Transformation into a Nurse

Today we had our senior/sophomore experience. A senior/sophomore experience (for those of you who do not have this clinical at your nursing school) is a day where seniors get to develop their delegation and leadership skills, while assisting sophomore nursing students on their first clinical in the hospital.

I was in one of the first classes at my nursing school to start in the fall semester, so my class did not have seniors on our first day of clinical. I remember how absolutely terrified I was on that day.Having had no hospital experience prior to nursing school, the first clinical I had was an eye-opener, to say the least. I remember dreading going into my patient’s room for the first time. What would I say? How do I introduce myself? What do I even do? Those feelings I first had still give me the butterflies.

After my first day I remember going home and being completely shocked. That’s what nurses do? I had an image in my head of Florence Nightingale sitting next to her patient’s and being with them. These days nursing encompasses so many skills that I feel my original image only imagined a role more along the side of nurse’s aide than anything else.

Now I know what they mean when they say that nurses are a part of a "profession." The nurse’s role is so bountiful and endless with technology, medical expertise, documentation, and of course being with their patients, to name a few.Being with the sophomore students reminded me of all of this. As I watched them step into their patient’s rooms for the first time with all of the nervousness that I had, I finally realized how far I have come.

I know that I could walk into any patient’s room anywhere in the hospital and be their nurse. My nursing school has prepared me for this. I am an expert. Granted, I do not have the wisdom and experience that many of the older nurses have, but I know that I am capable of gaining it. I am still full of lists of questions, but I hope that I always am. Today made me realize that I am perfectly able to step out on my own and make it as a nurse.

To those of you that are sophomore nursing students, you too will see this transformation in yourself and probably never see it coming. It’s a long road - but somehow they turn us into nurses.