Vital signs

Name: Caitlin
Age: 22
Dx: New graduate nurse

Current Assessment:
I graduated from Saint Anselm College with my BSN in May of 2011. I’m a few weeks away from taking the NCLEX-RN examination and still applying for jobs and waiting to hear back from hospitals all over the eastern part of the country. My social life is currently drowning in a sea of flashcards, resumes, and looming student loans.

Hx:
I’ve known–  consciously at least– that I wanted to be a nurse since the summer I was sixteen, when I took part in a six week internship at Children’s Hospital Boston. I spent most of my days shadowing and learning from a nurse in the operating rooms. I saw dozens of procedures which still amaze me just to think about; the human body and the science we have to manipulate it to heal are amazing. The one day that truly sticks out for me from that summer, though, was the day I spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). At first wary of the teeny, delicate babies under the care of these nurses, my fear quickly evaporated when one of the smallest patients wrapped his hand around my finger that day.

From there I graduated high school in 2007 and went on to attend Saint Anselm College for nursing. Knowing that I was already a bit biased toward pediatric nursing, I tried my hardest to remain open-minded throughout all my other rotations… Rehabilitation, medical/surgical, intensive care, and psychiatric nursing came along, and each of them had something new to teach me. My last clinical rotation in the fall semester of my senior year was pediatrics. I was able to get back into a NICU, but this time with three and a half years of nursing school behind me… And I still loved it. I also loved the days I spent on the inpatient pediatric unit, though the hospital we were at never had a very high pediatric census. My mind made up and my goals reaffirmed, I started my last semester of nursing school.

At Saint A’s, a senior nursing major’s final semester is spent largely in the hospital of her choice, completing a preceptorship with a nurse who specializes in whatever field the student is most interested in. I chose to go back to Children’s Hospital Boston, having had such a great learning experience there as a teenager. I worked alongside nurses on an infant/toddler surgical unit. In the four months I spent there, I felt my skill level, confidence, and passion for pediatric nursing absolutely skyrocket. I’m now more sure than ever that this is what I want to do, and I’m eager to start this next journey.

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(If this isn’t the cheesiest way to start a nursing blog, I don’t know what is. Feel free to critique. Please rate the cheesiness on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being “no cheese” and 10 being “the most cheese you’ve ever experienced”….)