Full Circle

It's amazing how different I feel on campus, knowing it is my last first day of a new semester, and knowing that I have endured more than most could tolerate.  So far, the semester seems like it will be busy, but not terribly brain-draining, as past semesters have been.  I already have a paper in the works (due in 2 weeks) and several other "projects" waiting in the wings, but it seems quite do-able.  I do not yet have that overwhelmed "oh-my-gosh-how-am-i-gonna-do-all-this" feeling.  So we'll see how it progresses. . .

Today I looked around and saw so many faces that I met in my first semester of nursing school, but our schedules differed along the way so we didn't see much of each other for a few semesters.  Now I am realizing that we have really come full circle. Some of my clinical-mates from my first nerve-racking clinical where I was afraid to reposition a patient in their bed are now standing beside me as I get ready to enter my preceptorship in the ICU.  Totally crazy!!  I am really nearing the end of this journey - a journey that has made me realize how strong, smart, resourceful, determined and driven I am.  Nursing school has taught me things that no other experience in my life has.  I am feeling so blessed and completely renewed to tackle this last semester.

Community/Public Health nursing clinical sounds exciting.  We are working at a Health Alliance within a small village in RI.  We will doing Flu Clinics, education, and home care for the people within the village.  I am looking forward to forming a relationship with a community, rather than just with a few patients in a hospital.  It sounds totally different than anything else I have done so far so I am anticipating seeing a totally different side of nursing.  

Tomorrow I take an ATI RN predictor exam.  It is basically an evaluation of what I know and what I don't know so that I can better focus my preparation for the boards.  Unfortunately I feel like everything i know about nursing fell out of my head this summer, but I took a quick practice assessment from last semester and didn't do too badly so I guess some of the info managed to stick around.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

For now, I feel energized and ready to "get 'er done".  I'll learn more about my preceptorship in the ICU tomorrow and will hopefully be able to report where exactly I'll be for that clinical!