Tuesday, October 16, 2012

McMaster Tour


Last week I went for a tour of the Health Sciences campus at McMaster. My first impression was that it is not as big as I had expected it to be. My second impression was… I can’t wait to be here. The place is comprised of 4 floors in a circle that are open in middle where you can see all the way down. On one side of the circle are all the classrooms and the other side mostly faculty. There is a cafeteria on the main entrance floor and a library, but what impressed me the most was the Resource Centre. The Resource Centre is a big room that looks like a hospital. There are hospital beds with patients everywhere. Yes, with patients. All dolls! And… there are nurses working there. All doing their own thing. It’s so cool. It reminded me again why I had chosen to do the RPN instead of the RN program. I wanted hands on experience. And that is what I’m going to get. I don’t  want to just sit in a classroom all day and only learn theory. I know this blog is starting to sound more like the journey of a nurse wannabe but believe me I still know why I’m doing this. Midwifery is in my heart. 

The other thing I found really cool is that everyone was wearing uniforms. I don’t know, it may sound lame, but I have a thing about uniforms. I can’t wait to get mine. Each day I get more exited about getting started. At least I feel I will be learning skills that will be useful to me as a midwife. It will feel less like I’m just sitting and waiting for it to happen. 

As I continue to study biology, to finish my pre-requisite course, I become more confident that sciences is the area I love. As I learn about anatomy and physiology I discover that I want to know even more than what I need to know to pass the course. I find myself watching endless videos and researching online all sorts of topics related to the body. This is actually very surprising to me because anatomy and physiology is the course that scared me the most when I thought about applying to midwifery. Now that I am actually taking biology it’s the course that excites me the most. I hope once I start doing it at a higher level I don’t change my mind.  

That is it for now as I continue to wait for my information package to come in the mail, which will include all the information about time tables and choosing courses. I just can’t wait!

Monday, October 8, 2012

I got into nursing !!!


So… I’m in!! I actually got in! I will be starting the Registered Practical Nursing program in January. Hurray!!! I’m so excited. Even though it has been about a month I got my acceptance letter, sometimes I still have a hard time believing it is actually happening. I worked so hard to get all the pre-requisite courses in time, with really good grades, and studied so much for the Health Occupational Aptitude Exam. 

Apparently nursing is a very competitive program to get in and at one point (actually right after I wrote the exam) I thought there was no way I stood a chance. Even though I only start in January, I’m still studying biology because I applied with a mid-term mark. It’s going well, however, I’m in a bit of a rush because I want to finish it by the end of November. My deadline is December 15 but I have to take a bunch of immunizations before I start the program. I usually get extremely sick after taking immunizations and it triggers my fibromyalgia into a crises. I don’t want to be sick prior to or during Christmas as I have five children to make Christmas happen, thus the rush in finishing biology. 

I’ll still apply again to midwifery in February 2013, but this time to McMaster. I think I have a better chance of getting an interview with the McMaster program as they only use your pre-requisite grades to determine if you will get an interview. Since my grades are pretty good, I think I have a good chance of being offered an interview. If I get in, I will have learned some skill in the nursing program that will be very helpful in the midwifery program. If I don’t get in, I’ll just continue with nursing and repeat the process the following year. Sounds like a plan…