As I look back on my journey I can not believe how fast it went. Even at rehearsal for pinning, I couldn’t believe that all these chairs and stage were for us. I remember how I felt the first day of nursing school as I felt overwhelmed with the workload and trying to find my way in the nursing world.

Before I started critical care I believe that it was just another rotation that I have to complete to graduation because my true passion was public health. During clinical, I was surprised that critical care held my interest and I looked forward to clinical. I remember feeling so nervous for my medical surgical clinical that I would be worried the whole day before. I felt my comfortable with my skills and taking the more of a leadership role. I believe that critical care gave me the confidence that I needed to start my care in a hospital setting. With every patient I had this semester I felt that I made a difference in the patient’s care by actively asking questions and wanting to understand the care of a critical ill patient.

I am currently excited, but terrified of the future. CSUCI nursing was my home for three years. I felt that I was supported by staff and created long lasting relationships that will continue to impact the kind of nurse I will be.

These last three years have been the most difficult and happiest time of my life. If I had the chance to go back in time, I wouldn’t do it any different. It feels like we just started this semester, but the time has flown by so quickly and this week we are all getting pinned! I remember starting this program and sitting in class wondering if I was cut out for the work and the challenges I would face. It is still crazy to think about all the hard work I’ve put in to get to this point in my life, but I have managed…somehow! BUT we are all living proof to future nursing students that getting through a nursing school is possible! We all came into this program as strangers, but now we leave as a family. As graduation is just next week, I have to say that this is bittersweet time. It will be sad to be saying goodbye to the class I’ve seen every week since this program started. However, I believe the education and experiences we’ve gained in our nursing program has prepared us to be great nurses in whatever specialty we choose. I am excited to see where all of us end up in our nursing careers. I will truly miss our class, our faculty, and our school! It has been one amazing journey and I am excited to begin my career as a RN! We have finally made it!

Does anyone else ever find themselves thinking about how they would hypothetically medically treat someone?

Like, if you’re watching a movie, and someone gets hurt in the movie, and you start thinking about what you’d do to help them? Or even just a story on the news, or an experience your friend tells you about. My brain immediately starts to think about medical care that would be involved. It’s weird, but perhaps it’s a good sign.

The closest thing I can equate it to is when I took a film class in high school. We were to watch the movie Casablanca nearly frame by frame to understand the composition, camera work, setting, lighting, etc. . After finishing watching the film like that for a few days, my teacher said, “now, when you see things on TV or in the theater, try not to analyze it like you did here.” I think a similar thing is happening to me with nursing, in that I’m thinking about it constantly instead of just thinking about it when applicable.

Maybe I’m just really itching to start working. Either way, my experiences in this class and in the attached clinical have been phenomenal this semester, and I feel like they’ve really helped to get me motivated for what’s to come. Being in the critical care, DOU, emergency, and operating room settings have helped me to really apply what I’ve learned in class to my patients, and I can’t wait to start doing that as a real nurse.

Cheers!

-Carl

Getting out of clinical this past Sunday, I knew that it was the last day of clinical ever, but for some reason it didn’t really hit me as the end of nursing school. I went to class on Monday and still, it just felt like another regular week of school. It wasn’t until Tuesday night, when I sat with my group to finish up our presentation that it really hit me, this will be the last assignment, no more late nights, no more coffee runs before school, and no more class time. As I sat there, I couldn’t help but remember the first semester during pathophysiology. The room filled with unfamiliar faces, strange personalities, and now, three years later there is nothing weird about sitting with my group members, expressing our opinions about which direction we want our project to go. The change is unreal. We have come so far, overcome boundaries, shared tears, worked on countless projects, called each other during joyous and stressful occasions, and to think this will all be over soon is so bittersweet.

This class has been such a learning experience. It was more than just focusing on all the critical care content, using technology and blogging came as a pleasant surprise. I never knew how much I would enjoy blogging; it sure does make blackboard discussion board look bad. Thanks Jaime! I think this was a great way to end our nursing education, venturing into the vast world of technology, which can be scary and so beneficial at the same time.

Coming in three years ago I knew it would be challenging for me, as I am not the most outgoing or loudest person in the room, but I thank the instructors and above all, my classmates for making me feel at ease with them. Now, there is nothing I am afraid of, we came together for this experience, shared failures and successes, laughter, and that is something I will always cherish. Cheers to the memories that have past and to the memories that are to come! I love you all!

Wow! I can’t believe we are here and the pinning ceremony is only 3 days away. I think this is the semester, for me, where everything clicked. We have been training for three years to graduate with a BSN. I can honestly say that I am ready for what the future has in store for me when it comes to nursing. I remember so clearly studying for days to understand pathophysiology, pharmacology, med-surg, OB and pediatrics and all those hours of studying are coming together now. Throughout the semester I was able to strengthen my assessment skills, improve communication with patients, connect the pieces of the puzzle together (labs, patho, assessment, diagnostics) and gain a certain level of confidence that I didn’t have during other semesters. I absolutely loved critical care nursing and the independence that comes with it. I felt like there was a greater amount of collaboration in the ICU and that is something I really value in nursing practice. Seeing people from many different fields work together was amazing for me to experience. I also loved being able to focus all of my attention on two patient’s which allowed me to better grasp the full patient picture. One day I can definitely see myself in critical nursing.

If I could see myself at the beginning of this journey I wouldn’t have believed the person that I see today. Jaime, you told us at the beginning of the semester that the goal was for us to be ready and I think that goal has been achieved. I know I don’t know everything there is to know about nursing but I know that I have the tools to find a solution to practice safely.  The learning never stops and every day I will find a way to become a better nurse.

Image Reference

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Wow I can’t believe it’s the last blog post! This class has been a great learning experience. Lecture and clinical have really helped me grow in my nursing skills and critical thinking. Learning this final piece of the puzzle (critical care) has reiterated concepts that we have been learning through this whole program and solidified them. One example of a concept that I have finally understood is ABGs. In patho especially, it was hard for me to distinguish respiratory verses metabolic acidosis/alkalosis. In saying that, it surprises me, knowing how well I understand it all now. I also really enjoyed learning the different types of dysrhythmias and their treatment. ACLS is a really important class to take to reinforce the concepts of heart rhythms and how to treat a patient in a critical situation. My passion for cardiac disorders and treatment has also grown this semester. I hope to start off working on a telemetry unit and continue to learn about the heart while I grow as a nurse. I am so thankful for this program, the faculty, and the students. I truly feel blessed to have gone through this program with everyone and for everything that I experienced and learned!

This semester learning about critical care has been my favorite semester throughout all of nursing school! It has definitely begun to feel like everything is clicking into place in regards to truly applying all of our knowledge. I have never felt more excited to go into clinical rotations than I have this semester, knowing that I will be learning so much in the short amount of hours available in clinical. My confidence in my clinical skills has skyrocketed, my assessments have improved, and my ability to piece together the whole picture with each patient has exponentially grown. My passion for critical care has shown itself as well, and I know that one day I would love to be able to call myself a critical care nurse. The potential knowledge, wisdom, autonomy, and critical thinking skills gained are incomparable. This rotation has overall strengthened not only my nursing skills but my goals as well. My goal includes becoming a nurse on the intensive care unit, whether that happens as a new graduate or later on in my career. That being said, I honestly cannot believe that three years of nursing school have come and gone. We have all grown so much since we started and will all in turn grow to be amazing nurses when beginning our careers! I cannot wait to see how it all turns out for us, even just a  year or two from now (at the reunion we will be having…right?)

It is still hard for me to believe that Pinning is only 3 days away, and I will have completed nursing school! I have worked so hard for so long to achieve this goal and now it is within my reach! It is hard for me to imagine life outside of school. If I am not working on homework or attending class or at clinical, then I can pretty much guarantee that I am still thinking about school or what assignment is due next or mapping out my time so that I can fit is all in. I am so excited to have accomplished this Everest-sized goal. Going through school has taught me that I can be successful at whatever I put my mind to. There were so many times that I felt I would never be able to complete all of the assignments or learn all of the material, but time after time, I did! So many nights I just wanted to give up, but by the grace of God, He kept me going and would remind me over and over again why I wanted to be a nurse.

Going through school I now have a much deeper appreciation for nursing as a profession. I am so proud to be entering the nursing profession on Friday and see it as a great honor! It is something I take very seriously as I have seen throughout these past 3 years the power and responsibility that nurses carry. Power, not in the sense of strength or authority (though they also have these), but in influence over the experience and outcomes of their patients. Nurses have the power to make a patient’s experience the best it can be or the worst. They have the power to make a difference in someone’s life everyday by being present with the person in their greatest time of need. They also carry great responsibility in providing safe and effective care for their patients. Patients and families entrust the care of themselves and their loved ones to nurses. The care nurses provide can mean the difference between life and death for many patients.

When I began this journey 3 years ago, I had some ideas of what type of nursing I wanted to pursue, but tried to stay open-minded each semester except for one area which I was convinced I would never like…Critical Care. I assumed that most of the patients in ICU were intubated and in extremely serious conditions that were too intimidating for me. Since I greatly value patient interaction, I thought I would dislike ICU and would have a very hard time handling the patient situations; however, I was quickly proven wrong. After rotating through the ICU and telemetry, I really enjoyed both areas of care. I loved being able to dive deeper into the situations of each patient I cared for in ICU since I cared for 1 or 2 patients at a time instead of the normal 4/5 to 1 ratio. I was also able to do a lot of nursing interventions and skills that have always intimidated me because I have not had a lot of practice with them and they feel more intense than others. I gained so much confidence in my abilities to coordinate care and assess and intervene appropriately. Overall, this semester has been one of my favorites and I have gained knowledge and experience that have prepared me to enter the nursing profession with a solid foundation that will set me up to succeed no matter what field of nursing I end up in.

Image Retrieved from:https://www.flickr.com/photos/96614226@N00/447710918

I can still remember the first day of nursing school, thinking what a long journey laid ahead of me, three years of endless emotions and experiences. Now I am in my last week and it is unbelievable. The sensation seems unreal, time passed in the blink of an eye and just like that nursing school is over. It is an exciting feeling, yet overwhelming.  It is also unbelievable to think we will be transitioning from student nurse to a “real” nurse once we pass the NCLEX. We have learned many skills and it is time to put them to use.

I really enjoyed NRS 420 because it reviewed the majority of med surg content, it was concise and short. The book was very helpful and it had all the “need to know” information, which was pretty much the whole book :). Clinicals helped tie the material together and overall it was a great semester. An ending with a new beginning.

Wow, I cannot believe that this is already our last blog!

Anyhow, since I had such an interesting patient two weeks ago and since this blog has to relate to critical care I have decided to talk about his vent settings. I don’t know about anyone else, but I truly enjoyed learning about vents; which is also why I have decided to talk about vents: using the PSV mode to be specific. The pressure support ventilation (PSV) mode is a pressure mode that is commonly used for weaning off the ventilator. When a patient is placed on this vent mode, the patient has the ability to initiate their own breath. When the patient initiates a breath then the vent kicks in and assists them to the point where they achieve the desired pressure level. Not only does the vent help the patient reach a desired pressure level, but it also makes sure that the patient maintains the pressure level throughout the inspiratory phase of breathing. A advantage of this mode is that it decreases the work of breathing in the patient. on the other hand, a disadvantage is that the patient must have an intact respiratory drive.

Morton, P. G., & Fontaine, D.K., (2013). Essentials of critical care nursing: a holistic approach. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.