I'm Going Back To School

There was a time when I thought I would never be able to go back to school. I had my opportunity right out of H.S. My parents were paying my tuition, but I had no idea what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be and I was wasting my time and their money. Many, many years later, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

After leaving college I worked for a long time. When you start to work and you have your own money, you tend to start life and forget about the long term and that is exactly what I did.

Over time, my parents moved out of state and I moved into my own place. I had bills and responsibilities, nothing that would allow me to go back to school. I worked in Manhattan 9-5, without the time that wouldn't really allow me to get to an evening class on time. I was stuck in a dead end job. Life wasn't the best, but I thought I was happy. Funny, how you don't know how miserable you are, until you find happiness. But that's for another blog.

Finally, I took the step and moved to Florida to be closer to my parents. I was going to be living at home and the main reason was so I could go back to school. Finally, and after 5 years, I graduated with an ASN (Associate of Science, Nursing). I passed my NCLEX, the longest, hardest test, I have ever taken (5+ hours and 265 questions later) I was a licensed RN.

When I first decided to go to nursing school, my goal was to become a Midwife, well after my OB rotation, that was all out the window. Then I figured, I would graduate, get a job on a unit and that would be it. Well, a year + after graduating, and working as an RN in a pediatric unit, I have applied to Edison State College to complete my studies and my BSN.

I think, I would ultimately like to teach. With my BSN, I will be able to be a clinical instructor. I will be able to take nursing student's into the field and teach them. When I was working days these past few months, we would have students come to the unit to do their clinical work. I really enjoyed teaching them and explaining why we did things the way we did and why it was different from the rest of the nursing world, which is adult oriented.

Of course sometimes doing this was to my own detriment. I was one nurse with 2 sometimes 3 students and 4-5 patients, depending on the day. It is very challenging to teach a student and still care for all your patients. It was stressful but I did it to myself. That is when I realized, that I would really enjoy being a clinical instructor. This way, I would be able to focus my attention on the student and their patient. Teach them the right way and not the lazy way.

This past Spring, Edison College announced that they would be launching their BSN program in the Fall of 09. This is the perfect opportunity for me to complete my BSN. From the way it sounds, the program will be bridged. Meaning that there will be classroom and online courses. The classes should meet about once every 5 weeks or so.

So today, I went to Edison, and re-applied. I will start taking courses in the Spring to finish up my pre-reqs for my BSN. I will be taking statistics and chemistry. 2 subjects I am not excited about at all. But, I will do my best.

WATCH OUT FUTURE NURSES OF AMERICA, HERE COMES PROFESSOR BELLET!!