Preceptorship???

Before we started our last summer rotation in pediatrics, our managing director handed out preceptorship applications. This was one of those things in July that stressed me out, because in a certain sense, I had no direction on what course to take with regard to specialty. I talked to my Labor and Delivery OB clinical instructor (she's been a nurse for over 30 years) and asked her advice. I thought she'd push me to request a rotation in maternity or public health since she wears her hats so proudly, but instead she asked me what I thought about my nursing school experience.

Contemplating the journey, I was at a loss for what to think because I came into nursing with so many preconceived notions about what I wanted. Initially, I thought, I'd be one of those ICU experts who would enjoy the 2:1 patient ratios, and 1:1 with higher acuity...I also harkened back to my experiences with my father as a patient, my daughter as a pediatric patient and those I loved who succumbed to cancer. Did I want onocology? Did I want pediatrics?

Pediatrics was about to begin and I had not idea what to expect. I asked to be put with the sickest kids to see how well I'd function, but this wasn't a part of the consideration for precepting, because the applications were due before the rotation began, so I stewed for about a week.

My clinical instructor asked me the following week and I explained my dilemma. She then said without missing a heartbeat. "You need a solid foundation, one that will get you employed at the end of this" Go back to basics...go to med-surg. Hmm...really? Yes, give a bunch of meds, do a lot of IVs, procedures, reports and care and refine your style of nursing...do that for yourself.

She told me about a nursing student at another school's campus who had idealized everything about her nursing school experience and was thrust into the Veterans Hospital for her preceptorship. She reluctantly went and found out that everything she ever needed to know she learned at the local VA hospital. That sounded very appealing to me. I contacted this nurse and she said she tried two different settings in my area, one a private, not for profit hospital and the VA. She preferred the VA.

This got me thinking about Comrade X (who is also a VA nurse) and it occurred to me that all the things I love about nursing; the advocacy, protections, education that nurses offer to vulnerable clients could be well served at the level of serving our nation's veterans. It was an epiphany.

I think the nursing director at my school was surprised by my request, but when I turned in my application, I was convinced that I needed to serve in this capacity to launch my nursing career. Giving back doesn't always necessarily mean making tons of money. Sometimes, it just means doing something that we feel called to do.