Graduate Study Challenges and Strategies for Success Essay

I am a recent baccalaureate graduate of Charleston Southern University. I received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing in May of 2015. On June 20, 2015, I received my NCLEX-RN results and became a registered nurse in the state of South Carolina. After considering my options for a graduate program, I happily accepted my offer from Case Western Reserve University and moved to Cleveland to pursue my graduate studies. Over the course of my undergraduate career, theories were included in the curriculum but not in depth. It is for this reason that I am excited to partake in this course – to learn the foundational and applicable theories of the nursing profession.

According to Rosseter (2011), one of the largest segments of the US workforce are comprised of Registered Nurses, with over three million registered nurses worldwide. Due to the fast paced and rising complex demands placed on our healthcare environment, it is no surprise that over twenty-four thousand post graduate students were actively seeking and earning their master’s degree in nursing in 2011 (DHHS, 2013, p.ix). In order to gain an understanding of the interplay among my education, career path and opportunities afforded to me by taking an approach to higher degree learning. I approached a co-worker whose capabilities impressed me and asked her five questions in person, in order to gain her insightful information of what I will be facing during these next few months.

1. Throughout my long nursing career and various positions starting from bedside nurse to the currently outpatient role as a diabetes educator, the most enjoyment in my profession derives from educating patients, caregivers, nursing students along with nursing colleagues. Moreover, my experience as a student was extraordinary due to most excellent teachers I came across. With this in mind, a decision to become master's degree nurse educator became very comfortable, especially knowing that I might be able to reciprocate what I have received.

Also, I have always been open minded as well as a great team player. The biggest challenge for me in going back to school will be time management. As a full time working mother I already have a multitude of responsibility. I will overcome this by scheduling protected time for my studies. My manager will allow me to work four ten hour shifts per week, so I would have all day on Friday while my son is in school to study. My husband and I have agreed to share household duties therefore I would be able to have protected time a couple of nights a week along with Sunday

These competencies are used to promote excellence within the advanced role as a nurse educator. Also, they help to identify the specialty area of nursing education and allow for a platform in which faculty are able to demonstrate and explore the entirety of their role. The nurse educator is equipped to prepare students in the academic or clinical setting. The curriculum within the nurse educator program is designed to integrate clinical foundations with advanced nursing concepts. Together, these concepts result in focused courses for the nurse educator profession (NLN, 2017). In my perspective, nurse educators are creative in their approach to combine their past experiences and passion for educating students as they educate and mentor future

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) fact sheet (2014) explains the findings of the research completed by The Bureau of Labor Statistics, leading one that is reading the fact sheet to realize that the nursing shortage will only worsen in the coming years. First and foremost, the number of nurses that are reaching retirement age, and the number of nurses that are leaving the profession is proven to have a drastic impact on the profession; secondly the number of students enrolling in nursing classes do not match the demand that for upcoming years. Due to the lack of Master and Doctoral prepared nurses, many students are denied entry into nurse training, which is noted and continues to be one of the most important factors of

Some of the common challenges returning adult college students face are time management, and balancing roles of full-time student verses employee. One way to overcome this challenge is remaining focused on whichever role you are currently full filling. Another way is being organized by using a planner, or memos as reminders. As a mother I wear many hats which unknowingly has prepared me as returning student. I am aware that life's surprise that will interferes with the day to day routine becomes challenging. While remaining focused, and organized success will follow no matter what challenges form. Ask any persons with goals and dreams if their journey was smooth sailing, their response will be NO. "Anything worth having requires hard work

How do you balance work, teaching and home life so that they all function smoothly together?

My first semester of nursing school was a time of “awakening”. During this semester, I learned that a lot of the subject matter is self-taught. A lot of the information is learned through research. It was during this semester I learned that

I am some what apprehensive about if I want to go to graduate school. Especially for science majors graduate school is a large part of progressing your career forward and improving your chances for other jobs. However the long and arduous process of graduate school scares me a bit, especially because there isn't as much of flexibility as there is in undergraduate. Because of that, I really enjoyed the panelists talk about graduate school. Yes, graduate school is as hard as I think it is. However, I should not sell myself short, I am going to UT one of the best schools in the country and if I can make it here I can make it in graduate school.

Throughout my long nursing career and various positions starting from bedside nurse to currently outpatient role as a diabetes educator, the most enjoyment in my profession derives from educating patients, caregivers, nursing students along with nursing colleagues. Moreover, my experience as a student was extraordinary due to most excellent teachers I came across. With this in mind, a decision to become master's degree nurse educator became very comfortable especially knowing that I might be able to reciprocate what I have received.

Making my decision to go to graduate school through an online program was difficult. I had no idea what to expect. However, with my administrator’s advice and encouragement, I decided to start on this new endeavor and take the challenge. My only experience as a student has been the traditional classroom, which alone produces in me a set of uncertainties about the challenges I will face. The unfamiliar setting, communicating through writing and being good at research are my three challenging areas. In order to juggle these and many my other responsibilities

Nursing is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States; it accounts for more hospital roles than any other health care profession. Of all the students studying in the health field, over half of them are in nursing. There are more than 5.5 million nurses and nurses aids in the U.S alone ("Fun Facts," 2015). In fact, there are four times more nurses than doctors ("Fun Facts," 2015). Nurses are responsible for delivering ninety percent of all health care services (Davis, 2012). Because they usually have the most hands-on time with their patients, it is crucial to ensure the proper care to each individual. In order to reach this goal, nursing students must be educated on the impacts they will account for not only locally, but

For nurses to obtain a license, they need to obtain a rigorous amount of classes which includes specific skills of teaching and learning, that gives them the knowledge, good judgment, and wisdom that they need in order to pass the board exam and to become registered nurses. Education is a vital tool to close the gap between knowledge and practice, with the only purpose of increasing quality of care and evidence based practice for the patients. Nursing students sometimes notices the difference between the demands of their tutor and the practicing nurses. When they go to clinical practice and they have to face the real situations on a daily basis in a regular floor, in which they are unable to come up with an answer from what they have learned in theory, that’s where gaps start to fill in. The discrepancy between nursing as it is taught in school and nursing as it is practiced by students in the clinical setting has been an issue for a long period of time, which concerns learners, teachers and practitioners. There has been proven that nurses who are excellent in paper and school lack knowledge in the field. Studies has shown that many graduated nurses who do very well in school, are unable to put the pieces together in the actual field. If this theory-practice gap is not caught on time, it will definitely have consequences in the future because the principles are not well stablished to operate in the workplace. Furthermore, this can cause the new graduate to feel overwhelmed

One does not quite experience academic challenge like that of getting a bachelor’s degree at any other time in life. The time and trials had during college years are challenging alone. It is a time of great change in life; moving away from home, meeting a large number of new people while losing close friends of the past, and all while attempting to keep grades up to par. This statement does not fall short and in fact, is made even more challenging when attempting to graduate with a bachelor’s of science in nursing (BSN). Not only are the classes difficult but the student nurse has to embark on a journey of unknowns and enter a largely uncomfortable area; patient care. This aspect creates anxiety in a new student but also is intertwined in learning and embracing the essence of nursing, the art of caring.