Monday starts at 5 a.m. From my night shift as a staff nurse, I go to my office. I have a 7 a.m. review with my students, who are seniors and struggling with math. They have to know how to work math problems, or they will fail the nursing licensure exam. I change from my nursing uniform to a suit in the bathroom outside my office. In class, 78 students are waiting for me to tell them something that might get them one step closer to practicing as a nurse. We finish at 8:30 a.m., and I go to my office to check my email and be available for students requiring assistance. From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. I again lecture and interact with 115 undergraduate students. At 3 p.m., I grab a bite and walk the half mile to the Anderson Center for my poster presentation for the nursing honor society’s Sigma Theta Tau Research Day. (Somehow, several colleagues and I produced a poster worthy of presentation. Now if I can remember what the poster is about and my name, I should be okay.)

 

From 4 to 5 p.m. I have office hours. I then type a test for my graduate class on Tuesday evening into Blackboard, an e-education platform designed to use the Internet as an educational environment. I work on this until 8:30 p.m. I have been up 24 hours and realize that I must go home and lie down.

 

Tuesday at 7 a.m., I am back in my office – completing the test that must be ready by 9 a.m. I then work on my lecture until I teach my graduate class at 5:50 p.m. At 9 p.m. class is over, and by 9:30 p.m., students have disappeared. I’m home by 10 p.m.

 

Wednesday at 7 a.m., I run inside my office and shut the door, hoping that I can work on my 3 p.m. lecture. My colleague across the hall wants to work on the class we are teaching together next week – so, I can’t get a lecture together for the class I teach tonight. And then I realize that I have to arrange a clinical unit visit for my students. I finish my lecture, type a review sheet for tomorrow’s test, and post it on Blackboard. At 11 a.m., I meet with the sophomore and freshmen nursing students and other faculty in an open forum. At 7 p.m., I go home, after teaching my class and having office hours.

 

Thursday at 7 a.m., I meet with my research partner to work on our publication. After office hours and some student review, there’s my 3:30 p.m. class, where I explain the registration process for the Nursing Licensure examination.

 

Friday I’m in at 7 a.m. again. I grade 115 tests with analysis. At 2 p.m., I go home and sleep, because I am working tonight as a staff nurse – so I can practice what I teach.

 

Do I love my job? Absolutely. Am I overworked and underpaid? Absolutely. Do I make a difference? Every day.