The Central Line February 2015

The Central Line THE OFFICAL PUBLICATION OF THE TEXAS NURSING STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

In this issue:

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Page 2 Lose Yourself in the Service of Others – Johanna Bridges

Page 3 Exciting Find in Nursing – Carmina Cardona

Page 4 Let Us Go: A Glance at Nursing Missions – Amanda Muir

Image of Nursing – Justine Dockery

Top Ten Ways to Survive your Transition from Nursing Student to RN

Top Ten Ways to Survive your Transition from Nursing Student to RN – Lauren Locke

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Page 2

As your nursing school experience comes to an end, there are probably many things on your mind. Where do I want to work? What type of nursing fits my interests and personality? Will I be able to find a job? How can I best prepare for interviews? And yes, what if I don’t pass the NCLEX? Don’t worry, you are not alone because every one of us experienced a plethora of hopes, and fears about the beginning of our new career. There are several mistakes that my friends and I made during this process that I would like to share with you so that maybe you can learn from our mistakes and avoid these pitfalls.

Number 10: DO work as a CNA and then as a Nurse Tech while you are in school! You will get experience that will help you decide which avenue to pursue. It is important that you are dependable and attentive to the needs of each unit. Many floors will hire their nurse techs following graduation. Although there might be ten people being interviewed for one job, you have the upper hand because they have already seen you in action. The lack of this job experience leaves question in the minds of the interview committee about how you will be able to handle the stresses of the job.

Number 9: Narrow down the jobs that suit you from your experiences in clinical, and work. If you apply for jobs in many different specialties, the interviewers may feel that you have no idea what you want to do and will not take you seriously as a prospective employee.

Number 8: Take time to produce a VERY PROFESSIONAL resume and spend the extra money to have it printed on nice paper. The best way to get removed from the “FINAL FOUR” is to submit a resume with misspelled words, tacky fonts, or busy designs.

How to Join TNSA and NSNA

Number 7: Start EARLY! My class graduated in May of 2014. Interviews opened up at the beginning of February and by the second week of March, most of us had a job. Of course, this works differently depending on where you live, but planning ahead is always a good idea. If your resume is not ready to submit by the beginning of February, you could miss out on that perfect job that you had your heart set on. (Continued on pg. 6)

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Lose Yourself in the Service of Others I would love to say that my first day of nursing school was amazing and exciting, but in reality it was the exact opposite. I left the lecture hall with a handful of Kleenex and tears running down my face as I questioned every choice I had made leading up to that moment. I had just sat through an entire, ten hour, day of lecture after lecture, syllabus after syllabus and the entry of so many textbook codes and online module codes that I was starting to wonder, “What I had just gotten myself into?” My last professor of the day ended the lecture with, “Welcome to nursing school, get ready to kiss your social lives goodbye; tell your friends, family and kids, if you have them, that you’ll see them in two years.” I was what you call a “non-traditional” student. I spent the last ten years of my life as a stay-at-home mom, driving carpools, packing lunches and dealing with the never-ending piles of dishes and laundry while my husband worked more than a 9-5 job six days a week to keep up with our growing family’s needs. I had more than enough time to decide what direction I wanted my “grown up” life to look like, yet I still struggled with a definite answer. I knew it wasn’t in the cards for me to continue in the field of Psychology and pursue a graduate degree, but I loved helping people and I loved science. I watched my friends go the more traditional route through college and some of them began having families of their own, alongside of a rewarding and respectable career in Nursing! That was the perfect hybrid I had been searching for. It was now my time to start writing the next chapter of my life. The day finally came when both my boys were in school and self-sufficient. I did my research and decided that Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas was where I was meant to be. Little did I know it would become my home away from home! So here I am, one year into my program at 32 years old, a wife, a mother of two boys, a non-traditional commuter student, professional student and degree collector, caffeine addict, etcetera, etcetera. There are so many labels that can be placed on a person, but the trick is to never let those things define the person you are meant to be. Yes, it has taken me this long to realize that, but I can confidently say that it is possible to be successful, to wear many hats and live the life you have always dreamed. I no longer live crippled with fear and insecurity that I am the “old” student. Many of my friends are in their early twenties and we learn from each other’s strengths daily. I feel that with my age comes wisdom. I have a different appreciation for my education, one that I am now paying for, I know what loss of a loved one feels like and what it feels like to love someone more than life itself. My kids are my world, they have taught me so much in their short time. Being a mother has helped me learn to instinctively care and advocate for those who are incapable of doing it for themselves, it has taught me the true meaning of empathy and compassion. Today I know that my teacher was right, you really can kiss your old life goodbye, things will never be the same, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Nursing school will change you in ways you could have never dreamed possible. For me personally, the growth I have experienced so far in nursing school was worth all the Kleenex and tears I cried that first day. Now I appreciate all the moments I have with my family, even though at times it may only be when they are sleeping, I am thankful for my health and every day that I can wake up and be excited to learn and lead and serve. Perhaps the most fundamental thing I have learned while in school is to have faith and confidence in my abilities and that when I am struggling with insecurity or identity, the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Johanna Bridges Baylor University 2016 Louise Herrington School of Nursing

How to Join TNSA and NSNA Membership in NSNA is either a one or two-year membership, beginning the day you become a member. Dues: New member: $40.00; Renewal: $45.00; Two-years: $80.00

2 Become a member today! Sign up at: nsnamembership.org

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Exciting Find in Nursing

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Nursing itself has always been an exciting perusal for me, but now more than ever I feel the excitement as if I am starting nursing school all over again. I have recently graduated with my BSN in December of 2014. It still comes as a shock. What I had thought was an eternity of being a perpetual student is now over. My “exciting find” in nursing is simply that you will be able to find excitement in any path you choose. There are so many different realms of nursing and learning will never stop. It’s kind of like visiting a new place. You’re scared at first, you’re not in your comfort zone, but you know that you’re excited to learn new things and become a better traveler. You start to prepare better, you start getting comfortable being in new situations, and you start having fun more quickly. Stay excited, stay motivated, and have fun in all your endeavors. Nursing is truly rewarding opportunity Carmina Cardona TNSA Nominating Chairman nom.chair@tnsa.org

Image of Nursing

I'm so proud of my future profession. I'm so proud to call myself a future nurse because I see nursing as one of the most respected professions. However, I know others don't see nursing the same way I do. The image of nursing as evolved throughout the past one hundred years and it will continue to evolve for the rest of our lives. Even how we've dressed has changed drastically. If Florence Nightingale saw nurses today wearing scrubs, I wonder what she would think. It's definitely different from the white caps, skirts, and white shoes she's used to. The image of nursing expands from the angel of mercy to the

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sexual stereotype we see in the media. There was a show in 2013 on MTV called Scrubbing In, and it followed a group of young travel nurses as they work in California and live together. It showed them partying and fighting when they weren't in scrubs and barely showed them in the hospital doing what nurses do best: save lives. It was very embarrassing and disappointing to see how nurses were being betrayed in and out of the hospital. No wonder the image of nursing today is warped. How do we change this image? We need to show how we value our profession. We need to project the image of nursing we want daily. We need to take our professions seriously and act professional in every encounter. We need to believe in ourselves and our colleagues. Remember this as you graduate to become a professional nurse. Change the image of nursing. Justine Dockery TNSA Western Regional Director west.director@tnsa.org

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Let Us Go: A Glance at Nursing Missions “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely, and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble” - Mother Teresa. I have always admired Mother Teresa for her devotion to her calling as she left her home and her family to reach the forgotten and the poorest of India in Calcutta. What she found was a joyful life in sharing grace she had received from God and a pouring out of her life and her love upon others. Similar to Mother Teresa, I have felt called to go overseas and to love the unloved, to serve the needy, and to share the gospel with the broken and lost. This is one of the main reasons I chose to become a nurse. As a nurse, we are able to provide basic needs in a time of crisis or hopelessness. This does not only include the physical, but also the emotional and spiritual. For example, let’s imagine a man who was in a severe car accident and the doctor just told him that he must get his leg amputated. Now, he is mulling over these questions like a broken record: “How will I provide for my family? What does this mean for my role as the man in the family? Why did God let this happen to me? Can I ever throw ball with my son again? What will my wife and children think of me?” Our brains tend to go crazy and ramble on and on in that type of situation. We as nurses can stop the relentless question cycle by spreading hope, life, and truth to people in these situations because we have now been given full VIP access to one of the possibly most difficult times in a person’s life. For us to be able to shed some light on a situation is an understatement. Getting outside of ourselves, we are able to climb into the trenches with these patients as we listen to their needs, encourage them in their hardship, give a few hugs, and surround them with a comforting embrace of truth. And oh, how refreshing it is for them to spot a lighthouse in perilous storm when all they could see was the crashing of the waves closing in around them. With this ability of touching a person’s life spiritually, emotionally, and physically, my desire is to bring the resources and opportunities we have here, in Dallas, Texas, to other third world countries who do not have access to medical attention or to the truth of Jesus. Two summers ago, I was given an opportunity to spend a summer in Indonesia. In the specific city I was staying, only the wealthiest people were able to receive adequate (for lack of a better word) medical attention. The poorest people were forced to camp in tents in the muddy swamp terrain outside the hospital with one visit from the nurse a day. The healthcare infrastructure became even more heartbreaking when I learned that the natives living in the villages couldn’t even make the short drive to the hospital in the urban area because they couldn’t afford the cost of the gasoline. If their illnesses took a turn for the worst, that was the end. In Indonesia, to loose a child at birth is normal. To see a man die at the age of 40 is normal. I saw many people and made many friends with Diabetes Mellitus Type II leading to Coronary Artery Disease due to the rich wonderfully fried foods they eat daily. According to the World Health Rankings, the leading causes of death in Indonesia are Coronary Heart Disease, Influenza, Pneumonia, Stroke, Lung Disease, TB, and Diabetes Mellitus Type II. Most of these deaths are preventable with good diet and exercise, vaccination, drinking pure water, or antibiotics (all of which we can easily have access). While I was living in Indonesia the physical need was overwhelming, but I felt the weight of how lost people were spiritually was even more overwhelming. I worked at a local clinic in a slum area functioning as a nurse while working alongside a local doctor. We would gather on a small porch and see 60 patients in two hours. If you do the math not a whole lot of time was allotted to each person. He would listen to their concerns. I would take their blood pressure, and then he would tell another worker which medication to give them. (Continued on pg. 5)

“Getting outside of ourselves, we are able to climb into the trenches with these patients as we listen to their needs, encourage them in their hardship, give a few hugs, and surround them with a comforting embrace of truth.”

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This other worker functioned as the pharmacist by explaining to each patient how to take their medications and what foods to avoid. After seeing the numerous people, we would pray with the patients with severe diseases or those who requested us to pray with them. When I listened to one woman I was about to pray with, she told me her husband had just left her with five children and she did not have a job. She didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. I told the local doctor about her situation and both of us agreed to help her financially and to help her find a job. Grasping her hand, I prayed that Jesus would provide for her needs and guide her through each step of her recovery. We also prayed and asked God to heal her chest pain and anxiety she was experiencing. Later I told her that Jesus is my hope and peace and helps me to not worry or be anxious.

There were many others who did not know what to believe and had family, medical, and spiritual problems. They were waiting for someone to love them and share truth with them. This previous Christmas break, I also saw this in India as well when I went on a medical mission trip with Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing. I prayed with one woman whose son had just gone through numerous surgeries with his diagnosis unresolved. She could not understand me fully due to the language barrier, but she was thankful for prayer. Later, a friend had passed the word that she had come to believe in Jesus as her hope when she talked with the pastor and God had answered our prayer for finances for the surgeries. Many people like her do not have hope or faith to help them through their

difficulties and need someone to come and encourage them, love them, and share hope with them. Medical missions, in a nurse’s role, is truly life giving and answers the call “to love our neighbor as ourselves” (Mark 12:31) (our neighbor being all people) and “To [work] hard in this way[,] we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35). It also answers the call of “being witnesses to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). I would encourage any nurse to ask God what His plan is for his/her life and consider the possibility that going overseas is something God has for them. But, I’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t have to be in a third world country to do medical missions. There are many lost, broken, and hopeless people that need God’s love here in Dallas, TX. Jesus’ whole life and purpose was a medical mission to heal the spiritually sick. Keeping this in mind, the medical mission starts with Jesus leading your life today. Even in the most difficult or mundane night shift you have had, God calls us to make the most of every minute of it. This could mean, bringing the medical mission to your family by talking with your sister you haven’t talked with because of a drawn out argument. This medical mission could be loving the other nurse you work alongside on the unit who is difficult to love, or being kind to a patient who hasn’t been kind to you on a stressful day. Mother Teresa said it so well: “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked, and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” My hope and prayer is that we, as nurses, go to the unloved, the broken, and the lost and touch them with the love and grace we have received from Jesus.

I’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t have to be in a third world country to do medical missions.

Amanda Muir Baylor University 2015 Louise Herrington School of Nursing

Continued from pg. 4

Resources: Life Expectancy in Indonesia. (n.d.). Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/ indonesia-life-expectancy

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Number 6: Look on the internet and find possible questions that you might be asked in your interviews. Think about how you will answer the questions so that your answers help the interview committee get a true picture of who you are and what you have to offer their team. Practice your answers out loud and even consider recording yourself. You might be really surprised at how many times you repeat a word or fail to actually answer the question. Then, have a friend ask you questions as a practice run. Number 5: Interview time can be very stressful because you are competing for that “Perfect Job” with your friends that you have just spent the past 2-4 years with. Everyone reacts to this stress differently and it can put a substantial strain on your friendships. Just give it some time, because the dust will settle. Number 4: Your last semester of school is very expensive. Plan ahead by setting money aside so that you can actually enjoy this exciting time instead of stressing out about money. Number 3: After you land that “Perfect Job”, you will be walking on air. You might have a fantastic vacation planned and think that you need to “take some time for yourself before you take the NCLEX”. Our instructors at Covenant School of Nursing warned us to not wait too long before taking the exam because we would forget information. Well, let me just say that they were not wrong. I allowed my fear of failing the NCLEX to get the best of me and I moved my test to August. The problem is that by this time, I was heavily into my ICU orientation, which is extremely intense; I took my NCLEX on the 14th and started my BSN on the 20th. I literally spent my entire summer studying without really learning anything more than what I knew at the end of May. Although I did pass the first time, the fact is that I probably would have done just as well if I had taken it within the first month. Do not wait! My advice is to take the exam one month after graduation, if possible.

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This will give you time to recover from nursing school, while still allowing time to be truly prepared for your exam. It is a proven fact that the pass rate goes down tremendously after two months. Number 2: Next, do not underestimate the exam. If you get the idea in your head that “If I do not know it by now, then I never will” and “I obviously know it because I have an A,” you are setting yourself up for failure. You still have to prepare for the exam! If you take a vacation and think that a couple of study days prior to the test will be sufficient, it might not! Trust me, it is not worth taking a chance. Number 1: And finally, if you really want to pass the NCLEX there is one thing that you MUST DO! You need to take the Hurst Review. It does not matter whether you do it as a Live Review, or the online version. Do whatever fits your learning style. I personally did my review online because it allowed me to listen to the lectures over and over again without the distraction of people answering questions before I had time to process them. I do not know how to explain what it is that is so incredibly unique about the way that their test questions are worded, but I can say that nothing else that I did prior to the exam prepared me the way that the Hurst Review did. Yes it is expensive, but it will be the best money that you spend. Do not allow yourself to get lost in the mounds of knowledge you have learned. It is impossible to remember all of it. Trust the Hurst Review because if you know the information that they present, you can answer any question that you get on the NCLEX. Laura Locke, RN TNSA Vice President vise.pres@tnsa.org

Continued from pg. 1

The Central Line February 2015

Meet TNSA’s Officers and Consultants

PRESIDENT BRIANNA DURDIN president@tnsa.org VICE PRESIDENT LAURA LOCKE vise.pres@tnsa.org SECRETARY-TREASURER TBA EDITOR JESSICA HARLEY editor@tnsa.org NOMINATING CHAIRMAN CARMINA CARDONA nom.chair@tnsa.org TNSA SPECIAL CONSULTANT JUDY KAYE SMITH, PHD(C),MSN,MN, RN-BC Judy.Smith@Lamar.edu

TNSA CONSULTANT HEATHER EVARTS, RN heatherevarts@earthlink.net NORTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR SARAH ERVIN north.director@tnsa.org SOUTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR KATHRYN MENDEZ south.director@tnsa.org EASTERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR TBA WESTERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR JUSTINE DOCKERY west.director@tnsa.org ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR PAT POLLOCK tnsa@flash.net