Article

Give Your Nursing Student Career a Boost
Jeffrey J. Hamilton, RN, BSN
Staff Nurse, Tulane Medical Center

Examinations, classes, clinicals, study time, and then comes free time? What is free time? Everything in moderation is a catch phrase that comes to mind, but moderation is not a word that nursing students would use to describe their time spent in nursing school. I propose taking a different view of nursing school. Think of nursing education as a career with many aspects. One of the best ways to give your student career a boost is to get involved in your school, state, and national nursing and student nursing organizations. By getting involved, you will boost your nursing student and professional career by leaps and bounds.

Your first leap of faith is to take my word that getting involved will make your career easier. Yes, I said easier. By networking and making new friends and great contacts, you are exposed to many views about nursing with new and different ways to approach difficult task. No individual nursing student is alike, and no single way of learning information is the best. Take heed of helpful hints and advice, with which you can approach a difficult project or concept from a fresh prospective, thus obtaining a better understanding of any elusive subject matter.

I also would suggest that your newfound camaraderie will enable you to view the profession of nursing as a lifelong endeavor, rather than just a job. The media is inundating you with how diverse the nursing profession is and the many opportunities open to those who gain the title of RN. You are at the jumping off point, jumping into a profession that can carry and challenge you throughout your life. Involvement in nursing organizations will offer you the depth of personal vision to put it all in perspective. Other people in the same situations have felt the same way and have gone on to carve out their own niche in nursing. Involvement now will help you to envision the rewards at the end of your student career rainbow.

Another tremendous benefit of becoming involved in your student and professional nursing organizations is the chance to attend meetings on a local, state, and national levels. Talk about personally satisfying, fun new experiences invigorating your student career! The drudgery of day-to-day classes and demanding clinicals will make you ask yourself, “Is this the correct path for me?” Participation and representation at meetings and conventions will revitalize your resolve and give you that sometimes-necessary push up onto the graduation stage.

I was overly involved during my nursing career in nursing organizations—you could probably say I was an involvement junky. I was continually looking for that boost of satisfaction I gained from being involved. Even though I was called “Mr. Student Nurse” during my student career, I’m not suggesting that you become a junkie of the same caliber, only that you try involvement. Start off with a little, and you’ll want more; I promise that you will never regret the friends that you make, and you’ll begin to treasure the boost of involvement that a nursing organization can give you and your career.