What I Learned in Nursing School is...

I guess we can call this “phase three” of my “master plan”: degree number four, BSN. I did whatever I could to complete my prerequisite courses to get into an accelerated nursing program. It honestly did not matter where I went, I just knew that I wanted to quit my last job and start a full-time program as soon as I could.

- Didn't take many pictures while in the program so I apologize for the selfie.

Step 1: An Arm and A Leg

Due to deadlines and program start dates, my only options were Quinnipiac and UConn; Quinnipiac started in the Fall, UConn started the following Spring. I weighed the pros and cons of both; the cost of both programs were incredibly high, with QU being $20,000 more expensive. A friend who was in UConn’s ABSN program advised me that UConn does not give any funding since the program itself was not classified as a regular bachelors or an advanced degree. I received, what I thought was, a substantial scholarship to QU and then I found out the actual price after I was admitted. What made UConn’s 12-month program around $50,000 and QU’s over $70,000? I could not tell you the answer to that to this day. Upon comparing the costs and funding, it seemed as if going to QU would be similar in price to going to UConn with no funding, so I enrolled in QU’s ABSN program. For anyone considering an accelerated nursing program, be prepared to take out thousands of dollars in loans.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it can help you find your true calling.

Step 2: Work, Work, Work, Work...

Quinnipiac’s ABSN program is a 12-month, holistically-centered, accelerated nursing program. While UConn’s students take 3 classes a semester, QU students take 5+ courses a semester; we even had some courses that were so condensed, they were only 8 days long. An entire semester’s worth of material, with a midterm, projects, and a final in 8 days… Everyone that goes through nursing or med school experiences the insanity of condensed courses; there just is not enough time to study and retain all that is expected. You don’t really “learn” the material; you cram information into your head and hope for the best when you’re handed the exam. Most of the 12 months was coursework/studying/clinicals six days a week 7am-6pm. Did people put less effort in and still get the same degree? Yes they did, and it was frustrating to see that. But at the end of the day, a student who graduates top of their class and a student who graduates last in their class are both nurses and have the same title. I learned as much as I could and still felt unprepared for every exam, including the licensing exam; spoiler alert: I passed.

- 98% sure this was during Pathophysiology and Pharmacotherapy II; COVID made classes easier and much harder.

The program started off with a little over 800 applicants, with just over 100 students selected for admission; by the end of the program, there were only about 69 of us left. Looking back, I believe there were about 5-6 male students (including myself) in my graduating class. This, in itself, was an intimidating factor; I was officially a minority for the first time in my life. It felt unnatural being in a class full of the opposite sex and being the only male in clinicals; I felt like I did not belong. The science-based courses presented no bias; they were, as they should be, black and white with regards to material and how it is presented in practice. The theory or holistic courses were all female focused and heteronormative driven. Almost every lecture I attended, I felt the need to stand up for myself and the rest of the men sitting in the lecture hall since the professors rarely considered the male perspective and often spoke down to us. The environment during lecture became so toxic to the point that people left the room and one of our classmates left the program entirely. On top of the traditional stress of nursing courses, I had the added stress of questioning my place in the field.

Step 3: Holier Than Thou

Quinnipiac prided themselves on their holistic practice. After everything I’ve been through in life, I found the label of “holistic” to be odd. The faculty told us they would train students how to be holistic.

Being holistic is not a skill you can teach someone, it is a quality someone develops throughout their life.

If you walk into a patient’s room and do not know how to interact or adapt to unprecedented situations, then you probably should not be a nurse. From what I have learned overtime, you need to do your best to treat each patient as if they were a member of your family, develop a healthy rapport, and provide effective care; if you cannot do this, then nursing may not be the right fit for you. I give my all to every patient every shift, I advocate for their well-being, and I cry on my drives home when I unfortunately lose a patient. This is why I was awarded the Holistic Nursing Award.

- Despite COVID, my pinning "ceremony" was extra special.

For many nursing and medical schools, “holistic” is a label rather than an ideology. Is this label a nice resume builder? Absolutely. Is a holistic program going to change your career path all that much? Probably not.

Step 4: Reality Check

The transition from school to full-time job is intimidating and anxiety-inducing for every field. I studied as much as I could and practiced my skills throughout nursing school. I even passed the NCLEX on my first try in the least amount of questions. As much as you think you are ready to be a nurse, you aren’t. The amount of “useless” information I threw out the minute I stepped onto my unit was insane and I now understood why other programs had less courses to take. Was nursing school necessary? Of course.

Is there a big difference between case studies and working with real patients? 100%.

- We actually got some experience with real infants; this was a training room we found while on break.

As time goes on, technology and practices advance and change; some professors were so stuck in their ways that if you deviated from what they wanted, you were wrong and there was no debate. The older instructors who have been off the floor and out of practice taught us skills that we had to unlearn once we started working as nurses. Working with COVID patients forced nurses to deviate from “standard” practice, but some of the practices taught in school were what Florence Nightingale used on a daily basis. Instead of teaching archaic and inefficient clinical skills, I feel that professors not conforming to modern day advancements would benefit from teaching nursing theory rather than nursing practice.

- One of many online simulations during COVID distance learning.

Step 5: Med Surg Protector

To give a brief overview for those who do not know, med-surg is a “specialty” or more so a generalized field of nursing where nurses experience all sorts of stable patients. This ranges from post-operative patients to those going through some sort of withdrawal. There is this misconception that all nurses have to start in this field to gain a better understanding of nursing before transitioning to a more specialized role.

I do understand the validity of this argument, but it is totally false.

Any nurse can start in any specialization; it is all about who you know and the connections you have. Many of those I graduated with ended up taking positions in: intensive care, neonatal intensive care, labor and delivery, orthopedic, psychiatric, neuro, and cardiology.

Gaining a better understanding of the profession itself and experiencing giving care to an eclectic pool of patients is obviously beneficial and would make for a more effective nurse. The issue behind starting or staying on a med-surg unit is that these nurses are, more often than not, used and abused. Most nurses are forced into this role and burnout before twelve months have passed; hell, I have been in my role only six months and I’m already burned out. So, if I can make one point with this argument,

do not take a job on a med-surg floor because you think you have to or because someone told you to.

- Trial by fire working night shift during a pandemic...it is what it is.

I may not have to rush between lectures and labs, but the adrenaline rush will never go away, because Nursing will always be my Cardio.