You know, in school I always assumed that everyone finished high school, got into their desired degree, completed the degree in 3-4 years, and got a full-time job in that field and stayed there for years.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA
I could not have been more wrong.
Now, 7 years out of high school, I’m going to begin my degree. Nothing so far has followed that pretty plan. In 2021 I’m right back where I started in 2016: beginning a Bachelor of Nursing at Monash. This journal will document my second shot at becoming a half-decent nurse.
Highly skippable rant about offers
Offers threw me a curveball – Deakin passed me over, but I luckily landed my last preference at Monash, though I expected them to be pickier than Deakin. Look, I’m not disappointed – travel time was the main bar.
But still. Frankly, I’m pissed at Deakin for passing me over for a degree with clearly-in ATAR entry of 72. It sucks that I’m in a much worse position for uni entry than I was, without my ATAR to magically prove that I’m a Good Candidate and a Smart Person. And yet I feel like I’m a much better candidate now than I was last time. I tried to tell them all this most eloquently in my personal statement, but obviously without success.
In school, it’s easy to rank everyone based on numbers, but in real life, there’s no way to “prove” where you stand – and perhaps those black and white numbers and rankings and comparisons weren’t that important, after all.
Well, it really doesn’t matter. A good dent to one's overactive ego is never a bad thing.
So far, my years out of high school have looked like this:
2015: VCE tutor, gained Cert III/IV in aged care, and began working in aged care
2016: Started a Bachelor of Nursing at Monash while working too many hours, fell apart and had several psych hospitalisations, quit both job and uni and did nothing for nearly a year
2017-18: Started volunteering at the Salvos to start picking myself up
2018-21: FT work at the Salvos, including store management
2021: As you will see documented in this thread.
This time vs. last timeFirst time round, I want to uni as a default. It was just what happened. Yes, I cared about what I was doing, but it was still a bit of a default, and I didn't anticipate returning once I dropped out.
This time, I know it’s the right thing. I’ve tried out (and thoroughly enjoyed) full time work elsewhere; now I know this is the decision I definitely want to make for the long term. I’m truly passionate about becoming the best nurse I can be, and I’m going to give it what I’ve got. I’m going in with intention, decision, dedication, and a desire to soak it all in. Of course I’ll hate some of it, consider giving up at intervals, procrastinate a bunch, get ridiculously cynical at times, and miss a lot of opportunities. But I go in with
intention. And a strong enough wish for the destination that I might as well get the most I can out of the journey. And I hope that’s enough.
Last time, I did very little research and knew so little. This time, I’ve scoured the internet for all the information I can find, I’ve joined the union, I’ve listened to lots of nursing podcasts, and I’ve read the entire enterprise bargaining agreement multiple times. I didn’t know what an EBA was last time. I know I’m being overeager, but I’m so glad I’ve done it. I’m also a little more confident in myself, in how I interact, in how I dress, in how I lead, in who I am. I have a way to go with this, but it’s a long way from last time.
Why I want to be a nurseMy extensive rambles on this are probably a story for another day, but I have reasons both pragmatic and idealistic (where idealistic = stereotypical
).
Pragmatic:- I’ll be paid reasonably well… at least compared to working retail like I am now
- Decent job security (biggest healthcare profession)
- I can pivot between so many different vastly different types of nursing (and fairly easily into other areas of healthcare)
The reason I don’t want to tell anyone
Its lower bar to entry means I won’t feel quite as inadequate as I would in med or physio. On the flip side, the lack of prestige secretly bothers me more than it should. Medicine is a badge of honour – it automatically proves that you’re smart and competent without having to say anything further. Nursing… well, can you see many aspiring nurses on this prestige-obsessed forum?
- As a nurse, you work directly with patients. You help, care, support, make things better, on a very direct level, interacting with them as people more than doctors, who spend less time helping patients directly as a person. Nurses really are the backbone of the healthcare system. Yadayadayada. Look, I just really do want to make my little piece of the world a marginally better place and I can’t see myself anywhere other than healthcare in the long term. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Where do I see myself ending up?I’ll have to wait and see what specialties of nursing call out to me as I go, but I’m going to try and fight against the belief that “higher acuity = better nurse”.
Two key areas I could see myself working in, and most importantly fighting for improvements in:
1.
Care navigation/case management: directing and supporting people throughout their entire healthcare journey in the longer term, rather than just trying to bounce the acutely ill back out of hospital
2.
Aged care reforms: challenging ageism in healthcare (the most ignored ism!), questioning the value of extending life without extending the quality of that life, and overall focusing on improving what life is like for the elderly
Well, there ya go. I'm getting tired of starting sentences with "I". I hope this will be of interest to someone - but if not, it will probably be a topic of interest (and much derision) to my future self.
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Topic: Let’s try again: Heidi’s nursing journey journal (Read 768 times)