My Nursing Journey: Part 1

Hey everyone!

Today I thought I would write a post about my nursing journey. I have been asked so many times why I became a nurse, and to be honest my story isn’t that compelling. I’ve thought of making up this elaborate story about how I always knew I was supposed to be a nurse after an emotional and momentous occasion in my youth, however I have decided to stick to the truth. (I just made you so excited to read this didn't I... lol)

It all started with an episode of House…

It’s true. As if everything in my life wasn’t already super cliché, my earliest memory of being interested in the medicine field was watching early episodes of House with my dad. Prior to this, I was convinced I was going to be a lawyer. I remember watching the episodes and already so

interested in trying to figure out what was going on with the case on the episode. I loved the way the doctors were able use their knowledge and resources to piece together the patient’s mysterious symptoms to come to a conclusion and ultimately help improve the life of the patient. I then took an Anatomy and Physiology class my Junior year of high school, and after that I was hooked. I didn’t necessarily know what I wanted to do in medicine, but I figured I was interested in it so, why not?

Thank God for good advertising…

To be honest, when I was applying to colleges nursing wasn’t 100% on my radar. I applied to 13 schools! I applied to a variety of physician assistant programs, biology, and nursing programs, but I figured I would just do a PA program, I liked the idea of getting more bang for my buck and being done in 5-6 years. The college application process was also super overwhelming for me, which is why I applied so many places. I just wasn’t sure what kind of place I wanted to be. I barely even visited any schools. Originally, I was convinced I wanted to go to Northeastern University in Boston (almost to the point of obsession). My cousin went there and I loved the idea of living in a city, especially Boston.

But then I got the single most important piece of mail I’ve ever gotten. I received a promotional booklet for Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. I had heard of the school before, as my sister had applied there about 6 years earlier. The booklet had beautiful picturesque photos of the campus, ivy covered buildings and kids in sweatshirts laughing. They also had a “day in the life” concept in the booklet that for some reason intrigued me so much. Looking back I have no idea why, but something about it made me so excited, I knew I needed to go visit, so I dragged my parents to the campus after we took a ski trip weekend to New Hampshire that winter of my senior year (how convenient).

I remember the day we visited campus, it was rainy and gross but from the second we pulled up Saint Anselm Drive and past the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, I knew this was where I belonged. We took a tour, and then ate lunch at the Coffee Shop on campus (which, to this day has the best buffalo chicken ever… so there’s that). I turned to my mom and said “there’s kids in North Face jackets and wellies… this is my home”.

And that was it! This school had a nursing program, so nursing was what I was going to do!

The rest was history…

My years at Saint Anselm College were hands down the best ever. I made the best friends and wouldn’t change any of it for the world. As for nursing, I can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s

funny to think back and think that I chose a school and then just kind of fell into nursing. The faculty and professors at the SAC nursing program were so supportive and encouraging of everyone’s individual passions. The cool thing about nursing is seeing where all of my fellow classmates have ended up after we all obtained the same degree.

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear about your nursing/ college story! Let me know in the comments!

Xoxo, Bethany

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What's in my school bag?!

Hey Everyone!

I just finished midterms for this semester so I thought I would share what I keep in my school bag when I head off to campus. I am in a part time BSN-DNP program, which is a total of 4 years long. I started in 2014 so am a little over halfway done with my program (yay!). The way my program is set up I will be sitting for the ANCC board exam for Family Nurse Practitioners this upcoming summer, and will spend the remaining academic year working on my doctoral project prior to graduating with my DNP degree.

This semester I am taking my pediatrics didactic class, and doing a high risk primary care clinical as well as a women’s health clinical.

I will be doing a “what’s in my clinical bag” post in the near future as well!

Let’s get started!

 Backpack

In undergrad I was a huge fan of the tote bag. I used to love using my Longchamp bag or Vera Bradley totes to bring my books to and from class. Now, in my old age, heavy tote bags really do a number on my back. I have had lower back issues for about 10 years and I used to just suffer through it for the sake of fashion, but now I cant anymore, haha.

Now I have been using a solid black North Face Jester Backpack. It is roomy and comfortable on my back. Because I live in New England, however, I feel like everyone has this bag, but I did tie a pink ribbon on the top to jazz it up a little bit!

Pencil Case

The pencil case I use is an old Ipsy makeup bag that I got when I used to have the subscription. I am a huge sucker for good pens. Currently I have been loving the Papermate Ink Joy gel 0.7 pens. They come in a variety of colors and are so smooth and fun to write with. They are a bit pricey but you can find them cheaper and in smaller packages on Amazon.

Highlighters

One thing I must buy for myself at the beginning of every semester is a new package of Sharpie Retractable Highlighters. I love these lil guys and the package they come in. I am a huge highlighter junkie and use them in both my notes and my planner religiously. These highlighters never smudge or bleed through papers and last me through the entire semester (plus some!).

Planner

I love my planner. It sometimes resides in my backpack, sometimes in my purse, but it is always with me. I use the Lilly Pulitzer Medium Size Agenda. I have been using Lilly Pulitzer agendas since undergrad and I love them. I like the monthly view they have and then the subsequent weekly pages where I can make to do lists, agendas and write down important assignments, etc. Plus, the stickers in the front allow me to be creative when decorating my monthly view. I also color coordinate my highlighter colors, I use yellow for school, blue for work, and pink for personal.

      APA book

I always keep my APA book in my bag because, despite going on 7 years of medical related schooling, I still have to look up how to cite EVERYTHING. I don’t know why this doesn’t stick in my head but I literally use this book every time I am writing something that needs citations (which is basically everything).

     Textbook

This semester, as I said, I am taking pediatric primary care. I know absolutely nothing for peds (I work in an adult MICU as an RN and have since I graduated undergrad..), so this textbook has been my lifeline.

 

      Laptop

I love apple products. Last year for my birthday I treated myself to the new Macbook 12 in. in Gold. I love it. It is so small, lightweight and perfect for what I use it for which is web surfing, netflix and word processor. It is definitely not a heavy duty device that would be able to do major video editing or processing and gaming, but I definitely don’t use it for that. Other complaints with this computer is that there is no USB port, instead there is one USB-C port, which can be used for a variety of different purposes if you have the right adaptors. However, 1 year into using this computer and I have never even needed to buy an adaptor let alone fee like I was missing out on anything due to my lack of USB. I have a lot of apple products though so I am able to easily connect all my devices through the cloud.

Ipad

I never realized how much I needed an iPad until I bought one. I have the Ipad Mini 4 in Gold. I use my iPad at school for when I either want to look up something quick without taking out my whole computer, or sometimes, if I know I wont be needing to actually type anything at school that day I wont even bring my laptop and just use my iPad to look stuff up, etc. My favorite part of having both a Macbook and an iPad is that I save all my documents into my cloud so I can pull up papers and study guides on any device!

Luna Bar

I am definitely someone who gets hangry, especially if I am already stressed to begin with. Luckily there are a lot of places to get food if I am spending a long day at campus, however, I definitely need to have a snack super close by, just in case. The S’mores Luna Bar is my favorite. I am allergic to nuts so I can’t eat a lot of bars but this one is nut free, so yummy and really filling!

Water bottle

I take my Nalgene bottle with me everywhere. It is 1L big so I try to fill it up and drink at least 2 of them a day. Since doing this, I have noticed benefits to both my health and my wallet (even though now I frequent the bathroom… thanks little bladder syndrome..). This seems like such an easy fix to making sure you stay hydrated, but I actually go the idea to take a Nalgene with me from one of my best friends from undergrad. I bought the exact same one as her and love decorating it with stickers and even a monogram sticker I bought from Etsy.com!

Whew, this was a long post!!

Thanks for reading my essentials that I keep in my school bag! Let me know what essentials you take with you to prepare for a long day of hitting the books!!

Xoxo, Bethany

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