While I love spontaneity as much as the next person, I am very much a creature of habit. This is especially true during the hours before I show up for a 12-hour shift and the hours after. Here’s a step-by-step rundown of what I do before each shift.

You know the shifts I mean. The second you step onto your unit, you can tell that this -ish is bananas.

AAHHHH! It's all happening!

 To someone who's lived 60 or 80 years, I must look like I belong outside playing hopscotch.  So how do you get adult and geriatric patients to put their faith in your young, capable hands? I've got a few tips that have helped me out in these situations. Hear me out, guys.

I’ve grown by leaps and bounds in the last 12 months, but there’s still an unmeasurable amount left to do and learn as I move forward. That's true of any nurse.

So Cheers to the future! My sights are on growing through my 2nd year with grace and patience.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a podcast hoarder. I am constantly listening to them, subscribing to new ones and unsubscribing from the ones that just didn't grab me. Or maybe I just fell out of love with them. I have podcasts for different moods and circumstances. And, yes, they're all sorted in my phone by category. Today my focus will be on those related to medicine, healthcare, nursing, and the allied health professions.

If the internet has taught me anything, it's that people like being voyeurs (in this case, I mean that very innocently). So I'm gonna show you what's in my nursing bag that I carry to and from work.

On days like today, when I've screwed up my sleep schedule heading into three consecutive overnights, the game becomes one of minimizing damage.

Don’t you hate it when you go to reposition your total care patient and you discover that the rectal tube has done nothing but leak since the last clean-up? It happens from time to time, and sometimes can’t be helped. You just can’t will someone to have improved rectal tone. But you can eliminate most of your leak-related issues with a few common-sense steps.

I felt like the night, in some small way, belonged to me and how dare they trample it with their daytime voices and fresh coffee smells.

If you’re not using YouTube to study the health sciences, you’re missing out. Here’s Adrianne’s list of favorite YouTube channels for studying.

REMEMBER, everyone learns differently and that’s ok. If these tips don’t work for you, ask classmates, teachers, co-workers, family members that work in the industry for theirs. There are as many different study styles as there are blogs in the webiverse…..

Where the hell do I even begin to talk about my twisted love affair with night time?

People are gross. You are gross. I am gross. People - all people - are gross.