Jackie & Sydney Podcast

Sydney and Jackie discuss their decision to become nursing students at the University of Delaware. Sydney was inspired by her family's health issues and the impact nurses made on them. Jackie was influenced by her cousin's experience as a nurse during COVID. They both agree that nursing is a rewarding career path. Their first year in the nursing program was manageable, with classes in anatomy, chemistry, stats, English, history, and nursing. They enjoyed the hands-on experience in anatomy. In the upcoming years, they will have more clinical rotations in hospitals and the opportunity to become a birthing companion. Sydney is considering specializing in hematology and oncology due to her own health issues. They hope to make a difference in the lives of patients. Hi, my name is Sydney. My name is Jackie and we're going to be talking about what it's like to be a nursing student at the University of Delaware. So I decided to choose nursing because I really think it's a great way to be hands-on and I had a lot of family members who have had health issues and have been in the hospital throughout their lives and every time I've gone to the hospital or to a doctor's appointment, I just feel like the nurses are really who make the impact on you and are very hands-on and I think this is a great way just to be involved because I've always wanted to help others and I want to make an impact that matters. Did you have any relatives or family members that were nurses that persuaded you? So yeah, my older cousin who I'm very close with actually started to be a nurse during COVID and she was in the ICU so she saw a lot of death and hardship and it stood out to me just like not only that obviously you're going to see a lot of death but the impact that she was having when she had to talk to all the families and help them cope with all of this, I really think that's important and being able to show support to other people is also a great way. How about you? I have two cousins who are nurses and they're really the reason why I chose to be a nurse. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do going into college. I was thinking something like fashion design or something like that and I wasn't really sure but after talking to them and hearing their experiences and their hours and just the lifestyle that comes with being a nurse, I decided that that was the right path for me. So that was a little bit about why we chose this career path and now we're going to go into what our first year in the nursing program at the University of Delaware is like. So honestly I was a little nervous coming here just because I've heard a lot of things about nursing in general and how rigorous the course load is but after pretty much getting through our entire freshman year, honestly looking back I don't think it was as bad as I expected. I think as long as you stay on top of your work and are good at time management, you'll be okay and I honestly think anyone can do it as long as they work hard enough. How do you think it was? Yeah, I agree. I was also really nervous because I feel like everybody says that nursing is so hard and I think it's going to get harder in the coming years but I don't think that this year was bad at all. I think as nurses here we live in the living learning community so you're surrounded by other nurses who are doing the same work and stuff like that as you so I feel like that also helps a lot because you're kind of all in it together and you can study together and help each other out but I don't think the classes were that bad. We took anatomy 1 and 2, we're taking chemistry right now, we also had to take stats, an English class and a history class as well as two nursing classes. Honestly, my favorite was probably anatomy because I feel like that's the most nursing related course and I feel like we learned a lot especially because we had a lab along with the lecture and in the lab you mostly memorized all the different muscles and bones and stuff in the body and then in lecture you learned how that works so I think that was a really rewarding class. Overall, I think we had a pretty good course load and it was definitely manageable. So in the upcoming years it gets a lot more exciting just because you get so much more like hands on experience. Next year we start our clinicals in the spring which will be a lot of fun and it's kind of a step down because it's in a nursing home and it's only like a four hour rotation so then our junior year we get more hands on because we're in the hospital and that's a lot longer of a shift and you get to do different rotations throughout like psych, ER, pediatrics and that's really where you get to narrow down what different fields you like and what you don't like and then your senior year you do your preceptorship which is you following around a nurse and I think that's the most hands on experience you'll get in this program because it really sets you up to become a nurse the following fall. Next year we also have a cool opportunity where we can become a birthing companion. So how that works is we take a class so you're paired up with a pregnant woman and you meet with her before her birth and help her prepare and stuff like that and then you're on call for when she goes into labor. So then you're there for the birth and then after you finish the class you become certified as it's called a doula so you're basically a birthing companion and after we're certified we'll be able to work in the hospital. I think this is going to be a really good opportunity for me because I see myself going into labor and delivery. Sydney do you know what specialty you see yourself going into? Honestly when I first thought about being a nurse I really thought that I would go into labor and delivery or something with little babies because I just love little babies but over the past year I've had some health issues and I started seeing a hematologist and oncologist which is a blood and cancer doctor and at first it was obviously very scary because there's a lot of unknowns and like when anyone hears the word oncology they get pretty frightened because it is a very serious topic but I've honestly learned a lot and the doctor's office that I specifically am in quite often I actually go once a month and get blood work every two weeks about and so it really just gave me a new perspective on nursing itself and also just life and I really found a passion for these kids that are going through such hard times and seeing them when I'm a patient there and watching them go through chemo and all the various different tests really made me realize that that definitely is a field that I have so much passion for this field and I hope to make a difference one day and impact the lives of the children and the parents. Thank you so much for listening we hope that you enjoyed and learned a little bit about why we chose to become nurses and what it's like in the nursing program.