New Changes

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog! But I am pretty sure I am passed due for it because some big events have taken place in my life in the past month or so. The first of which was my experience taking the NCLEX-RN board exam. This is the exam they make you take in order to get a license to practice as a nurse, and many would say it is the hardest test someone can take in their life! Well I took an online review course which was $300, but it was worth every penny. I don't think I have studied for a test harder in my life! All I could do before this test was eat, breath, and sleep nursing content I have learned over the last 2 years! How could you do anything different when this exam means everything!
The dreaded day came, I went up to Sandy and had 6 hours to take this test. I remember I was quite nervous of what to expect. They are so serious about this test that they pat you down and search you before you walk in to take it! The reality hit me at this point. The test only took me an hour to do, but every time you answer a question I had no clue if I got it right or wrong. This test made you feel that there were no definitive answers, almost all guess work!
After the test I drove home not knowing what to expect in the 24 hours I had to wait to find out if I passed or not. I was just grateful to go back to Utah county to spend some time with my close friends which I don't get to see all that often. We all went out to dinner, and also to Tayten's birthday party (which was wonderful)! Then at about midnight that night, one of my classmates told me to check the state website to see what I would find. I logged onto the state nursing license website and searched for my name. There at that moment, I had found something I had been waiting for for over 3 years: Austin Miller, RN! This was an emotional time for me. I instantly got a knot in my throat and I honestly about cried. There is nothing I had worked harder for than this, and finally I was able to see I was successful in completing one of the hardest endeavors of my life. It was at this moment I felt life had opened up a huge door of opportunity to me. I simply got one step closer to my dream of being a flight nurse.
The second biggest thing which happened to me was nothing short of a blessing. I was able to stay in close contact with Christy Seely, a lady who I went to all of nursing school with and who was my best friend from class. She is also the mother of my roommate Dominick. Christy happens to work at St. George Care and Rehab as a nursing manager. Well, she decided I would be a good asset to their team, and she had pretty much got me a job at the care center. So, here I was, a newly registered nurse, and also one with a brand new job!
I started to work as a nurse for the first time last weekend. I have been assigned to be a night nurse on Friday and Saturday nights on the rehab side of the center. I trained with another nurse for 3 nights learning my new job. This was an awesome experience for me. I was able to pass medications, draw labs, and provide wound care. The weird feeling with this though, was that I didn't have any supervision for the first time in 2 years! It was all on my own, which presents its own challenges. I had to use my clinical judgment I learned in school, and I had to keep the care and safety of each patient in mind throughout all I did. By the third night, I felt that I was proficient in the job and felt I could be very successful as long as I worked hard at things!
Anyways, these changes have really reshaped my life for the better. I am really excited for the future and to see where life takes me. I expect a lot of things out of 2011, one of those is to gain better experience in the nursing field so I can move on to emergency nursing, and the second would be to become a paramedic. I know both of those things will happen as long as I keep head strong with everything I am doing. There is something I would love to happen this year also, and that would be to get a girlfriend. I feel I have done a poor job in my life of not pursuing such an avenue in the past, and I think doing so could only add excitement and a whole other dynamic to my life. I guess we will wait and see!