Hello everyone! My nursing school orientation was in August 17th and I decided I would share my day with you all!

6:00 a.m.

Wake up. For some reason after returning from Trinidad I cannot stop waking up before eight. Anyways, I get up scroll through my email in bed (unhealthy habit I know) and then I’ll roll on out.

6:50 a.m.

Leave the house. In reality my campus is only about twenty minutes to half an hour away from home, but traffic is so bad in that highway because if construction I take the hour-long back way.

8:00 a.m.

I arrived on campus. Orientation sign-in, did not begin until 8:45. I decided to take advantage of the time and stop by parking services to get my new parking sticker for the semester.

8:45 a.m.

I walked in, checked in at the sign-in table and slapped the name tag they had on. My nursing school’s SNA board was in charge of this, so they handed us a form to fill out and in return we handed in our packet of paperwork for clinical clearance.

9:15 a.m.

Orientation kicks off with a word from our Dean of Nursing. She welcomed us to the program and congratulated us for making it this far. She also went over the program policies, dress code, etc.

 

10:00 a.m.

The interim president of our campus’ Sigma Theta Tau, spoke with us briefly about the honor society. Our program only invites the top 35% based on their GPA. There are about 64 students in my class/cohort, so you can do the math (if that is your thing).

10:10 a.m.

Break! We had a lovely forty-minute break to shop for any needed items. Luckily the bookstore is in the same building, so I was able to rent my Pharmacology book. Ironically, after this break our professors told us to rent everything throughout the program except or Fundamentals and Med-Surg books. My program has a lot of success with ATI, so that is a large part of our curriculum. Moral of the story: every program is different, so if you are unsure you can always keep saving money, and wait until orientation.

10:40 a.m.

Our Pharmacology and Foundations (Fundamentals) instructors, reviewed our courses for the semester and gave us a little insight of the courses.

11:10 a.m.

Our schools Student Nurses Association Board, Apple with us, and had a little giveaway. They also were able to answer questions we may not want to ask instructors about the program, student life, etc. This was nice because there were no instructors in the room at the time. My school’s chapter of SNA are so nice as we do not need to pay a membership fee and the board hopes SNA can be a stress reliever for us.

11:40 a.m.

The Chief Officer of Nursing for the health system we will be doing our clinical with spoke with us. She also let everyone know about it job openings, etc.

11:50 a.m.

We received an introduction to the sweet lady who came out of retirement to make sure we have access to the simulation lab at times outside of class. This will provide us with extra time to master skills, which is very exciting.

12:00 p.m.

Lunch! Thanks to the health system we will complete clinical hours with, we had Chick-fil-A! Not the healthiest thing, but hey! I took the hour-long break to walk outside a little and get moving.

1:00 p.m.

ATI Training. Oh ATI! It is already taking over my life. We had an ATI executive come speak with us about ATI and also provided us with a walk-through of the program. I do believe ATI will be a good resource as time goes on. Honestly, it better be it was almost $300.00.

 

 

2:00 p.m.

Orientation is done! By the end of orientation, my head was not spinning and I didn’t feel extremely overwhelmed, just somber. Since I was on campus that day I took my laptop to IT Services to replace my motherboard, then I headed back home and of course, went to the gym!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well guys that was my orientation day! Overall, the day went smoothly, I was somehow able to remain calm the entire day and just made sure that I listened. I listened for any clues and study tips from instructors and just soaked the moment in. I am so humbled to be a part of my cohort and among so many bright students and instructors. After all this will probably be the easiest part of nursing school! I am looking forward to seeing how I will change in the next year.

 

If you are in nursing school feel free to share your orientation experience, or even advice in the comments!