUSIC] >> So, I guess, yeah, I feel just want to introduce yourselves. >> I'm Michael. >> Hi. >> Sorry. >> How are you going? >> I was in my home, Michael Morty. >> I'm Julie Annett Taylor. >> I'm Alex Tegu. >> Okay. So, you all are all first year nursing students? >> Yes. >> But what made you pursue going to nursing school? >> What made me pursue nursing? I kind of grew up a lot in nursing house. My mom was a nurse with hospice and I don't want to say I was groomed. Because groom sounds like a bad word. But it was kind of put on me to the point where I kind of like, to come back to attain what happened. I kind of enjoy it. Although I don't enjoy the aspect of hospice, I do enjoy nursing because I do kind of like to talk and I kind of like to communicate and to wrap with people. But it's good because you kind of are there for people in the need. When they're most vulnerable and they really need someone there to care for them. So it's kind of good. It's kind of great for me because that's kind of in a way I think would keep me kind of humble, I guess, to know how great that I have life and it's good for me as well. Yeah. It gives you a purpose. Yeah, it gives me some other purpose. For me, I think the passion for nursing really came for just like taking care of people growing up. I've always been a big nurture. I babysat a lot. I work day-to-day care. I just like taking care of other people, whether that be people that are healthy or not healthy. I just think I have like a heart for meeting new people, building those relationships. And I don't know. I don't know if it was my mother growing up, but she was always super nurturing and taking care of me every time I was sick and just like having someone by your side supporting you when you're feeling you're worse. I think that's a really cool opportunity to do for other people. And that's what makes my heart feel good, just like helping people. So being in a career where you're one-on-one with patients and their families and giving them that support. And I think they always say like you're with people on the worst day of their life, which can be really stressful and be a lot to deal with. But you're also like that support in building that relationship and helping them out. So I think they're saying, I also really like medical stuff. I think it's really interesting. I always love watching those shows, yeah, growing up. You probably will see a lot of like similar things, but also like you don't know what you're walking into when you start your shift. So it's kind of exciting. Something new every day. What was that? So I also kind of like the new and exciting stuff. It's like I need a lot of stimulation. I found out my 20s that I don't like working in office job at all. It's just not my style. It probably took me working in the healthcare field as an EMT first to make me realize that I really, really liked it. I like working with my feet. I love working with people. So I just need like constant stimulation, provides all that. I worked in hotel management before. So again, I don't say like customer service, but like again, people oriented. But I don't, that goes helping people, but I kind of noticed that it wasn't like a big difference. I was just catering to people in a hotel. And the healthcare, you're like actually seeing a difference. So yeah, yeah. Changing people's lives. Yeah. Yeah. So I know how far into school are you all right now? Three weeks. Three weeks. Okay. So I guess so far, what are your perceptions of the nursing profession? My perception is, I think, my perception from what I've heard from other, I guess, patients with other people is that a lot of nurses in a way, they are kind of the hospitals that take care of them well. So they kind of go into the job, kind of irritated a bit. So that's my perception. Obviously, I think everything could be worked. I understand that bad end of it and not the good end of it. So for my own perception, I think that a lot of nurses there, I understand how they don't have a lot of hope and it's kind of like, I guess, an upset, irritated. On a positive note though, you can specialize. You can go into anything. So there's a lot of freedom of choice, which is fantastic. From the experiences that I've heard, I've kind of had a little bit of both where people do complain about how long they're working and sometimes they don't get their respect from the patients. But at the end of it, most people are like, but I love it. I get to make a difference in full day and I may be stressed for 12 hour shift and I may want to pull out my hair by the end of it, but I got to help somebody and I got to both those relationships and help my patient. So I've definitely heard both aspects and I think that if you're in it for the right reason, then I think you can kind of find that silver lining. It doesn't mean that there isn't areas that need to be improved upon and advocacy for nurses and the workplace and stuff like that. But I think, hopefully, if you have the right mentality going into it, then it'll be worth it. Yeah, I think I have no one that you always, if you look hard and if you find something bad in everything. So that's just no more. Yeah, go to bad memory job. Yeah. I know you talked about different specialties. Do any of y'all know what you want to specialize in or are you just kind of waiting to see? I think I'm like him. I need to be like stimulated. I can't sit around. I can't stand around and just do nothing. So I was looking to the ER, but I've never worked in the ER before, so I don't know. So I guess it's pretty cool. Yeah. I think I want to go back to the ER, but am I going to try ICU? I've like checked in the ICU and on med surgery. So my reasoning behind ICU is I may try to become a CRNA. And with that, you need like two to three years experience in ICU. So that's why I want to go there. So. I've always tried to keep an open mind about it because I know people say like you have one thing in mind to go to the through nursing school and end up somewhere really different. But I think right now in my three weeks being here, I'd love to be like a labor and delivery nurse or work with moms. In my undergraduate, I did public health and a lot of my projects were focused on maternal health, reproductive health. And I think that that would be a really special job just to kind of be through moms with that process because I know some of them that can be a lot. And so just being a support system for their and babies are always kind of working. So the best of both worlds. Yeah. Good for you. I could not do that. Later, I'm going to be on a final date of my family. I'll be interested to see if we talk again at the end of the year that stays the same for all of you. If you're like, no, I was totally. Why should we have it change your heart? Like, no, they were in delivery. Yeah, it's for me. So whatever your expectations for the rest of the first year of nursing school. I think my expectations kind of, I guess, get a good grasp on the basic nursing skills, especially in clinicals. Because it seems easy up at first, but into you try it's like, okay, this is more difficult than I thought. It's hard to maintain a sterile feel. It's hard to put on these gloves and not mistakenly test the wrong part and mess with the whole sterile feel. So I think just really, get a good grasp on those skills and really not perfecting it because you know, I mean, you've been perfected to a point, but no one's ever going to be perfect. So I think getting into a point where it's unbelievable and doing it in the real world setting. I feel like my expectations have honestly changed a lot in the last few weeks just as I learn and talk to other nursing students that are like in the cohorts above us coming into it. I know it's going to be a lot of work and a lot of studying and a lot of effort, which sometimes in undergraduate, you know, you just kind of get in the grade and you don't necessarily have to remember everything day to day. But in this profession, you do need to know things. And you're actually going to be using them every single day to take care of your patients. So that can be a little intimidating at first, especially going over like I know pharmacology. There's a lot of things to remember there with all the medications and we have our first exam next week, which is a little stressful. All the respiratory drugs. Yeah, there's a lot to know there, but I do think it's doable. I think that it's one of those things that people say it's hard, but it's hard for a reason. And I've been saying, if you have the right mindset, you can do it. And if you put in the effort, it's going to get done and you're going to be so successful. It's just having that mentality of I'm doing this because I want to be doing this because I want to help people and dedicating that time to practice it. I know time management is a hard thing for a lot of people and getting back into the semester after break was a little hard. But just developing those routines and those schedules, especially like with studying and clinical practicing those skills outside, I think it's going to be okay. I don't know. I may be eating my words in a few weeks after exams, but I think it's going to be hard. But I honestly, I think it's going to be a little difficult. I honestly think it's doable and if hopefully I just put in the work and put in the effort, then we'll be successful. I don't know if everyone feels that way, they may be a little overwhelmed. I think you need to kind of give yourself some grace. I think I came into the program being like, "All right, everything has to be like. " So so, in perfect, but with all the material that's coming our way, like time management is like a crucial skill. It's kind of like an adjustment I've had to make. I don't know, just kind of like. I guess my expectation is a reputation if anything. Yeah, like in clinical skills lab, just going over stuff, not expecting to be perfect the first time around. And again, just kind of like giving yourself grace, learning from other people, learning from your instructors, but above all else, like learning from your mistakes. It's just. It's going to happen in the field. Yeah. You kind of have to like in school to like what it's going to be like out there under a preceptor as well. So, I don't know, I guess my expectations are to fail within learning from it. It is interesting because I'm hearing you all say like, "Oh, I've already learned this. I've already figured this out like time management." Giving yourself grace, that kind of thing. It's like that's so different from any other profession or going to school for anything. You're not learning those kinds of life lessons in three weeks. You know, like I was learning the proper grammar to use for press releases and stuff. So I think it's really cool that you'll have all these life skills in three weeks. Like at the end of the year, you're going to have to learn so much. There's still in the works. Yeah. I feel like all of our instructors have been super helpful though because I was a little intimidated when we've had or orientation and we met them very briefly. But all of them kind of like Alex was saying, "Talks about grace." And like, it's okay if you fail at first because that's where you learn the most. And that's something that's hard for me to get through my head. Because I know undergraduate, I was a little bit of a perfectionist making those grades and like trying to get it correct the first time and I've learned through taking blood pressure. How many of the times I have that you're not going to get it right the first time, the first five times, the first ten times. But just being able to like accept that and then like move forward and know that you're in nursing school for 15 months so you'll be good by the end of it, hopefully. Yeah, I think it's a lot, it's very intimidating. The first thing to be very intimidating because you have this idea in mind, okay, like they're like kind of super-yourity to me but then it's like you realize they're human too. Like they're just like, ain't like anybody else, other people. And I sit here trying to put a dirty over you and say, "Hey, do X, Y, and Z." But it's just like, you know, okay, I've met the person, I've met the professor and said, "Okay, regularly, who was just like I am?" But I guess getting first coming into class or meeting any new professors, it can be kind of intimidating just because you have that, I guess fear factor in mind but it's like, it's nothing to be scared about. The regular people like anybody else. Yeah. For the most part they've gone through what you've gone through. Yeah, they've gone through school. Like, you know, did their like externship or fellowship after graduation and all that, you know, they've done most of the things that you're going to do. It was definitely comfortable when they told us like, "Oh yeah, nursing school is hard for me." And I was like, "Okay, cool." So nursing school is hard for you but you're also like, you've been working for, you know, however long and you're now an educator. So yeah, it's okay if you're not like 100% perfect. Yeah, Dr. Muffet was like, "I didn't mean just straight it in, yeah, really?" You're so smart. All right, well that's all the questions I have and I still have any closing thoughts or anything. Give yourself a grace. Yeah, give yourself grace. You can do it, hopefully. I don't know. I keep saying, "Hopefully." We're going to do it. We're going to be successful. We've been open-minded. We open to opening minds. Well, thank you all for coming on the podcast. Yeah. And hopefully we'll talk at the end of the year. See if you'll have the same thoughts or hopefully get the most of them. Good, I promise. Cool. Thank you. Last fall, we met with three first year Texas A&M nursing students to hear what they expected on the start of their nursing journey. Last month, we sat down with them for an update. Cool. All right, so it's been nine months since we've talked last. Let's go through. Can everyone say their names again? Just to remind everyone. I'm Juliana. I'm Michael. I'm Alex. Okay, so last time we talked, it was the very beginning. I think we were three weeks in. So now you've done your first year. I want everyone's high and low of their first semester of nursing school. I've never once got first. Well, I guess I think I'll go first. I would say the biggest highest point of distance in the rest of the particular would be the clinical rotations. You get a lot of hands on experience and sort of skills that you learned in a clinical setting here on campus, but they were all like mannequins. But get us to do some of these things on real patients. Maybe it might be like inserting it straightfully or like just having not given an IV push medication. Something simple. That's definitely a big plus because it helps with your muscle memory and getting our hands on experience and building your courage to do it in the real world. I'll say the biggest low probably just be like the non-stop back-to-back things we have to do and test and assignments. I had a lot of assignments that you were kind of questioning why are we doing this. Like what are we doing? Yeah, and it wasn't for a grade. You know what? We know this is going to have better health for our understanding, but can we not do it? Yeah. I'll say that I'll probably want the lowest things for me. I think for me, one of the biggest highs that I've been blessed with is just the community that I found through nursing school. I was kind of worried coming in. Just like, didn't know anyone in the program. It was a little stress because I knew it was going to be a hard program. I really found a support system here in both like, you know, my close friends in nursing school, but everyone in our cohort, like I think we have a really special cohort. We're a big family and like, even if you don't talk to someone every single week, I feel like we can just approach them with a conversation and they're always friendly. So that's a big high. It's not a single moment I guess, but more of just like a community that I found in nursing school. And I think that really helps you get through it too because you're all kind of, you know, struggling to get through. But it builds up on. And then I guess a low kind of what Michael was saying, just being overwhelmed sometimes, I know there was like a moment, one of the first few weeks of the semester that I was sitting down. I was like, oh my goodness, I have so many things to do and no time to do it. And so just kind of getting overwhelmed like that, but those are things that you work through and you find ways to kind of like cope with them, but also you find the motivation to get through them. I'd say my low is probably organizational stuff like having to like really, really be on top of like creating a Google calendar. And I read it before I wasn't looking forward to it, but it like saved me. It's constantly being like peppered with like completion assignments, like non-stop. I think they do don't purpose to like mimic tasks in like the hospital setting, kind of of getting used to like things coming at you from all sides, but it's not always, I don't always prefer it. I think like Julianna was saying, or cohort, it's probably my high, is it getting, I don't, first semester, like we shared classroom time together and like we kind of got to know each other a little bit. But I feel like this semester and things really started to like click with each other. I feel like we trust each other. I feel like we respect everybody in our cohort. I don't know. I feel like we're all pretty outspoken. We had a cake for like the education opportunities. I don't know. You have a good group. I feel pretty strongly about that. So I think that's my high. Just getting to know everybody better. Yeah. That's cool that that's two of y'all. It's like them like it really rings true that like it is a close group. Like just like the clear I'm not saying that I hate our cohort. It was just like, you know, I thought it was like more like an auto and a personal level like hey, like, well yeah, like everybody's cool too. Like it's a few people. All answers are good. Okay. So I asked this last time. So it'll be interesting to compare y'all's answers. What are your perceptions of the nursing industry now after having been in school for a year? It's my perception of nursing industry. I think it's hard. I think it's definitely a challenge for anybody to go through this course. Whether you know that a celebrated program or just a regular off to just be a send program. I think it's I think it's hard. I think you have to have like a certain level of dedication to get through it. Because even the back I was easy to quit. I've noticed I know I know a couple of people who go into nursing school but fallin' out. I know a cook who's gone through it and it's chugging and made it through. So I think it's just something you gotta be able to have that kind of mindset to get through. Yeah. You have to really love it. Yeah. So if you're like lukewarm on it, you won't make it. So. I've seen a lot through our clinical experiences. It was our first semester actually going into the hospitals. And I was fortunate to have a lot of great nurses through that. That we were shadowing. There were some nurses that you could kind of tell it was getting to them after a few years of working there just with the stress of the job and the emotional toll that it can take on you. But I feel like I still love the profession. I know it's early. I've only been there for like 10 times maybe. And I've definitely, I've seen a lot that one of those first days I did question it. I was like, ooh, I said I'm going to do myself in too. Am I ready for it? But I think it's normal to maybe have a little bit of doubt. But when you show up again the next day, you know that that's what you want to do. So yes, nursing seems very hard. But I said this last time we talked, I think it's worth it. And I think if you have the right mindset for it and the right heart for it, then it's a really rewarding job. And I've heard that testimony from nurses that I've been with as well. You know, like I'm like, how do you get through this? I'm just a nursing student. And this is like so, we're stimulating and stressful. And they're like, you do it for the patients, you do it for like, you know, seeing the families and the gratitude that they have. And you kind of have to keep that mindset, even when days are, you know, kind of crazy, overwhelming and you're not sure if your patients are really going to get much better. You just have to keep pushing through it. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so now what specialty deal all think, you all had different answers last time? Do you think it stayed the same or? Yeah. Yeah. I worked in the ER as an ER tech right off the bat and you don't have to deal with insurance stuff there. Yeah. But also, I just kind of like ruins you. Once you get used to the pace and like the people, you get to be really close with the people you're around, do you just kind of come to love it? Either you love it or you hate it. So I met people that hate it too. So ER. Yeah, I was living towards ER as well. We have high clinical rotation there yet and I've known it's not like an ER floor. So like my, my answers to, you know, it's still out to the chain, but I'm still in a mindset where I will go wherever, like wherever I can, wherever I'm needed. So it's like, if I get placed on, met, started something, I'll still do 100 percent my energy and like, you know, to try it out and see what happens. Yeah. I know last time I talked, I said labor and delivery and not shying away from that, but there's some of the organizations I've been in. We've had the opportunity to have speakers come in that were labor and delivery, mother baby, NICU, Pieds, nurses. And hearing about their experiences and kind of like their careers thus far, I think I could find myself in Pieds. I like kids, kids, meds, surge, that could definitely be up there. Labor and delivery, mother baby, still number one, but we'll see what happens. Like Michael said, we haven't, we've only had meds surge at home. So I haven't had that much experience with the kiddos and the moms and everything. I feel like I'm doing my time on meds surge. I've served my time. I'm ready to go elsewhere. So it sounds like everyone pretty much stayed the same. I know, I guess you all haven't quite been to each of your preferred specialties yet, but it's interesting. So last time we talked, we talked about your expectations for the coming year and a lot of y'all had, you know, nerves, apprehension about getting a grasp on some of the basic nursing skills. Do you feel like you're confident in those skills now and do you have the same nerves going into your next year as you did going into this year? One of the things that my clinical faculty would say to us every morning before we go in was the three things I want you to focus on today are confidence, time management, and critical thinking. And so that kind of narrows it down for you. These are going to be my goals that I'm trying to work on today. And picked up time management decently easily. Critical thinking is still being developed. But confidence is something that I really strove for to work on. And I love talking to people, but I remember that first time I walked into a patient's room and said, "Hi, I'm Juliana. I'm your student nurse today. I was terrified." But I think that we've had a lot opportunities to grow our confidence and to grow our time management and critical thinking skills with the help of our lovely professors. But I think we do going back to what Michael said. We have a really supportive cohort. And I think that helps because it can be hard to build confidence in yourself, but with the help of others that kind of, you know, build it up with you. And I know last time we talked about grace, having grace for yourself, I'm getting a lot better at that. But yeah, having that support system and your friends and your clinical faculty and stuff, I think definitely helps with the confidence and reminding yourself, you're not going to get your IV on the first try, probably. You know, like you're going to have to do it a few times in practice. You'll continue to miss, like even if you've been doing them a long time, you still miss. Yeah, you're going to be the perfect. But with that said, coming into this last semester, that nerves were calmed so easily by like a few weeks that even if I am nervous about this next semester, like I know that like, okay, at the beginning I'm going to be really stressed and maybe overwhelmed me. But I did it this semester. I was able to find that confidence in myself. I was able to maybe not perfect all my skills. They're still room to grow, but I feel much more proficient in things. So I'm trying to keep that mindset moving forward this. Even though at the beginning, and maybe you're scary, I've come this far and I know that I'm going to be able to do that. Yeah, it's laid the back out now. Too far in. Too far in. Too far in. Okay, so my final question for y'all is, what would you say to someone who's thinking about nursing school or someone who's going into their first year? Any advice? Any, do it? Don't do it? Anything like that? Look at what the program does as far as clinical experiences. Some programs have more available than others. That's like one of the reasons why I chose A&M is first off, it's in person. It depends on what you prefer as far as like teaching wise, but look at what they have available as far as like skills labs and real like hands-on learning. Yeah. Okay, I think we have a good skill, I see. Yeah. I have friends that like I work with, they have gone elsewhere and they talk about their clinicals and they did like so few clinicals. The amount of hours it was nothing compared to what we do. So, that's mine. Yeah, I would say if you get into nursing, go ahead and turn back now. No, I'm joking. I would say if you get into nursing, go in with a mindset of you're going to get through it, you're going to see it through one and I would say definitely come prepared ready to do it. The first, depending on what program you're doing, if you're doing like an accelerated program, I would say go in and jump and straight ahead because you don't have much time to waste. But like if you're doing a traditional BSN, you can use the first year to kind of like, you know, just, I don't want to say just flow through, but just kind of see if it's something that you want to continue on doing. And just like really think about that because, you know, it's a truth, it's just going to be a selfie and be a four year program. So, about it, you know, you have two, three years, if you want to like, okay, I don't want to do this anymore. I mean, it's not my cup of tea. But I never said go in and mindset that you're going to finish it because if you're going to go in with a mindset that, oh, I'm just going to, I'm going to see what happens, see how it goes, you're probably not going to be successful in it because you're not going to have that willpower to actually go in with a study and like, learn about the different medications or the different diagnostic procedures or whatever the case is. I think I have a few things to say. First, perspective people that are thinking maybe I want to do nursing, talk to a nurse. Like, even if they always say like, go to a hospital and like, you know, just like, watch the floor and like, see how the nurses, you know, I think always that's like a little weird for me, but you can always go into a hospital and just talk to nurses and say, hey, I think I want to do nursing. Can you tell me a little bit about like how you feel or, you know, what kind of like, attributes do you think makes a good nurse because more nursing students, I like to think we know a lot, but those are the people that are actually in the profession. And I think that can give you a better idea if that's really what you want to do. But if you're thinking about going to nursing school, talk to nursing students as well and see kind of the different programs, we are going to accelerate their program in 15 months, it's a crazy 15 months. I don't regret doing it, but I think you need to look at what your life looks like and figure out what program is best for you. And like Alex said, there's online programs, there's hybrid programs. Every program is going to be different in some way. We talked about our simulations. We have actors coming in and they'll portray fake patients. And I think that is one of the most helpful things to my learning is actually having a real person. They're not sick. They're completely healthy. Very, very nice. But it's building those connections with them before you actually go into the real thing. So look at these nursing schools. Reach out to anyone you know that may go to them and just ask, hey, how is your experience tell me to be brutally honest about it. And then look at the opportunities that the school offers. I think, yeah, those were my main points on that. But that's what I would say. Get in a hospital, get experience that even if it's just like volunteering, go spend time in a hospital. Even if you don't want to be in a hospital, nursing, it will give you a good perspective on what medicine is. All right, well thank you all for sitting down with us again. Wish you all the best of luck and the rest of your crazy 15 months. Yeah, thank you all for that. Thank you. Yeah.