Adios Minnesota. It's been real.

Today was my last shift on my floor at St. Mary's followed by the Summer III Farewell Dinner with all of the interns and their clinical coaches. And now I'm at my townhouse wired from late night packing and cleaning ((and four cups of coffee may have contributed to this as well... oopsies)) before I catch my shuttle at 3am.

I have quite literally slept for 9 hours in the last four nights combined... how I am not flat on my face drooling into the carpet, I have no idea. There's just too much last minute Mayo goodness to soak in! I miss it here already.

At the farewell dinner tonight, one of the Summer III coordinators encouraged us with the quote, 

"You are exactly where you are supposed to be." 

Where I am "supposed" to be has been the question of my summer, and it took me a while to realize that at this point, CA or MN are not answers to that question. Right now I'm in a place of indecisiveness, excitement, and opportunity, and THAT is exactly where I am supposed to be. Even though I so badly want to make a post grad plan and stick to it, I'm excited for how God will grow me through this season of uncertainty. 

In seven short hours, I will be back in CA. Back to no-humidity, real beaches, legit mexican food, and lots of traffic.

Thank you, Mayo Clinic, for an unforgettable summer.

Flashback to our first day of orientation. Feels like yesterday!

Thank YOU.

I have less than two weeks left here at Mayo ((which I'm trying not to think about too much :) )) and lately I have been struck with the incredible people that have made this summer all that it has been.

Throughout the entire process of applying to Mayo, figuring out the logistics of getting here, and my time spent in Minnesota this summer, God has faithfully provided amazing people to come alongside of me. I am humbled by His providence. Soooo THANK YOU to everyone ((and there are a lot of you)) who made this such an amazing experience...

My family during their visit to Minnesota

Thank you Mom, Dad, and Steph.
Even after 22 years, I still find myself pausing to think, "How in the world did I end up with THIS wonderful of a family?" Your continual support, your random text messages, your visit to MN, your encouragement to pursue my passion even if that means leaving California, means the world to me.




Thank you Alyssa Reece, RN :)
Alyssa also went to Biola and was a Summer III last year; she recently moved out to MN to accept an RN job at Mayo. Wooot wooot!
Thank you for taking all of the time to tell me about your Summer III experience, for editing my essays, for answering my 8345198237 questions and for reminding me that it's all in God's hands. I am beyond grateful for you and your kind and generous heart.



Thank you Nicole and Marissa.

At Valleyfair in our traditional
(and extremely awkward) pose

My clinical coaches this summer... holy smokes, they are so so rad. I have learned so much from them. They are prime examples of compassionate nurses, supportive coworkers, and intelligent healthcare providers. What I have most appreciated is how much they have invested in me as a person in addition to as a student. They actively seek out learning experiences for me, they are always encouraging, they have taken the time to hang out with me outside of work... they have gone above and beyond to make my summer so beneficial and memorable.




Thank you Hooooff Hall A
My housemates this summer are a total answer to prayer. In my ((entirely biased)) opinion they are the five greatest girls in the Summer III program. My summer would have been far less exciting without our adventures to the lakes, never ending mini golf games, hiking trails, and all the times laughing 'til we couldn't breath in our living room.

Thanks CA Friendsies
I have loved the pieces of home I've received from phone conversations, texts, and cards. Several of them have come at the perfect moment when I needed that familiarity :) I love y'all ((and you can expect intense coercion this year to come work at Mayo when we graduate)). Toomanyforapicture:)

Thank you to everyone else who has been praying for me and thinking about me during my time out here. I really do appreciate it and am looking forward to seeing some of you SOON!

Decisions, Decisions

I knew that the Summer III Program at Mayo gave you a boost in the competition for jobs as an RN, but I definitely was unaware of how much Mayo likes to hire former Summer IIIs. During orientation our directors told us that they typically re-hire 80% of interns from the previous year. During my progress review meeting this week, my nurse manager made it clear that a job would be waiting for me on the floor next year if I wanted it.

schnikes.

I love Mayo. I love that they actively live out their Primary Value of putting the patient first. 

I love California. I love my family, friends, school, church, aaand the beach :)

What is a girl to do?

I have noooo idea.

The Deets...

I've had several people ask me what exactly I do as an intern here, soooo

((I hope this is not overly monotonous...))

As I've mentioned, I work with two preceptors on my floor, so between their two schedules, I think I've worked every shift possible at Mayo :) Most commonly, I work Days- 7am-330pm, which goes by super fast compared to the 12 hour clinical shifts that I'm used to back home. I also work Evenings- 3-1130pm, and a few 12 hour day and night shifts. I worked my first two night shifts last weekend, and was incoherent at best by Monday morning... Let's hope I can get ahold of a day shift as a new grad :)

My alarm goes of at 5am... my second alarm goes off at 5:05... my third alarm goes off at 5:10... my fourth alarm- just kidding :) I'm up!

Most of the interns commute via the Rochester bus system, so there's usually a full bus that leaves our townhouses at 6:30. I get up to my floor around 6:40 and start looking up all of the history, diagnoses, meds, orders, and basically anything else about our patients for the day. Mornings are a whirlwind of assessments, med administration, helping patients with eating/bathing/anything that they need, and lots of charting.

My preceptor and I do a full assessment on each patient in the morning, which has been a great opportunity to improve my assessment skills. As an intern, I'm not allowed to administer medications, but my preceptors are great about making me explain medications to our patients, so basically all I'm missing out on is physically handing the med to the patient. Especially in a specialized facility like Mayo, nurses are instrumental in coordinating the different disciplines that serve each patient since nurses are the ones with the patient 24/7; we spend time speaking with physicians, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, discharge coordinators, and any other disciplines following our patients. There is never any downtime in nursing- I love it :)

When I'm done with my shift, I literally collapse in our townhouse. My housemates joke that I have some form of narcolepsy. I usually try not to take a nap, buuuut let's be real- I usually do :)

Captured by my lovely housemate, Kathryn. I ((obviously)) had no knowledge
of this picture until I saw it on Facebook. Thanks buddy :)

Days that I don't work, I usually spend with some of the other interns at the lake, downtown, or just hanging out in our townhomes. Everyone is great about making the most of our time in Rochester- I've kept really busy between work and having fun around Minnesota. I have about four weeks left at Mayo and I feel like it's going to go by crazy fast. I'm trying to enjoy every moment of this summer as I continue to realize just how amazing this opportunity is :)

All of the interns at the Mayo Foundation House

Highlight Reel

This week marks the halfway point of my time here at Mayo, and I still find myself in awe of the fact that I'm actually here. What an amazing, amazing opportunity that has undoubtedly shaped my view of nursing and life in general. Here are some highlights of the first half of my summer...


1. My floor at St. Mary's Hospital.
The staff on this floor is the definition of teamwork. I LOVE that. They are 100% behind seeing each other succeed and have so much fun throughout their workday. This week, a nurse on my floor had to call the Rapid Response Team for one of her patients which was really interesting to observe, but what I loved even more was that even without her asking, the other nurses immediately jumped into to help her with this particular patient and took responsibility for her other patients as well.


2. River Tubing
I had never heard of this before coming to MN, but apparently it is THE thing to do during the summer. ((Coping strategy for living without the beach??)) I went this weekend with some of the other interns and had a blast. Basically, you rent an inner tube, a shuttle drops you off several miles upstream, then you float for a few hours back down the river back to the rental shop, and then you eat an enormous helping of ice cream. I suppose the last step is not mandatory... but highly suggested!


3. Longest Bike Ride EVER
... or at least it felt like it :) I had this crazy urge to go to Target this morning... why? I do not know. (Do you need a solid reason to go to Target? Didn't think so.) Anyway... it is about seven miles away from where we are staying, which didn't seem that bad until this thing called humidity (aka satan) kicked in. Holy smokes, I don't know how people in MN breathe from June-September. Physics be darned, I'm fairly sure it was uphill both ways. I also have exceptional skill in following a gps, so getting lost was the cherry on top of a perfect outing. After a good four hours, I arrived home with Animal Crackers and a box of Granola Bars. I had to laugh at how good that food is going to taste knowing what agony I endured to purchase it.


4. Tour of Mayowood and the Foundation House
As part of our orientation, we got to visit the homes of Dr. Charles and Dr. William Mayo. Apparently many long-time Mayo employee's never get the chance to do this, so it was really neat that they arranged this for the interns. Both were amazingly gorgeous and showcased almost all original belongings of the Mayo's. The Mayo brothers actually designed there own homes, and utilized the absolute newest technology and design. Oh, to be a genius. One of my favorite rooms was the library where Dr. Mayo "graded" every book with an A-F on the first page :) I plan to read some of the "A" books I found :) #nerdfest


5. WOUNDS!
I work on a surgical floor, which means that there is usually a grotesque wound within my reaches on any given day. As an intern, we cannot do a lot of the hands-on tasks of nursing, but dressing changes are a-okay with Minnesota state law. Soooo, even though I didn't particularly love working with wounds before this summer (yes... there are people that dedicate their career to it- takes all kinds I suppose :) ), I've come to enjoy a nice deep packing and working with wound vacuums.


6. My Patients... They Rock.
I'm certain that my experience would not be as wonderful if it were not for the inspiring, strong, and kind patients that I interact with on a daily basis. Mayo is really big on continuity of care, meaning that they try to assign the same nurses to patients throughout their hospital stay. I love that this gives you the opportunity to really get to know your patients and realize that their lives are so much more than what we see in the hospital. I've had the opportunity to take a patient outside for her first time in five weeks. I've celebrated long awaited discharges home. I've cried alongside a patient receiving a terminal diagnosis. I've seen countless pictures of kids and grandkids shown off by their proud family members. I've said to myself so many times, "THIS is why I want to be a nurse."


I start my fifth week of work tomorrow :) Stoked? YES.

"The Needs of the Patient Come First"

A statue of brothers Dr. William and Dr. Charles Mayo
that sits outside of the Mayo Clinic

The Mayo Clinic has a really fascinating history that I will not explore on the off chance that everyone does not share my interest in the history of early American hospitals :)


The Mayo brothers and their father started what is now the Mayo Clinic in the late 1800's with the motto that "The needs of the patient come first." Especially during this time period, it was absolutely unheard of for educated surgeons to even consider the thoughts and feelings of a patient. This statement lives on as the Primary Value of Mayo that I believe is still readily practiced throughout all areas of the Mayo Clinic today.


More than anything, I think that my time at Mayo is making me even more excited to be an RN soon. Seeing what nursing can look like when the healthcare team is truly advocating for their patients and focusing on keeping them safe and comfortable is so rad. 

"Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy" Psalm 82:3

Life Sans Homework... Wow.

As nursing majors, we often wonder... what would my life be like if weekends were not dedicated to homework, if the need to study did not trump the need to eat and sleep, if we didn't have homework...

Well friends... it's wonderful.

Typical Family Photo

This weekend my housemates and I (six of us total) had such a fun couple days. We went to a we-survived-week-one celebratory dinner in downtown Rochester followed by a day of farmer's market-ing, and going to a local "beach" (I'm using that term loosely). On Sunday we went to a neighboring town to attend the annual Cheese Festival (no typo... cheese festival). The cheese festival consisted of a parade during which I saw more tractors in 90 minutes than in the last 22 years on my life combined, lots of fatty food stands, and of course CHEESE. I had my first fried cheese curds, and despite the moderate degree of atherosclerosis I acquired in approximately five minutes... they were very good. I am so so thankful for each of my housemates- I'm so blessed by each of them and am stoked to share this awesome experience with such wonderful girls.

Queso Curdos

I just finished my first non-orientation shift on my floor and it was a blast- I am beyond excited for all that I am learning (even more excited than I was to try cheese curds). Second shift tomorrow! :)