Weeks 6 and 7 of Nursing School

My classmate asked a student in their last semester of nursing school what kind of expectation she should have to prepare herself. The student replied, "Prepare for four years of Hell."

*Gulp!*

Well, that about summarizes what the past few weeks have been like. Of course, the fitting topic of this week in Health class was personal stress. All I can say is that, the more they talked about stress, the more stressed I got. By the time the teacher was halfway through the class, I had completely zoned out. In fact, I zoned back in to realize that my head was lolled to the side and I was absent mindedly nibbling on the zipper on my hoodie, staring at the floor. In front of me, my classmate was yawning uncontrollably between falling asleep completely as the rest of the people who could see him tried not to giggle.
Why are we so tired and stressed out? Well, we've just finished 3 written exams and a practical exam. There was also a recording session where we had to act out scenarios and critique each other on what happened. On top of that we've had proposals for papers due (which means that papers are due soon), and some group projects are looming in the distance. The practical exams are Pass or Fail so we've been practicing things like making an occupied bed and doing bed baths after school whenever we've had the chance.
What's the upside? Friendships. Because of how stressful our lives have suddenly become, many of us are starting to form supportive bonds. We're getting together, we're talking, and we're sharing about what's keeping us going or tearing us apart. I think it's crucial to our ability to be good nursing students in this demanding program. Otherwise, we would definitely find it too much to handle.

The dean dropped by one of the classes to give an impromtu speech. She said that the first semester has a 25% attrition rate, meaning that 25% of us will not continue on to second semester. Some of the students found this information motivating because they looked forward to less-motivated/less proficient students dropping out. Other students found this information disturbing because it meant that a good fourth of us would no longer be around next semester. This would mean that some of our friends would be leaving due to financial, personal, academic, or other reasons, and we would miss them. The dean wanted us to think hard about whether this program was really for us, and to stay focused and to work harder if it was.

I wasn't around for this speech, so I can only report on the feelings of other students that told me about it, but I'm not looking forward to losing 25% of my classmates. At the same time, if someone chooses to walk away from "four years of Hell" then it would probably be smart :P

I wonder if we'll lose some more students after second semester when we start clinicals? Maybe some of the students will realize nursing is not for them? We'll see.

Oh! Something fun we did this week was to take the RealAge test. If you want to find out your RealAge based on your health habits, you can try this too! The link is here. My RealAge is 30.8. What's yours? I apparently need to eat more fruits and vegetables and to do more aerobic exercise (among a gazillion other things it said I should also improve on, hee hee).

We also did the Living To 100 Live Expectancy test on how many years we could probably live to based on our health habits. The link is here. I can apparently live to 91, but I could live to 96 if I changed some of my health habits. See what you get!

Anyhow, I'm back to my studying now. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

I had a request for some of my PDF jointed paper robot dolls this week, so that was exciting for me. I have listed some more in my shop in case you want to have a look at what I've been up to in my free time. So far, Kid Bot, Wee Bot, Fly Bot, Stress Bot, and Zen Bot are up.

If you need any other jointed dolls specifically, you can just email me. I rather like the idea of PDFs for you to print and assemble your own jointed paper robots, partially because I'm attached to the originals and partially because it's perfect for parties as decor or favours. I would like to see a Christmas tree full of robots one day too.

Cheerio!