“The Everyday Life of A Student Nurse” With Tanya Ambrose from allaboutthescrublife

Most nursing schools involve both theory, clinical/lab courses and the actual clinical rotations all in that one semester; compared to some other healthcare fields that do it one at a time. I remember taking an extra scholarship class on top of 5 to 6 classes I already had; therefore you don’t have time to sleep, eat or cry if you have to because it is STRESSFUL!!! Some people actually cry either they fail or pass because I did couple times. This post reflects a conversation with an actual nursing student on how to get through nursing school. And if you feel like you can relate this to your majors, feel free to do so. I can assure you that tips like treating yourself, find a mentor or a group of friends with the same goals can help.

Being a student nurse can be exhausting at some point. So, how do you attend to your own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs?

It is very exhausting being a nursing student. There’s always some assignment, quiz, or test that needs to be done. To me, nursing school is a never-ending day. All this takes a toll on your mind and your body and even if you’re the strongest person in the world it can break you at some point. I spoke about my failure in nursing school in my recent blog post, as much as I’ve always tried to be prepared there are just times where it seems like you aren’t prepared enough. I’m an emotional person and I can tell you I’ve cried many times because of the workload and the pressure, sometimes not knowing what to do. I’ve always been a church girl something I’m not afraid of saying. I’ve had to rely heavily on my faith to get me by while in school. I have this Saying “if you’re going to pray without faith you might as well not pray” I’ve had to rely on the emotional and spiritual support from my family. Having a good support system goes a long way.

We all ask this question. Why am I even here, and is the education worth it? Tell us what keeps you motivated about “ The End Goal”.

Helping people has always been my passion for as long as I’ve known myself. Initially, I wanted to be a doctor but I have family members who are nurses and hearing them share their stories motivated me to become a nurse. The hands-on experience and the ability to comfort one with just my presence is rewarding. At times I think about giving up or finding a different career but then I think about how I can be a blessing to someone and that gives me the motivation to study harder even with all the challenges. My end goal is becoming the best nurse I can be and to be a source of help to the people I’ll encounter. Walking in the hospital and hearing someone say “Nurse Tanya, Thank you” is what I think about and that drives me to reach my end goal.

If you work or do other activities besides school; How do you pick a study reward when life can be so busy?

Working and going to school is not an easy task. Between assignments and exams and having to work it can all be a lot like A LOT but I’m working in a field that is giving me the knowledge to become a great nurse so I try to make the best of it. So when I pass an exam with the grade that I set my mind to, I like to treat myself to a movie and pizza. As simple as it sounds, it’s a reward I look forward to. As busy as I am, I try to find time to watch a tv show or movie that’s my study reward. I like to study let’s say for 2 hours then take a break and watch an episode of one of my shows; if I pass an exam I take myself to the movie theater to watch the latest action or drama movie. As hectic as life as a student and working can be it’s very important to take time out for myself. I like to tell myself that I’m not going to let work and school completely take over my life.

Communication can play a major part in our daily life, elaborate any moment where it has helped you. Either communicate with a family member, a mentor or a classmate going through the same issues.

I like to say I can do anything I put my mind to and that I’m my biggest competition as it relates to exams. I would think I’m the only one going through something in life and not think about others. I would be in school struggling and not ask for help. I was born in England and grew up on the beautiful Caribbean Island of Antigua. As you would imagine, although English is our main accent we do have our own dialect and we have an accent. As proud as I am of my accent I’ve always been shy to talk; so code-switching was something I often did. One day during my clinical rotation when we had our conference and my professor was giving me feedback she said “Tanya I need you to communicate more with me and with your patients. I said to the professor as you know I’m from the Islands and I have an accent and I speak fast so I’m a bit afraid to speak up. She said that’s not going to work in this field and that I should embrace my uniqueness. True story; the next day I went to clinical a different woman, I was ready to embrace all 100% of my uniqueness and to my surprise, my patients loved my accent and were more accepting of me treating them etc. Since then I told myself it doesn’t matter what accent I have, I have to embrace it and not let it hinder how I communicate with others.

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