Catching Up for Lost Time

It's been two years since I posted on here, but I am dedicated to catching up with you and filling you in on what I've been up to!

If you are new here, I run the tiktok account @SimplyMadeRN showcasing my life as a registered nurse, grad student, and girl in her early 20s. My mission is to create realistic content as someone who works full time, but still wants to romanticize her life.

Since 2022 when we spoke last, I have progressed greatly in my role as an RN in Pediatric ICU, I started graduate school, took part in new hobbies, and prioritized work/life balance. I can't wait to start posting regularly for you all!

Each week I will post by Fridays at 12pm (CST), and have a new topic to discuss regarding nursing, work/life balance, hobbies (my new one being running!!!), graduate school, undergrad nursing school, tutoring, and hopefully many more topics!

PICU:

I've officially been a PICU nurse for 2 years and an RN for almost 3 years! Crazy how fast the time flies when you're working constantly. In all seriousness, I feel like I've grown significantly both as a person and a nurse in the skills I can now perform and the things I've seen. I will talk in great detail about nursing burnout in later blogs (don't want to steer you away this early), but the healthcare field is not for the weak.

I am qualified in PALS, BLS, CRRT, as well as in the process of obtaining my ACLS and CCRN. To those not in healthcare wondering what all these letters behind my name will mean, they are qualification to further my professional development.

I also took a role as a Pediatric Crisis Nurse, which involves responding to emergencies within the children's hospital, placing IVs on children with difficult access, and taking kids to CT, MRI, Fluoroscopic Testing, etc. This is a new role I started in the past 3 months, but am excited to see where it goes!

My unit also provides care to congenital heart patients, so I am finishing up my 2 year education on the cardiac patients. Learning the different types of physiology for these patients is extremely challenging, then learning how to take care of them post-op as well as any complications they endure. I have learned how to take care of post-operative, open-chest patients on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which is CRAZY to think someone my age is allowed to be a nurse. Everyday is a learning opportunity, and this specialty allows me to grow and challenge myself constantly. I'm forever grateful for the experiences I've had in the PICU.

Grad School:

One thing about me is I live for academic validation :). Undergraduate school was just not enough for me and I knew I had to go back to school. I currently am in an online program to obtain my DNP (Doctorate of Nursing Practice) in Pediatric Primary Care. With this degree I can take a board exam to practice as a Nurse Practitioner or teach nursing students as an instructor both in lecture and clinical.

I am only in my second semester of the program, but freak out every time a test question says "As the provider, would you..." because it's crazy how fast it changed from "as the nurse" to "as the provider". And before you attack me for going back to school after working as a nurse for 2 years, I will have 6 years of BEDSIDE experience before I take boards and begin practicing.

Going back to grad school is on a different timeline for everyone, and what works for me might not work for you. This was a good time for me to go back to school, so I took it. I am in my per-requisites of the program at the moment, but am excited for the nitty gritty nursing courses later on.

Hobbies:

In November I decided I was tired of rotting away on the couch on my days off, and was charging my bank with the gym membership I wasn't using. I started on the treadmill with the TikTok 12-3-30 workout and enjoyed it quite a bit! I progressed quickly to jogging and fully immersed myself in running. As someone who NEVER ran and couldn't run to the end of the block without being severely out of breath, this was a big deal to start this hobby.

I signed up for a 5k in December (Christmas themed of course) and my goal was just to finish, and I did! Flash forward to now, I am doing a 5k tomorrow (St. Patrick's Day themed), and am doing a HALF MARATHON in 50 days!!! Anything is possible and your body is capable of way more than you think.

Conclusion:

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I am excited to see where this blog goes and can't wait to take you with me!!!

XOXO -SimplyMadeRN