Someone from the program called me a few minutes ago and we spent a good deal of time talking about my clinical placement, me working through the program and the other dreaded topic: Pharmacology. Pharmacology is so hard! But she promises the first half is difficult but the second half is much, much easier!
I won’t go into great detail for the sake of privacy, but I was able to get my clinical site placement changed to one of my two original choices. I don’t know why they placed me in Jackson and said Rock Springs was a back up if they could have me in one of my two choices. It would have saved me a lot of stress. In addition, I probably would have scored higher than I did on my Pharmacology midterm. I was so stressed about the thought of being forced to move to middle-of-nowhere Wyoming that I couldn’t study that final day before my exam.
It’s crazy how a few months ago I was embracing the idea of moving to Jackson and starting a year-long life there. That was before I found out how the program works. It actually works like this:
Fall 2012 – From September to the beginning of December, I will have clinical every other week in Wyoming at a location a few hours away from Denver. My placements will be 3x/week for 10-12 hours each week. So for 7 or 8 days a month, I will be in Wyoming. My clinical includes long term care, general medicine/surgical and OR (operating room). I will also be enrolled in classes online for this fall semester.
Spring 2013 – From mid-January until May, I will have clinical in Casper and/or Gillette, Lander and Evanston, Wyoming for a total of 270 hours. 40 of those hours will be spent staying in Evanston for a 40 hour work week and 40 of those hours will be spent staying in Lander for a 40 hour work week. We get room/board & we work with nurses in the mental health field. During this semester I also spend several hours in OB (labor/delivery), Pediatrics and Community Health. This semester schedule varies but apparently we will only be in Wyoming every other week. In addition, there is a 13 day Community Health trip to Honduras that I hope to take part in!!! We get to deliver health care to children and families in a rural, mountainous village who normally do not have access to quality care. It’s a $2,000 trip…. so hopefully my tax return will pay for this one 🙂
Summer 2013 – After our official graduation ceremony in May, each student will complete the final nursing practicum at a health care facility somewhere in the state of Wyoming. There are several locations available depending on what field of Nursing I’d like to go into. Right now, I have no clue! During the final summer months I will work alongside a nurse. I will work her (or his) shift (whether night or day) & the full-time schedule. At the end of this period, I should know how to work completely on my own as an RN. After our final Nursing ceremony in August I will study, study, study and then take the national board exam for my RN license. And then…. look for a job in Colorado 🙂
Mom, Dad, Grandparents…. I hope this answers some of the questions you’ve had about how my schedule works!
| jenn at home | 