_{Welcome to the Beating Burnout Newsletter. A digital magazine dedicated to living mindfully, deeper reflection and personal growth.}

Dear students,

Congratulations you made it through another year of nursing school. Or HI WELCOME TO NURSING SCHOOL!!! Now let's recap how my 3rd year went.

First of all My name is Emily and I am in the Uottawa Algonquin program so my experience will be a bit different from the Uottawa mainstream as we do our classes in the reverse. Ok now that we got that out of the way let's go back to September.

I started my year with my peds placement at CHEO, which spoiler alert I loved so much. I was nervous since we had not done much with kids so far in the program but that was about to change quickly. My classes were peds theory, maternity theory, ethics and labs which we do our labs during our placement once per week in the UO/AQ stream. Peds lab was one of my favourites it was also my first lab at 9 am… which I did get a nosebleed on the first day and was almost late once. The lab testing was pretty accurate to what we were seeing in placement.

Ok, next up maternity. I had my placement at the civic and I enjoyed it. My favourite part was seeing a birth and getting to be their postpartum nurse which I also was lucky enough to discharge them home. That family will be so special as I also got to take a photo of them before they left. The labs for maternity were more SIM-based which was different and nice to switch things up.

It was one of my favourite terms. My advice for you is to work only when you must if you can afford to not work as much try to enjoy school as much as you can. Whether this is you watching Taylor Swift's rep tour on Netflix while making class notes then so it be it, or getting a coffee at Starbucks for that early lab or placement. When it gets challenging near the end of term as it usually feels like a lot I personality try to do an activity like workout or read, even if it's 10 mins or 20 mins it will make a difference. 

Ok, so second term…. I found it a lot harder than the first term, but I also found 2nd term to be a lot. Like I am tired and want it to be summer already, and my bank account is screaming for summer to be here. But it was also not as bad as you think it would be. For classes, I had mental health theory, medsurg theory, lab and nursing theory.

I had medsurg placement first which I had on D4 at the Queensway which is a surgical floor and honestly, I learned a lot. It was scarey at first but by the end of it, we were comfortable and ready to get the day done. I was lucky on the last day to get to do bloodwork, which went super well. I was so nervous but we took the time to practice with the equipment and it was all good, I also had a really good instructor who took the time to make us feel confident and ready to do many of our tasks. Medsurg for me was personality like putting the puzzle pieces together. I feel like at the start of nursing school you ask yourself why do I need to know this or why is this important, it all seems to make a lot of sense in medsurg and it felt less like new content and more like why we do this or what to do first.

Now mental health I was very lucky to do it at CHEO which was another great experience. For the lab, it was very relevant to placement. I learned so much about mental health and how we can truly make a difference in people's lives even from the smallest things. Mental health theory was different the class was stuff I didn't know much about or had only a little bit of learning on, but it was manageable. The lab was different and at UO/AG we are lucky to have live actors which made the lab just 10x better, being able to practice how you would react was very helpful.

Now that you have some idea of what it could be like, my experience may be different or similar to yours, remember that nursing school is temporary and if things go bad there are always opinions. Also, you are now halfway there and look how fast it's going, sooner or later you will be a nurse! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out!

Ok, my future nurses have a great school year!! I hope to see you all at our future events!!!

Emily hurtubise

🫧 Don’t forget self-care 🧘‍♀️ 

Back to nursing school is a busy time of year, but don’t forget about yourself. small things you can do are read 10 pages of a book or 1 chapter. Go for a short run for 15-30 minutes you can even do it when the sun is setting and see that nice sunset! Another option is to get a nice coffee before class to enjoy while you're learning about being a future nurse.

Quotes to think about this year

• “A new school year means new beginnings, new adventures”

• “Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen.”

• “Be curious, be adventurous, and make the most of every opportunity.”

• “While that’s correct… It’s not the most correct. This is nursing school”.

• “No matter how difficult the days may get, don’t forget the reason you became a nurse”.

• “Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a battle”.

If you made it this far you're awesome! and don’t forget to take time for yourself and remember that you earned your spot in nursing school the rest will come.

Join us this fall!

We currently have applications open for this fall to join our team. Any UOttawa nursing student can join to either be a member of Beating Burnout or to apply to be a part of the exec team for 2024-2025. We currently have our applications open until September 17. 

The roles we have this year are…VP Social - helps promote and partake in the club’s social events at each campus of the University of Ottawa. VP media - helps integrate club initiatives and resources into convenient electronic formats across a variety of platforms that are easily accessible. VP francophone - helps to further bilingualism and foster inclusivity of minority francophone culture in the nursing program. VP Equity - helps ensure the club is inclusive to all, and advocates for marginalized populations within the nursing program. 

Wondering what we do? We organize social gatherings (ex: paint nights, Cocoa and Cram sessions…)! These events provide students with an opportunity to unwind, connect with peers, and engage in creative or relaxing activities outside of the classroom. Our podcast covers topics relevant to nursing students, such as stress management, study tips, and interviews with professionals in the field. Our newsletter is a key resource for nursing students, packed with tips on managing stress, optimizing study habits, and balancing academic and personal life!

🌳 resource center

🧠 Low-Fee Psychotherapy

If you are interested in diving into your core wounds with a psychotherapist, there’s no better time than now. We partnered with Julie Clarke Therapy to offer low-fee psychotherapy to nursing students at the University of Ottawa. Each session is at a rate of 100$/session, and with the Greenshield Student insurance, it can be as low as 20$/session. Send a message to [email protected] if you are interested in learning more!

Stay turn for our next event!