Summer is drawing to an end and it’s time to crack open the books. I’ve had one of the best summers ever.  I’ve had an amazing internship and got to do many things this summer that I would not have done outside of Erie.

I cannot say enough good things about my nursing internship at St. Vincent this summer.  I learned an unbelievable amount of information including the role of the nurses on the floor and the charge nurse.  I also learned how to communicate with doctors, families, social workers and various other health care employees. 

The biggest lesson I learned during my internship was that time management is a valuable skill for a graduate nurse as well as a seasoned one. You must come prepared at the beginning of the day and you must always be on top of your game.  This opportunity made me realize how passionate I am about this career.  I loved going to work and being faced with a new situation every day; no day was ever the same on the floor.  We had rotation days every Wednesday and went to various other units of the hospital; my two favorite units were the emergency department and the cardiovascular intensive care unit.  I loved the fast paced environment and all of the hands on nursing skills in both of those departments and I could definitely see myself in critical care in the future.

This summer gave me a much better idea of what kind of nursing I would like to pursue. I want to start out on a medical surgical floor as a graduate nurse to get some more experience then go on to get my master’s degree to become a family nurse practitioner in a couple of years.  I would like to stay in Erie for at least a year or two and possibly get my master’s degree at Gannon.

I also did a lot of traveling this summer when I had a couple days off.  I went to Pittsburgh twice to visit family and I went to Thousand Islands, N.Y. to my friend’s cottage on one of the lakes. I enjoyed Presque Isle as much as I could and a couple of my friends and I even rented bikes one day, which was a blast.  It was a very busy summer but I had a lot of fun and enjoyed every minute of it.

I am excited to start my senior year at Gannon.  The last three years at Gannon have flown by faster than I could ever imagine.  I feel like just yesterday my family was moving me into the dorm and saying their goodbyes.  It has been a great three years so far and I am looking forward to my last year here.

Stay tuned to see how my first few weeks of senior year pan out.

Are you interested in internships when you come to college? Check out how Gannon can help you with that here.