A Difficult But Necessary Start, Elaine's Path To Being A Nurse! (Graduated! - Dip In Nursing, Tun Tan Cheng Lock College Of Nursing)

05 October 2015

The first semester recently was over for our dear ex-resident, Elaine* who got a scholarship at Assunta Hospital (Dip in Nursing)(The same girl mentioned in Volume 2, 2015’s editor’s note). While it was extremely difficult for her, she got through all except for one subject, with a GPA of 2.7. She really gave her best.

There was a time in the middle of the semester when she started having doubts, to still continue studying in this course. She shared that she found it really difficult to cope with the amount of notes and the syllabus that she needs to memorize and understand. The thought that this is what she will continue to go through for the future semesters was indeed daunting for her.

She knows that studying in the medical field is not going to be easy. We had arranged nurses to brief her and chat with her on what she needs to be prepared for is she really decides on studying this course. She has spent countless hours and nights studying and going out with friends to form study groups to help one another.

Her morale dropped further when one of her batch mates said that she was going to quit; she eventually did.

She shared to our staff, “I have never gotten myself to be pushed out of my comfort zone this much". Thankfully, with the encouragement from us @ Shelter and her friends, she will continue to strive on and aims to finish her studies. In fact she wants to be a pediatrician eventually.

Currently, she's doing her posting at the hospital and her next semester is fast approaching! (She really enjoys the practical part much more even though it is very hectic for her)

*Name has been changed to protect her identity.