REFLECTING ON: Being obsessed with grades...writing to teacher that has urged us to stop nit-picking tests and start thinking about matters of substance.
"Dear P--,
I told myself that I wouldn’t buy into the grades and the nonsense and the madness….but I did. Damn it. I’m all in and all about learning what I need to know in order to do this job. If I do this, I will learn what is important, which may or may not be included on the class test. But, if I am to pass the CLASS test, the real definition of class, I will realize that my sincere effort and desire to be competent can’t be graded so the grades shouldn't matter as much.
I'm trying to get this new learning curve-ball that's being thrown at me. Let me explain.
I'm trying to get the actual lesson here. I've had a fair number of "teachers" in my life, at least in name, but very few mentors. I think that's what you are trying to say here: chill out and get the real knowledge of what it means to be a good nurse. Not a wanna-be doctor, not a heal thyself case, and not an academic: a nurse. Working on it.
I gotta realize that this process is a harsh reprogramming of my mind. Having forced myself to stay academically competitive all my life (I mean, I got in to UCSF, right?) has put me at a mental disadvantage sometimes when looking for the "real" lesson. Clearly, many of us, especially me, need to be challenged to get past the nit-picky details of what we have memorized to get 4.0s, 90%ile GREs and find true, substantive, practical knowledge (wisdom?).
We'll get it--just in different ways.
I personally need to have some yell, "Hey buddy, what are you doing?" every once in a while to be reminded of what I'm actually trying to do here (something I'm still not sure I even know). Keep in my ear and maybe I'll just get it. I personally look forward to you yelling "Let's get it started" every morning.
Take care,
~Nat
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I have gone through my first year of MEPN (Master's Entrance Program of Nursing) at UCSF. I have graduated and become an RN. This is my journey.
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About "One Year Nurse"
Hi there. My name is Nat. I have finished my first-year as nursing student at UCSF in their Master's Entrance Program of Nursing (MEPN). I'm now an RN. It's an accelerated program and pretty much nuts. And amazing. It's nuts and amazing. When it's all said and done, I will be a Critical Care/Trauma Clinical Nurse Specialist. Mostly I just want to figure out how to be a damn good nurse. I think I'm getting there...
This blog is an autobiographical chronicle of my experiences prior to and during my time at UCSF. I now work at a hospital in San Francisco with cardiothoracic patients on a telemetry unity. Unless otherwise noted, all entries prior to December 2007 were written as journal entries without the thought of publishing and/or blogging.
In a former life, I was a teacher, social worker, live-in group home counselor at various places in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as Newark, NJ. I currently reside in Emeryville, CA with my girlfriend, Alex, her daughter, and my cat, Little Boy. If you want a more specific picture of what I did and how it lead me to nursing, I've actually included the personal statement that got me into UCSF, dated 09/01/06.
I will write a longer entry at least monthly, with smatterings of more "bloggish" entries interspersed. Entries range from deeply personal to pedantically clinical. All my personal information is true. Clinical/procedure information is intended as my interpretation of the facts but should not be considered to be definitive. Information about clinical interactions with staff and patients, although kinda-sorta true, have had significant changes made to their names and identifying characteristics in order to protect confidential information. Most patients and staff are composites of people that I've met. Locations of hospitals and clinics will not be given. Although entries have been fictionalized to an extent, all of these events "happened" to me, if you catch my drift...consider it a memoir of sorts.
This blog is an autobiographical chronicle of my experiences prior to and during my time at UCSF. I now work at a hospital in San Francisco with cardiothoracic patients on a telemetry unity. Unless otherwise noted, all entries prior to December 2007 were written as journal entries without the thought of publishing and/or blogging.
In a former life, I was a teacher, social worker, live-in group home counselor at various places in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as Newark, NJ. I currently reside in Emeryville, CA with my girlfriend, Alex, her daughter, and my cat, Little Boy. If you want a more specific picture of what I did and how it lead me to nursing, I've actually included the personal statement that got me into UCSF, dated 09/01/06.
I will write a longer entry at least monthly, with smatterings of more "bloggish" entries interspersed. Entries range from deeply personal to pedantically clinical. All my personal information is true. Clinical/procedure information is intended as my interpretation of the facts but should not be considered to be definitive. Information about clinical interactions with staff and patients, although kinda-sorta true, have had significant changes made to their names and identifying characteristics in order to protect confidential information. Most patients and staff are composites of people that I've met. Locations of hospitals and clinics will not be given. Although entries have been fictionalized to an extent, all of these events "happened" to me, if you catch my drift...consider it a memoir of sorts.
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