A Day in the Life of a Nursing Student

I always knew that I wanted to go into the medical field, but I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I took a lot of science classes in high school and also completed a Certified Nursing Assistant course, which influenced my decision to become a nurse. I went to UW-Oshkosh my freshman year for their nursing program, but I soon realized that only 70 out of 200 applicants would actually make it into the program. The minimum requirement of a 3.8 GPA to get into the nursing program put a lot of stress on me emotionally, and financial stress came when I found out that most students did not complete the program in less than six years. The program simply didn't fit my needs. I didn't like how big UW-Oshkosh was either, and I heard that Bellin was a great school with 100 percent placement after graduation, so I transferred to St. Norbert College. I started out my first year at St. Norbert College taking general education classes like human anatomy, biology, and introduction to literature. I had all of my nursing classes here on campus so it was very convenient. I did have to take one class at the old Bellin building, where I had to be tested for certain skills before I could go to clinical. This year, Bellin opened a new state-of-the-art building. There are high-tech labs and a simulation lab where the dummies are exceptionally life like. They can talk, have blood pressures and make breathing sounds. The new building is also beneficial because there is a lot more space for practice and many more resources to use. This year most of my classes are at Bellin, but I return to St. Norbert for one class. I do have to drive to Bellin, but most of the classes there are about two to three hours and only held three times a week.

A typical day as a sophomore nursing student would start off with getting up around 7 a.m. I have to leave a half hour early because Bellin is 30 minutes away. I have Pharmacoloy from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., where I learn about different medications and how they react with the body. After that I get an hour break to eat lunch, and then I start Pathophysiology at noon, which lasts until 2 p.m. At the beginning of the semester, my fellow nursing students and I took classes to learn how to do invasive skills such as IVs, tracheostomy care, injections and catheters. We have to be tested on how to do these skills in order to make it to clinical, so we spend a lot of time outside of class practicing in the practice lab.

Clinicals are every Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. for five weeks, so this puts additional stress on my schedule. Nursing is considered one of the hardest and most stressful majors there is, but when you attend a great school program, such as St. Norbert/Bellin's, you set yourself up for one of the best educational programs in the Midwest.

I would recommend the St. Norbert/Bellin program to anyone, and if anyone has any questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Editor's Note: Nicole Stearns is a junior at St. Norbert College, but a sophomore in the St.Norbert/Bellin Nursing program. She grew up in Appleton and attended Xavier High School. Read on as Nicole shares with us a typical day as a nursing student.