As a part of our unit’s community service project, we decided to do two projects. One of them was Project GLAM — Granting Lasting Amazing Memories. Somehow I was assigned to make the flyer and ended up becoming the head cheerleader for this project. WGIRLS Inc started Project GLAM back in 2010 where you can donate your gently used prom dresses (or cocktail dresses or bridesmaid dresses) for underprivileged girls who need prom dresses!
The idea started back in January by my nurse manager where she handed me some printouts from the website. Even Oprah endorsed it, how can you go wrong?
I made the flyer and started talking about it with coworkers a week before our donation drive. I set the drive to a short amount of time (2 weeks) so that people who were interested would bring in their dresses right away. I thought the flyer should be colorful and have spring colors, as well as the logo of the project. The timing of the drive is also important — it just turned spring, just in time for spring cleaning and Earth Day (reduce, reuse, recycle!), and it is before prom session starts. The Project GLAM was also discussed in the local news, which helped bring interest.
It was exciting talking to people about it, and hearing others talk about it with others. There’s a large age range of those working on the unit so many had different ideas of which dresses they should donate — some brought their own cocktail dress or bridesmaid dress, and others brought their own daughter’s prom dress!
We collected about 10 dresses and many accessories. Next, I got in touch with Amy, the president of WGIRLS, who then put me in touch with Kristi, the VP of WGIRLS in Long Island. We decided on a location and I dropped off the dresses.
Overall, it was a successful drive and I hope that other organizations will do the same! It helps to have a group of people donating to bring a sense of community together. However, if you’re interested in donating your own dresses, drop off your dress and accessories at these locations.
Have fun with your own dress drive and make a difference. 🙂
Hi!
I recently received an email regarding low GPAs (as defined by anything less than 3.0) and what can be done about it, especially if you’re interested in heading back for an accelerated BSN degree or graduate school. After a little research and discussion I found out a few things that I thought may be helpful to share.
If you already have a BSN degree and you have a low GPA, then there are a couple of options you can take. These may or may not count towards the undergraduate GPA, but it will demonstrate to the admissions board your dedication, motivation, determination and persistence.
Many hospitals offer compensation for nursing credits so be sure to take them up on the offer. Get to know the details of the offer. At my hospital, only those working night shift can get it and then must work 1 year after they have taken the class. They must get a certain grade. Other hospitals may have requirements of you working for the hospital for an ‘x’ number of years.
I hoped that helped! Let me know if there’s anything different that you’ve done.
Jessica
I’m really excited to say that I got into the University of Michigan-Flint / Hurley Medical Center Nurse Anesthesia Program. I am proud of my accomplishments and thankful for everyone who has encouraged me and helped me along the way.
I’m inspired to write about my journey — past, present, and future — by other blogs about Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) schools (such as http://studentcrna.blogspot.com/ and http://lifectent.blogspot.com/) and the Umich Med School blog written by multiple students. My hope is to give insight into this career path and encourage those who may be interested too.
Like many others, I have varied interests, but healthcare was always in the forefront of my mind. I grew up knowing that I wanted to heal the sick and that I wanted my presence to truly make a difference in people’s life everyday.
I first went for a biology degree for pre-med. But unfortunately, as I started to explore medicine as a career, I was put off by it. Sure, a lot of friends continued on and I’m proud of them. Some decided that it wasn’t for them either. I started to explore other healthcare fields. I found my place in nursing. I was most excited when I found out about the accelerated nursing programs because it truly changed my life. Before I finished my biology degree, I took several prerequisites for nursing schools that I was interested in (because unfortunately they all differ).
After I graduated from nursing school, I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school. I took a couple of graduate courses through NYU’s dual degree program while I was working on telemetry. I was interested in nearly all the graduate nursing fields — nurse practitioner (acute, primary, pediatric, family), nursing informatics, nursing administration, and nurse anesthesia. But it wasn’t until I entered the intensive care unit before I started to really take my preparation seriously. At this point, I debated becoming a primary NP or going into nursing informatics or nurse anesthesia.
I already saw what a difference nurse practitioners do but I didn’t know if I really had it in me to do anesthesia. Life in my hands– day in and out. But I met a few UM alumni who told me that I would do a great job. I shadowed them over the summer, and saw their autonomy and teamwork abilities. I had almost all of the credentials to apply and their encouragement made me believe in myself.
I started my process of looking into schools to apply.
I started attending information sessions in July. I went to UM-Flint information session in October. My advice is to bring transcripts. This kills two birds with one stone — (1) an opportunity to speak to the head of admissions and (2) to find out if your prerequisites meet the school’s standard. Learn how the school chooses students. Some may emphasize that three years of critical care experience is essential and any ‘outside of work’ experience is crucial. Others say that ‘you may pass all of the didactic courses but if you fail the clinical aspect, then you’re not cut out for CRNA.’ While that’s true, when I hear that comment, I feel that the school is more hostile rather than helpful. Just as you’re interested in becoming a CRNA, it is important to learn more about the school’s culture.
At the University of Michigan-Flint, admissions is based on a points system (as are many schools). For the application, objective data such as the science GPA, overall GPA, and GRE score is scored. Thankfully, I was able to submit majority of the application before tackling the admissions essay. In the essay, it is crucial to answer every question in detail. And while the CCRN is not required, it is highly recommended to take it. It shows that you take your education seriously and it helps you prepare for the interview.
At UM-Flint, there are 2 due dates: Early (10/1) and Regular (2/1). I submitted my full application a week before the due date. There was a website to check if all of your required paperwork is submitted and which ones were not completed (I loved this!). The admissions team was easy to work with and answered all my questions. Sometime during the first week of February, I was offered an interview for either February 19 or 20. I picked Friday the 20th. I made some work schedule changes and booked a flight back home. The 3 part interview (exam, panel interview, and OR with CRNA) is also based on a point system– 10 points for each section. The purpose of this is to make admissions as fair as possible (rather than getting in because you know someone on the admissions board).
When I walked in, I saw that I was the last person to be interviewed. After the 3 hour interview window, I was driving back home and got the call. I was shocked that they had reached their decisions so quickly, especially since I was expecting to hear back a week or two after the interview. It may be because they’ve already interviewed everyone and scored them on a points system already and they simply picked people starting from the highest marks going down the list. But regardless, I was definitely excited.
Of course, getting in sparked another list of questions to solve. That’s what I’ve been working on since then.
I also looked up all the clinical sites and put them on Google Maps.
It’s about a nice 1 hour radius circumference from Flint, Michigan. As of right now, I’m planning to stay at home in Ann Arbor but for clinical that is more than 1 hour away, I’ll stay closer.
As for my boyfriend, he will stay in NYC. He’s doing well with his career here. And we’ve had a long distance relationship before back when we were swapped — when he was at the University of Michigan studying economics and I was in NYC. How ironic.
As for cars, lately I’ve leased Honda Civics because they are less expensive and reliable. But it is true — I really should support American Car Companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler). I plan on going to the New York Auto Show in April and hopefully I’ll get a better idea of what car I should buy.
As for saving money for tuition, I’ve been working an extra shift about every other week. Thankfully I’ve saved a bit already in my retirement funds, which can be used for higher education (I need to look into this more).
As for the order in which I told people, I first told my closest friends not from work. Then after the official letter came in, I told my nurse manager (who is really supportive!!). After that, I put it on Facebook. Prior to applying, I didn’t make it well-known that I was interested in nurse anesthesia partly because I wasn’t sure of the reactions I would receive and I’d rather just leave that part off the table. However, since getting in, I’ve received positive feedback. I think that for the most part nurses are kind and encouraging but I guess you never know.
That’s it for now.
On Thursday, March 19, was National Certified Nurses Day. At work, it was nice to get that acknowledgement (again!). The AACN ambassadors put together little bags for all those who are certified as a CCRN. In the bag, there were a couple of AACN and CCRN pens, pins, and chocolate.
My hope is that once you’ve been in practice long enough to get certified, go for it. It just gives you that additional “oomph” and confidence.
Hi nurse bloggers or future nurse bloggers,
You’re probably coming across this page because you’re interested in blogging, or writing your experiences, as a nurse.
Blogging is a great way to:
Personally, I feel compelled to write about my experience because I get really drawn into other people’s blogs when they describe their story and figured others feel the same way. However, many times people remain anonymous about themselves, the school they’ve gone to, and their workplace. They often do things for a few reasons:
Of course, I don’t want repercussions for displaying the wrong information. Before I started writing, I did some searches on social media guidelines, but a lot of them are not specific. To shorten the mumble jumble, I’ve consolidated the pages of guidelines to 3 things.
So what are topics that you can discuss?
If you would like more details, I recommend reading the Online Journal of Nursing and the National Council of State Board of Nursing for Social Media Guidelines.
I like wearing scrubs but not when it’s freezing outside! I have to wear sweatpants from my apartment to the garage just to make sure my legs don’t turn fire ice and break off. So icy cold.
Hi!
So I’ve been thinking about having my own domain for awhile now and I finally took the plunge (mostly because I make enough now compared to being a poor student). Since I have some time now, I decided to go for it. It seems that a lot of people know my blog as lifewithjess.wordpress.com and type into Google “Life of Jess” or “Jess nurse” or “NYU jess nurse” or something similar to that. To make it easier to remember, I changed the name to NurseJess.com.
I don’t usually post my blog posts on my Facebook but I accidentally did. One of my coworkers saw it and told me that he liked it! Anyways, I always appreciate good comments.
I hope to continue to write posts about nursing that will interest you. Thanks for reading and coming back again and again.
Jess
Update: ever since I switched over, I noticed that some links don’t work so I can currently working on that so you don’t keep getting broken links. Each day I’m off I’ll comb through the posts to connect them to the correct post. Thanks for your support!
Fortunately so far I was usually home when a storm hits. But not this time. On Sunday, the news started to spread that there was going to be 20-30 inches of snow across NYC and Long Island from Monday until Tuesday midnight. And I was scheduled for both Monday and Tuesday.
So I got myself ready… Just in case I was going to stay over. Another pair of scrubs, toothbrush, toothpaste, other toiletries, and pajamas.
I went to work Monday. Watching the news, I saw the weather get worse. I probably would make it home but my small car probably wouldn’t be able to make it back to work. My nurse manager asked if I was going to stay. I said yes– I just need a sleeping area. She said she would arrange one, don’t worry.
After work, I went to the cafeteria. They were nice enough to give out sandwiches, cookies and water for those staying over. Many of my coworkers came in early the night before. Dedication!
I went back to my car to drop off my lunch supplies and pick up my bags. I was considering sleeping in the car but by the time I got to my car, I thought it was way too cold. I headed back inside.
When I was working the night shift, we put sleeping mats in the shower because we didn’t have anywhere else to store them. I thought that the shower was pretty useless and nobody was ever going to use it. Funny how I ended up using it that night. I just wish I brought my sandals!
I slept on a mat in the conference room. It wasn’t too bad, except that the ground was hard so I had to reposition myself every few minutes haha. I put my phone on airplane mode to conserve battery.
It was actually kinda nice not to have to travel to and from work. Extra sleep time. It was nice to wake up and find out that four other nurses also stayed overnight. One patient care assistant (PCA) worked the 3-11, slept, then 7am-3pm. Another PCA did 11pm and ended at noon. Another one did 3pm-7am. Thank goodness for them!!
They offered a $2.50 credit for breakfast. So that was nice.
But we started with 7 nurses when we usually work with 10 so it was a rough start to the morning. Most of us started with a triple! As the morning came, two more nurses came in so it felt a lot better.
Anyways I am glad that there was a mandate for no cars on the roads overnight so the trucks could plow most of the snow away. And I am glad that I didn’t have to drive through bad weather by staying inside.
We don’t have mandatory overnight stays so we don’t get paid to sleepover. I believe that at some other hospitals that in a state of emergency that they do this to keep enough staff on duty. Do you think that nurses should get paid to sleep overnight or during the day or that it’s a waste of money to do so? Or does short staffing cause unsafe patient situations? What is more important?