And that signals the end of week 2. At the start of this week when I was carpooling to school with my friend (a fellow school student but in a different program), I commented on how it’s only been a week since school started but it felt like I’ve been in school for a month already! I knew only one week had passed but it felt like we’ve learnt so much already and gotten to know so many fellow nursing students in our cohort quite well already. At the progress/speed we were going at, it felt like the equivalent of a month’s time in your usual undergrad program.

So this week was all about washing your hands and your first day of clinical. Once you’ve got that over with, next comes perfecting that full head to toe assessment, learning how to use that brand, spanking new stethoscope, and transferring patients. Peppered in between are communication skills, PBL, and chances to self-reflect/evaluations.

Honestly, the weeks are already starting to blend in together. I’m learning so much and to be able to put what I learnt into practice immediately is so helpful. We had our first clinical on Tuesday and that was both exciting and nerve wracking. It went well. We had a really nice patient whom we basically just introduced ourselves to and did a quick assessment on. We were so green that there really wasn’t much we could do. I’m now both looking forward to and nervous about our next upcoming clinical! I can’t decide which one I am feeling more.

I took the first two weeks of school off work just to slowly ease into it and give myself time to adjust to the schedule. I’ll be back to work this weekend. I’m not working that many hours but hopefully I’ll be able to juggle it all.

And now I’ll leave you with this short 4 minute  empathy video that we were shown in our communications class. It was made by the Cleveland Clinic in the US as part of their program to increase patient satisfaction. I had to hold back getting all teary eyed in class when I watched this the first time.