Story #2 Rough Draft

Molly O’Neill

October 15, 2015

Being a Nursing Student

            A lot of college students go through periods where they are stressed and overwhelmed, but for nursing students it seems like that is apart of their everyday lives.

Students that are majoring in nursing can expect their lives to be very busy. Some characteristics of a nursing student are long hours, busy schedules, and a lot of late night studying. When asking Sara Desy, a third year nursing student, what that hardest thing about being a nursing major is, she responded, “Everything about it is hard.”

A typical week for Desy consists of going to classes from eight in the morning and finishing around noon everyday, with clinical hours twice a week. On Monday’s she is at the hospital from two until ten-thirty, and Thursdays from six in the morning until two-thirty.

Desy admitted that everything about being a nursing student is hard. She said, “I have no time for a social life, if I am not at class then I am doing my clinical hours, if I am not doing clinical hours then I am at class or spending my free time studying and working on homework assignments.”

After talking to a nursing student, some input from a nursing professor was needed.

Mary Kovarna has been a nursing educator at Morningside College for twenty years now. She has been a nurse since 1980 and first started out at St. Lukes.

For nursing majors, they need to maintain a 2.75 GPA and get about a 78% for it to be considered a passing grade. Some may think that that is a little harsh, and is one of the main complaints from nursing students.

I asked Kovarna why the grading scale was made like that, and what her thoughts were when it came to hearing that people think it is harsh. Her response was, “For students that hover below that 78 percentile range are not learning what they need to know. People do not want a nurse that only knows three fourths of what they should know.” Overall she does not think it is harsh, it is what is expected from the students and it is what will make them a better nurse in the future.

Being in the nursing department is not only stressful on the students. It is also stressful on the professors as well. Kovarna admitted that the job gets stressful for herself at times as well. Some of the things that cause the professors stress are the demands on being a better school than others, and being judged on the board passing rates. The professors need to make sure their passing rates on their boards stay where they are supposed to be otherwise it can affect their job and the school.

After hearing from a student and a professor, I wanted to see if all the long hours and struggles are worth it.

Megan Meyer is a nurse at St. Lukes Wagner ENT. She has only been a nurse for two years, but has loved being one so far.

When I asked Meyer’s what were some of the struggles she faced during school, her answers were similar to Desy’s. She said she never had a social life, and when it came to doing her clinical hours she felt like it was work without being paid.

Even though Meyer’s went through most of the common struggles nursing majors faced, she made through it. Meyer’s stated, “In the end it is all worth it. All of the clinical hours made me a well rounded nurse, and made me the nurse that I am today.”

Meyer’s also said that she gained a lot of good life long friends that she meant because of the nursing program. It is easy to meet new friends because you are always with the same group of people, and you are with people that are going through all of the hard times as you are.

Even though being a nursing student can be stressful at times and very time consuming, it is possible to get through it. In the end all the long hours and hard obstacles nursing students go through will only help them at becoming a better nurse.



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