As a pre-nursing student, I have a busy life; I'm going to school full-time, I have a part-time job, two crazy, wonderful dogs and a modest social life. Why would I want to more than 10 hours per week of free time to wearing a dorky blue smock and running around the Emergency Department, or sitting in a corner of the cardio center waiting room, or indeed, being in a hospital at all?
The reasons for volunteering are as numerous as the volunteer opportunities themselves. I have both altruistic and selfish reasons, but when it comes right down to it, altruism is my primary motivation. I've broken down my top reasons for becoming a volunteer at our local hospital in the hopes of encouraging some of you to volunteer, as well.
COMMUNITY NEED:
In 1999, I packed up and moved from Michigan to Seattle, Washington, to chase the mountains and adventure of the Pacific Northwest. This past February, I came back home to find that the Michigan to which I returned is not the Michigan that I left. Our economy has been gutted, many of our communities are thrust into financial ruin and unemployment is sky-high. It's entirely likely that our state government will literally shut down on Monday due to lack of funds. This is serious business.
Michigan has been pretty good to me throughout my life, and now it's time for me to be good to Michigan. I received a good education in my public schools and went on to the University of Michigan, which allowed me to graduate despite frittering away more time on cards and dancing than on my studies. I have been the beneficiary of the county health insurance program when money has been tight. I enjoy our parks and public works. My community desperately needs help; I am in its
debt and I have the time and ability to donate.
STAFF NEED:
The demands on our health care professionals is increasingly huge; medical staff are often taxed beyond their practical limits, which leaves them feeling ragged and their patients feeling hurried out the door. 
Volunteers can take at least some of the load off of basic medical staff; we can answer phones, give directions, complete paperwork, fill up coffee pots, restock supplies, be a listening ear for patients or for families, and countless other tasks, all of which are very appreciated by the harried staff. We can help everyone in the
health care system to feel better cared-for, simply by paying
attention, and attending to the small details. I am a firm believer that no kindness is ever a waste of time.
TO BECOME A BETTER NURSE:
Being the girl in the dorky blue smock with the badge clearly
emblazoned "VOLUNTEER" will make wearing scrubs and a badge clearly marked RN, BSN all the sweeter when I get it. I will also appreciate what it's like to be on the absolute bottom of the food chain, and I will be able to better help my future volunteers to support my team because I have Been There and Worn That.
Volunteering also gives me experience in the hospital setting. It helps to prepare me for the sights, sounds, smells and surprises I am likely to encounter as a nurse. It is a free peek "behind the scenes" to help me learn the lingo, the routines and the basic practices of my future career, giving me a head-start on the learning curve. It will make me a better nurse, which will help me to better serve the community.
TO HELP PATIENTS AND FAMILIES UNDER STRESS:
Perhaps the most important reason I volunteer is this: My words and actions may help a patient (or her family) to feel cared for, not simply treated. When I have had occasion to be in the hospital, either for my own treatment or for a loved one's, it is the little things that make all the difference in the world, the difference between an indifferent, uncaring entity that is cold and sterile, and
a calm, nurturing environment where my emotional needs are met as well as my physical ones.
Being there for a stressed person in the hospital can be a critical thing for that person. I know what it is like to be left alone on a cold stretcher for hours, and I know what it is like to be the recipient of a kind nurse's or volunteer's offer of a warm blanket. I want to be the bearer of the blanket.
TO HELP MYSELF GET INTO THE NURSING PROGRAM:
On the self-serving side of things, volunteering gives me precious, precious points toward admission into the highly-competitive nursing program at my college of choice. Every single point is valuable beyond measure, and could mean the difference between being admitted one term, the next term or not at all. The bulk of my points (more than half) will come from my GPA for all of the nursing pre-requisites, which is intimidating in itself. Just in case I falter in one
class or another, I need to bank points in other areas. Volunteering gives me two points.
TO FIND A JOB IN THE FUTURE:
Selfish reason number two: Volunteering at the hospital may make it more likely for me to find a job there in the future, be it a part-time position while I'm in school, or a nursing position thereafter. I have a foot in the door, a chance to impress my future peers, and I very much want to do so. If the doctors and RNs on my ward notice that I'm a hard worker when I'm not being paid, they might be willing to recommend me for a paid position in this hospital, or to write a letter of recommendation for me to use elsewhere.
I AM A TRAUMA JUNKIE
I love being in the ER. The variety of day-to-day tasks is practically limitless and I am fortunate to be in a hospital that takes teaching very seriously. The nurses include me in traumas when reasonable and possible. They explain what they're doing and why, if they have the time. This is hugely valuable to me, and I'm so grateful that they are willing to do so. I'm soaking up this information ahead of time, which will (I hope) make my clinicals a bit easier.
TO SUM UP:
What it all really boils down to, though, is wanting to Be Of Service. Being a nurse is not about self-glorification. It's not glamorous or glitzy. Nursing is about providing competent, compassionate care for our patients, easing their pains, which is a very honorable form of service to humanity, indeed. Volunteering in the hospital is helping me to prepare for that service. When I wear my blue volunteer smock, my attitude noticeably shifts from merely being an observer to being a participant. I look for ways to help others, I look for ways to improve the hospital setting.
Volunteering is truly excellent preparation for what lies ahead.
Why Volunteer?
The questions and the community
QUESTION EVERYTHING. Questioning is the most important part of being a good scientist. You should even question the questions you are questioning in your questioning mind. You get your results, you question them. You interpret your findings, you question your interpretations. A non-questioning mind is a non-scientific mind. And just because it is such a cool word, I am going to say question one more time: QUESTION!.jpg)
One excellent way to help yourself think outside of your little box and question your thoughts and beliefs is to use your community and peers, just as Erin suggested. She is right, it is time to stop being shy and to use your professors, classmates, friends, family, etc. as your educational tools. This is an excellent means by which to advance your education. And you don't need to stop there...what about the global community?
It is interesting to learn about how other cultures think about and practice science. In a sense, science is a belief system. Different cultures have different ways of "believing" in science and different ways of going about testing scientific questions. For example, some cultures view the disease we call schizophrenia as an invasion of demons into the body. Treatment for schizophrenia consists of ridding the body of these demons. In our culture, some view schizophrenia as a biological imbalance of dopamine release in the striatum, frontal cortex, and other brain areas (amongst other causes). And then there is Freud who believed that schizophrenia resulted from a cold mother who was not concerned with her child's affairs. Who is to say what the real cause is? As scientists, we can grow by questioning our own little belief system and the things we consider to be truths. Maybe to others, they are not truths at all, and this is the interesting and amazing thing about being a member of our global human society. 
So once again, please please please make sure you question what you consider a truth. If we don't question, our views and perspectives become too narrow, our knowledge and understanding too slim.
Your Immediate Community
As a healthcare professional or student, there are vast resources out there for us to employ to better ourselves. One of the most prevalent, and perhaps most under-utilized, is our peers.
We are surrounded daily or weekly by people who are in similar circumstances and environments to our own, people who can empathize and advise, people who know the people and the conditions we know - yet so many of us are hesitant to approach our peers and colleagues to ask them about their experiences, their feelings or for advice. We might be shy, we might be reluctant to "intrude," or we might just naturally be more solitary people. Whatever the reason may be, it's worth at least briefly reconsidering tapping into this vast pool of assets.
Co-workers often share the same sorts of job-related stresses. Whether it's the required meticulousness of record-keeping, the life-and-death pressure of being an EMT or dealing with a charge nurse who has a serious personality issue, your peers are a wonderful, pre-formed support group. While gossip is never productive, sometimes it does help to constructively blow off steam - to try to solve problems together, to formulate strategies or simply to hang out with someone from the same environment who understands what we're going through. We have a frame of reference with these people, a common language.
In our society of decreasing community-oriented activities, I feel that it's very important to develop social bonds when we can. We're tribal creatures, we humans, and while I am more hermit-like than many, I place a high value on forming friendships with people to whom I can relate. I just want to make sure I have plenty of me-time, too. ;-)
To apply this to an academic setting, students in the same class often have similar questions and difficulties understanding the material and can be such a huge help to each other. Don't be shy! Ask questions in class, but also be sure to form relationships with your fellow students. Sometimes, hearing it phrased in a different way, or asking questions of each other will trigger that "AHA!" moment.
When I first went to the University of Michigan as an only child from a small town, I was horrifically shy. Small "discussion group" classes were a nightmare for me - I didn't want to break into small groups! I didn't know anyone, and I was awkward and goofy. Other students all seemed to know each other or to immediately hit it off with smalltalk - I felt utterly excluded.
The truth of the matter, though, is that I was excluding myself. My attitude wasn't friendly - I didn't invite conversation or even really look at other people. Thus, I missed out on a really valuable resource - my fellow classmates.
Also, never underestimate the value of study groups from your class - teaching each other will help you to reinforce the material all around. You know that guy in class, the one who always, always, has a question? The one whose calculator invariably displays the wrong answer, or the one who asks, twice, "so....x can be any number?" We all know this guy - there's at least one in every class. Heck, I've been that guy at least once. You know what? Invite that guy to your study group. Seriously. He'll ask so many questions that you'll reinforce your learning many times over. Additionally, you may be able to teach him in a different way, a way that works better for him. Further, less valuable class time will be taken up with his questions next time. Win-win, all around.
The long and short of it is this - be a part of the community. Support your peers and let them, in turn, support you. As you may have guessed, this is going to be a recurring theme in my posts - working together. It's not just for the betterment of our patients, but for our own well-being.
Teamwork can boost us up
to places we can't reach alone!
Reaching for the Stars...
"Keep Your Feet on the Ground, But Keep Reaching for the Stars..."
We all remember this phrase...no, wait. I'll bet you don't! In the 80's, Casey Kasem closed out his weekly Top 40 radio show with this sage bit of advice.
Jessica and I have both talked this week about realistic goals and possibly biting off more than we can chew. I feel it all boils down to personal responsibility... knowing and respecting our limitations. Many of us are still exploring those boundaries and won't know what we can achieve until we push ourselves just a little bit too far.
It's important to do that experimentation at no one else's expense but our own, though. I've found a way around the intensive summer semester from hell, I think, by taking my pharmacology as an online course during a full-term semester. Thankfully, I won't have to rush through it as I was afraid I might. I wasn't really comfortable with that idea, not because I didn't think I could handle it personally, but because I wasn't sure that I wouldn't miss some small but vital thing that would eventually hurt someone else.
Jessica's points are spot-on - in the healthcare profession especially, we have to be mindful of how our decisions will affect our current or future patients. Failing a quiz won't make you a bad healthcare professional, of course, but taking shortcuts in your education could. Thus, for me, the right decision is to slow down and do the work competently and at a level where I am comfortable. Life is unpredictable enough that I don't want to risk something unforeseen happening at an inopportune moment and completely destroying a short term's learning opportunities.
You gotta know when to play it safe, and until I gain more experience and can better assess the risks v. benefits, I am. Right now, I don't even have a clue as to what I don't know! It's too early to torpedo myself.
Being responsible sometimes sucks and means waiting for the long-term pay-off. This has always been a weak point for me, but it's something I continue to work on.
Next post - Something Not Worrisome! :-)
Stretching Yourself...But Not Too Thin
To Be or Not To Be a Healthcare Professional Right Now?
I believe I touched on this subject during my last semester of blogging: when does pushing yourself to the limit become pushing yourself too much? We are all taught that we can be anything, that we can do anything if we put our minds to it. And on some level I believe this is true. For example, I have no doubt in my mind that Erin could enter nursing school in June of 2008 and would become the amazing nurse we all know she will be.
However, she brought up an important point in her previous blog: would she be a better nurse if she waited and absorbed the class information at a slower pace? In Erin's case, I believe this is not true. But this is something every person going into a healthcare profession needs to ask themselves. If we miss something important in one of our classes, this could put other peoples' lives in danger. And this is what makes this profession both scary and wonderful.
I decided to go into graduate school the minute after I graduated from college. I don't think that this decision would fit for most people. Take the time you need to travel, to learn other subjects in school, to work a cubicle 9 to 5 job. Do what you need to do first, and then dedicate yourself to your healthcare profession like you have never dedicated yourself before. This is how we will get the best doctors, the best nurses, and the best researchers working in the world of healthcare.
I Promised You I Wouldn't Lie
I promised you I wouldn't lie, wouldn't withhold the not-so-confident stuff, wouldn't leave you with the illusion that I am somehow more together than you are.
So I'm not going to.
I received some astonishing news yesterday; I may be able to apply for the nursing program one full year ahead of schedule. I was elated when I heard this - I've been dreading having to wait nearly two years to even apply to my chosen program - but less than a year? That's practically tomorrow!
There is, naturally, a catch. It's not a small one, either, but it shouldn't be insurmountable.
The catch is, I would have to take Physiology and Pharmacology at the same time - during the ten-week-long summer term.
That's about half the usual time I would have to assimilate all of the knowledge and concepts taught in these two heavy-hitting courses. Scary. Way scary!
So many thoughts are racing through my head, but the big one is, "Can I really do this?" I haven't been in school in more than ten years, so I don't know what I'm capable of at this point. I do know that I'm insanely focused and driven to become a nurse, and that I'm easily spending three hours every day studying, and five or six hours on busier days.
The part that's hard for me to admit is this: I might not be as good a nurse if I choose this course of action.
If I cram all of this intensive information into my head, all at once and in a shorter time-span...is it really going to stick? Will I be shorting myself, and therefore, my future patients, if I attempt to do this?
I still don't know the answer to this question. In my heart of hearts, I know that if I feel I'm not learning the material adequately, I'll either drop one course or retake the both of them at a later date.
But what if I feel like I'm doing great...but in reality, I am not?
This literally kept me awake for hours last night, pondering it over in my head. There is no in-between here: It's either I apply in June of 2008 or I apply in June of 2009. One full year. A year during which I could receive the majority of my 14-month RN training, or a year during which I could take one class at a time, trying to be patient to begin my Actual Nursing Program.
In my gut, if indeed it is possible to get everything done in this period of time...I think I'm going to go for it. The worst that can happen, as I see it, is that I'll bomb one of the classes and have to redo it, thereby putting myself back on the original time frame.
I really want this to work.
Wish me luck!
Why Science is Cool
A few months ago, I stumbled upon a truly remarkable video. It's called "The Inner Life of the Cell," and it's one of the most beautiful representations of biological science I've ever seen.
The title may not jump out and grab you; I mean, "Ho hum - how cool can 'the life of a cell' really be?" I can't explain how amazing it is, though - you really have to see it for yourselves.
The music is stunning - I find it playing in my head at all hours of the day.
The video requires Flash Player. It is absolutely worth the download time. I've watched this thing literally dozens of times. No, seriously.
Without further ado, I give you:
The Inner Life of the Cell.
This is something I think Jessica can truly appreciate, as well - being the lab scientist that she is, she assuredly understands the phenomena represented here than I currently do! After my biology and physiology classes, though, I'll have a good understanding and will be able to explain this stuff in detail - I can't wait!
In the mean time, there is a cheat sheet. This site has a step-by-step guide to what we see occurring inside the white blood cell. It is utterly fascinating!
To think that these tiny organelles and proteins are doing this all the time in our bodies, without our being aware of it, without most of us having the faintest idea that such things exist...this is part of what draws me to nursing and to biology in general.
If you're interested in downloading the soundtrack, that is located here. The video and the music together have won awards for excellence.
I hope you enjoy the show!
New Blogger Introduction
Hi -- My name is Erin, and I'm going to be contributing to this blog from a different perspective than the lovely and talented Jessica's. I'm a pre-nursing student intent on applying to the nursing program in June 2009, completing an accelerated Registered Nurse program in 2010, and then going on into Emergency Department Nursing. It seems very, very far away!
I am 37 years old. As reluctant as I am to admit it, that's twice as old as some of you who are reading this right now. Growth, experience and maturity are all very subjective concepts, and I'm not going to bore you to tears by trying to sound wise - I am so not wise! Some of you 18-21-year-olds out there have more drive and ambition than I ever did, and you already know with certainty what you want to do for the rest of your lives.
For me, it hasn't come so readily. Being interested in EVERYTHING, I found it difficult to settle down on just one option, one career, one college major. After numerous major switches, I finally squeaked through graduation from the University of Michigan in 1995 with a BA in Sociology and concentrations in Criminology and Deviance -- I love saying I have a degree in Deviance. I am not an over-achieving Super-student that will waltz through this program with the greatest of ease. I'm as random as anyone I know.
So, despite the fact that I'm here and I'm writing to give you advice, remember that I am not an authority. Question everything! Thinking critically will make you a better student and, ultimately, a better health care provider in your chosen field.
Because of the length of time I've been out of school, I have to start basically from scratch. What I'm hoping to do with this blog is to drag you along with me throughout my experiences. I'll warn you of potential pitfalls, I'll rail against the uselessness of some of my textbooks, and I'll rhapsodize about wonderful teachers and classes. I'll tell you when I utterly screw up and how I did so. I'll talk about how I decided what was right for me. I'll write about some of my volunteer experiences at our local Mega Hospital. I'll offer whatever wisdom I can scrounge up. I'll try not to bore you. I promise not to lie to you or fake it.
I do hope you'll leave a comment here or there, and perhaps share some of your thoughts and experiences. In the health care world, we're ultimately all on the same team with similar goals in mind. If we can support and guide each other, the end result will be better care for our patients. We have the power to make significant impacts in peoples' lives -- how cool is that?
Return of the healthcare providers...a new perspective
Well, here we are again. I am back, starting my second year of graduate school at Oregon Health & Science University. I find myself one year closer to obtaining my PhD in behavioral neuroscience...but it still feels like a million years away. I also now find myself in the company of a new blogger friend, Erin, the soon-to-be nurse. I think this will be a stellar team!
One statement in Erin's first blog stuck with me... "If we can support and guide each other, the end result will be better care for our patients. We have the power to make significant impacts in peoples' lives -- how cool is that?" I could not agree with her more. And this blogging collaboration is the perfect example of how people can come together to create a better healthcare environment for our patients.
Stronger healthcare policies and practices can come from the lab bench, the doctors and nurses, the teachers, etc. Advancing healthcare should be a collaborative effort, and communication between scientists working in the lab and nurses working in the hospital rooms will result in better healthcare for everyone. I feel that sharing ideas and gaining insight into Erin's experience in the ER will help me be a more focused scientist as well as remind me of what I am working so hard for. With this open dialog, I think we really can make a significant impact and that is very cool!
