Inside scoop on Nursing students

It’s 4:30 a.m. and nursing students Ellany Peck and Ashley Brooks are waking up for their first clinical for the nursing program. They laid out their navy blue and forest green GCSU scrubs the night before, hoping it would save them a few extra minutes of sleep. The sound of the alarm resonates in the background as their hearts pound with excitement and fear.

This is the day they have been waiting for their whole lives – the day they finally get to wear the shoes of a nurse and watch their dreams come to life.

Peck and Brooks are junior nursing majors that have dedicated every waking hour to their latest relationship – with the nursing program. The life of a nursing student is hard work, but in the end, these students say, it all pays off.

“Not only do you have to care about and love what you’re doing to be able to do what we do, but also be able devote a lot of time to it.” Brooks said. “When you put this much work and effort into something, it just wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t love it.”

Peck and Brooks had expectations about the nursing program, but when classes began those expectations were long gone. Their classes, tests, professors, readings and even sleeping changed, but their love for nursing became even more evident.

“It’s all about time management,” Brooks said. “My friends may be going out Thursday night, but that no longer fits in my schedule.”

Brooks and Peck stressed how important studying before and after their classes is.

“For every credit hour a class is worth, multiply that by three,” Brooks said. “And that’s only the minimum amount of studying we do every day.”

The program demands a huge time commitment.

“The nursing program is like a relationship with your boyfriend,” Brooks said.

Peck adds, “because more than likely you’re not going to have one.”

With classes and homework already hard enough to manage for the typical student, try adding clinicals. Nursing students typically do about 15 hours of clinicals per week.

“I am looking forward to clinicals,” Peck said. “We will get to interact and practice all that we have learned finally.”

In addition to clinicals, the program also offers other ways for its students to gain experience. This week the nursing students have taken on giving out campus-wide flu shots.

The effort is worth realizing a lifelong ambition. Since she was young, Peck knew she wanted to be a nurse.

“When I was 8 years old, my grandfather was in the hospital with cancer. When I saw how the nurses were there for my family and I, it meant so much to me. I admired their caring actions toward my family and I knew that that’s what I wanted to be like,” Peck said. “I just had this feeling that I was called to be a nurse. To now know and experience everything they did to become a nurse is so encouraging.”

The nursing program does everything possible to make sure their students stay stress free by having support groups and an intramural flag football team. The nursing professors meet with students if they make a low score on their tests and make sure they understand their mistakes.

Assistant professor Dr. Susan Steele dedicates her time to her students so they can succeed.

“We know how hard it can be sometimes,” Steele said. “It’s not about us – it’s about them.”

Being a nursing student is intense. Currently at GCSU there are 194 undergraduate students in the nursing program and 332 undergraduate pre-nursing majors. There are also 61 graduate students in the nursing program.

“I know the GCSU nursing program has a very good reputation and this school has a great foundation,” Peck said. “They really know what they are doing.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 25 2009. Filed under Health & Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry