Mariah
As a nursing student, we have a very rigorous workload that is made up of both classes and clinicals. It can be very time consuming but is very much worth the reward. Organization is a very important tool to make sure you aren't missing any assignments and knowing where you are supposed to be. My personal preference is Google Calendar because it allows me to organize by classes and sets reminders so I don't forget assignments. This also allows me to feel more relaxed and allows me time to relax with friends because that is the most important thing to prevent stress and frustration. I am going to take you through a clinical day in the life of both a junior nursing student and a senior nursing student.
Junior Nursing Student:
5:30am: Rise and Shine its clinical time! (*this is around the time you would wake up if you were doing a local clinical site like Lourdes, UHS Wilson, GBHC or a long-term care facility. If you were doing a further clinical site like Upstate Medical Center, Cayuga Medical Center or Guthrie, you would want to wake up around 4:30am - this will also apply to when you would leave for your clinical site)
6:30am: Leave for clinical with a cup of coffee in your hand to get you through the early morning.
6:45am: Arrive to your unit and meet with your clinical group and clinical instructor to do pre-conference. You will be discussing your patient assignments and your priorities for the clinical day.
7:00am: Get on the floor and get to work! This is your time to practice your skills and techniques while also getting to learn and observe some cool things!
12:30pm: Post-conference time! You and group will tell your clinical instructor what you did for the day and how your priorities changed as you went about the shift.
1:00pm: I usually go home and shower because you definitely are exposing yourself to many different things (and bodily fluids) so I want to wash that all away so I can feel clean and go on about my day. I also eat lunch while I am home before I head to campus for my classes.
2:30pm: I head to campus and do some work before classes begin. Usually there are 1-2 classes you have in the afternoon.
7:30pm: Depending on the amount of work I have, I would either head to the library and do some work or I will head home to eat dinner and relax with friends.
10:00pm: It's bed time! Despite the day being quite exhausting, you definitely learn a lot and the constant tasks makes the day go by quicker.
Senior Nursing Student:
*disclaimer: I will be writing about a day in my life during my capstone experience*
4:15am: Time to get up! It is definitely not a good feeling to get up this early but it is essential to try and go to bed really early the night before so you can get at least 6 hours of sleep.
5:15am: Ready to hit the road. I will either make a cup of coffee or buy one on the way, while making sure to bring breakfast for the long drive ahead. I have clinical in Syracuse at St. Joseph's Hospital so the drive is about an hour and 15 minutes, depending on traffic. Music is a great way to get through the drive but after driving so often for so long, it wasn't keeping me engaged enough for the drive. My personal preference is to listen to podcasts, mostly a comedy podcast. Most are usually an hour long so it's long enough to get me to the hospital.
6:40am: Check in at the front and head up to your unit. With COVID-19, all hospitals will have some kind of screening process before you are allowed to enter into the hospital. After the screening I head up to my unit. I am on the Maternity and Labor & Delivery units at my hospital where I follow a preceptor throughout their day. Every clinical day is different and you get to see some pretty cool things.
Depending on where you clinical site is, you will either do 8 or 12 hour shifts. Local hospitals will have 8 hour shifts while further sites are 12 hour shifts.
7:30pm: The clinical day is done and after giving report, it is time to head home. I listen to another podcast and reflect on my clinical day. I usually think about what I got to see that day and what I would like to see in the future. It is essential to speak up to the Nurse you are with and tell them about the opportunities you would like to have. You must advocate for yourself in order to get what you want.
8:45pm: When I get home I either make dinner or pick something up if I am too lazy to cook. The day is definitely draining but it teaches you a lot of autonomy which is very important as you are transitioning on your way to becoming a Nurse.
10:00pm: I shower and head to bed to relax and watch some TV to de-stress after the long day. Giving yourself time to relax is very important to prevent yourself from getting a lot of stress and anxiety because what we are doing is very difficult and can take a toll on you.
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