Episode 9 - student, RN
November 19, 2024
About This Episode
In this episode of Better, RN, co-hosts Alyssa Saklak and Laurin Masnari talk with Eianncris Panaligan, a fourth-year nursing student at Chicago State University who recently took part in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital student nurse internship (SNI) program. During this intensive, eight-week summer program, student nurses partner with a nurse preceptor to develop critical-thinking skills, hone technical skills and learn how to prioritize care.
"I was really able to trust myself and my ability to take care of patients and grow my confidence. I was able to practice phlebotomy, Foley removal, head-to-toe assessments, IV removal."
Show Notes
Episode Guests
Eianncris Panaligan, nursing student
Eianncris Panaligan is a fourth-year nursing student at Chicago State University. During the first two years of his undergraduate studies, he played on the university's NCAA Division I Men's Soccer team. He plans to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and specialize in critical care, and hopes to join an intensive care unit.
In this episode of Better, RN, co-hosts Alyssa Saklak and Laurin Masnari talk with Eianncris Panaligan, a fourth-year nursing student at Chicago State University who recently took part in the Northwestern Memorial Hospital student nurse internship (SNI) program. During this intensive, eight-week summer program, student nurses partner with a nurse preceptor to develop critical-thinking skills, hone technical skills and learn how to prioritize care.
"I was really able to trust myself and my ability to take care of patients and grow my confidence. I was able to practice phlebotomy, Foley removal, head-to-toe assessments, IV removal."
Show Notes
- Eianncris shares his background as a Division I soccer player and how he eventually chose to pursue a career in nursing over becoming a professional athlete.
- Throughout his college career, Eianncris has taken a proactive approach to networking by spending time on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to find mentors and opportunities such as the SNI program.
- The decision to pursue nursing as a career is a personal one for Eianncris, whose grandmother died after experiencing healthcare neglect in the Philippines. This experience led him to value patient advocacy and become a nurse.
- While he is passionate about his career choice, Eianncris explains that nursing school can be intense, with a workload of more than 60 hours a week at times.
- He has had to learn to manage his time better, including carving out hours in the day to de-stress and enjoy hobbies so that he can thrive in nursing school.
- The SNI program has been one of the most impactful experiences of his career so far. It allowed him to gain practical experience, apply classroom knowledge in real-world settings and grow his confidence.
- His advice to other nursing students is to seek out a hands-on internship like the SNI program and be prepared to learn and grow personally and professionally.
Episode Guests
Eianncris Panaligan, nursing student
Eianncris Panaligan is a fourth-year nursing student at Chicago State University. During the first two years of his undergraduate studies, he played on the university's NCAA Division I Men's Soccer team. He plans to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and specialize in critical care, and hopes to join an intensive care unit.
transcript
[00:00:00] Alyssa Saklak: I am Alyssa Saklak
[00:00:06] Laurin Masnari: and I'm Lauren Masnari.
[00:00:08] Alyssa Saklak: On Better, RN, we get real about nursing.
[00:00:11] Laurin Masnari: The good and the gritty.
[00:00:12] Alyssa Saklak: We talk to real healthcare experts.
[00:00:15] Laurin Masnari: With the goal of becoming better.
[00:00:17] Alyssa Saklak: For our patients, our colleagues.
[00:00:18] Laurin Masnari: Our family, our friends.
[00:00:20] Alyssa Saklak: Our partners, and ourselves.
[00:00:28] Laurin Masnari: Depending on where you go to school and what stage of life you're in, nursing school can look different for everybody. We know it looked different for Alyssa and I. Alyssa, you were an athlete. I was just a student. But there's one thing that most people who study nursing have in common, is that they feel really a call to enter the profession.
[00:00:44] Alyssa Saklak: No one better to talk to than Eianncris Panaligen, who is currently in nursing school and doing his clinicals at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Eianncris is going to share why he's pursuing nursing and give us a glimpse into what his life is like as a nursing student. We had the pleasure of having Eianncris as a student nurse intern this past summer in the student nurse internship program. We're so excited to hear his take on nursing, nursing school and really what it's like for nursing students today.
[00:01:10] Laurin Masnari: I'm excited to get to know Eianncris because he was your student nurse intern, but I heard such lovely things about him and I'm, I'm really excited that he agreed to be on season two of the podcast. Let's talk to Eianncris. Welcome!
Welcome.
[00:01:22] Alyssa Saklak: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:01:23] Eianncris Panaligan: My name is Eianncris Panaligan. I am a fourth-year student at Chicago State University. I used to be a Division I soccer player here. I played for two years before entering the nursing program. And I've been playing soccer since I was five. I definitely hit like this fork in the road where I was like, “Oh, do I want to pursue nursing? Or do I want to go through and play athletics and go into soccer?” I really wanted to dedicate most of my life to advocating for people and just being able to help people out. And I decided to go and stick with that.
[00:01:55] Laurin Masnari: That must have been a really hard choice.
[00:01:57] Eianncris Panaligan: Yeah, I definitely gave it the time that it needed, and I was really happy. And I knew that regardless of the decision I made, I'd be really happy.
[00:02:05] Alyssa Saklak: One thing that stood out to me in my first interactions with Eianncris was he'd reached out via LinkedIn prior to any of the interviews. And it stood out to me because a lot of patient care managers have networking profiles, and obviously there's jobs that are posted online where most professionals are looking for their first job. Is that something that your school prepared you for? You know, I think in knowing you, you've been really tied to social media. That something that you've utilized before?
[00:02:34] Eianncris Panaligan: I think being able to set yourself up is very important. And I've done career acceleration programs. And we just saw how important it was to be able to list your qualities. When I was making my LinkedIn, I was like, wow, there's so much potential for growth, and it really, it was almost like a visual representation of like, wow, there's so much that I can do. I really want to be able to fill this out more. I think LinkedIn is so important because it's a place where you can find mentors. It's a place where you can honestly ask questions to the people in the profession that you want to be in.
[00:03:14] Laurin Masnari: You know what's so interesting to me about that is that Alyssa and I were starting in nursing, I feel like there was such a big emphasis on cleaning up your social media and like, almost like not having a social media presence because that was somehow deemed unprofessional. And I love, I mean, LinkedIn is a professional website, obviously, but I love this sort of shift of like, no, let's figure out who the whole person is and let's see how they represent themselves online. The opportunity is there. And I think that's a really, really interesting perspective change that I like because it's showing that we value more than just what you're bringing to the table as an employee. We value the whole person. So I think that's really cool.
[00:03:55] Alyssa Saklak: Would you say that some of your peers and other people in school with you are as tapped into social media and tapped into seeking out information through the internet? Or do you feel like you're maybe unique in that situation? Tell me a little bit about your peers and kind of how you see them navigating their nursing journey and profession.
[00:04:15] Eianncris Panaligan: In terms of the perspective of how we can use social media or even like platforms such as LinkedIn, I was slowly starting to introduce to my friends and showing that, Hey, there's actually so much that you can do besides scroll, you know? Resume building, CV building, LinkedIn profile building. You get to see what they're passionate about, what kind of experience they want to go into. It just brings a lot to the table. It's just about the way you word things, how you're able to showcase yourself.
[00:04:46] Laurin Masnari: I agree. I think that's awesome. And the capabilities of social media have a positive influence on nursing. I feel like we're just sort of scraping the surface. So I'm looking forward to this next generation of nurses coming in to continue to revamp that. I think that would be great, but I also think this is sort of a good segue. You talked to us a little bit about having to make that hard choice between soccer and nursing, but how did you even decide on nursing as your career path? What got you interested in the field in the first place?
[00:05:16] Eianncris Panaligan: Oh, this goes a long time back. I didn't decide that I was going to go into nursing from the get-go. I wanted to be in health care. I know that I wanted to go into medicine, but it was really like, what part of medicine do I want to go into? ’Cause there's a lot that I find fascinating. I think my greater purpose comes from around the age of 10, my only grandparent alive passed away from the development of pneumonia complications. And it was due to neglect from the nurse and the healthcare team in the Philippines. And because both of my parents were working in the field of health care, my mom was a nurse and my dad was a respiratory therapist, the impact of her death was really great upon my family. Growing up, I always heard these stories of patient cases that my parents would bring to breakfast, after working their night shifts at the hospital. And while I had already found both of their lines of work fascinating, after my grandmother's death, it made me realize that I wouldn't want to have anyone experience that neglect and mistreatment. That's how I decided I wanted to go into medicine. Since I was a student-athlete that wanted to continue playing in college at the time and even possibly go professional, my thoughts led me to believe that I wouldn't have the time to pursue medicine and go into medical school and become a doctor. I had thought about being a nuclear medicine physician at one point. Or even like a general orthopaedist. And I also thought about going into, like, prosthetics. Those were things that interested me. But my senior year of high school, I completed the certified nursing assistant program that was offered, and I was able to finally obtain my own firsthand experience working alongside nurses. So while I had questioned what career in health care I was going to pursue, I found the reasons why nursing was my calling. I found patient advocacy and intervention to be something that I just really aligned with. So during my work experience at a long-term care facility, I witnessed two of my nurses carry the same compassion and perspective of care that I really felt had true value to myself. Humanistic and personable care really helps patients be heard and understood. Nurses are the first line of communication to help make this possible. And I was like, yes, that's me. I want, I want to be there.
[00:07:37] Alyssa Saklak: I have like goosebumps from that because I feel like hopefully everyone else can resonate and Laurin maybe you too, but absolutely I feel like that he summed up maybe feelings that I didn't even know I had about that humanistic care.
[00:07:49] Laurin Masnari: I love that the whole time you were talking, I was thinking, and Alyssa is the biggest champion of this, but the marriage of nursing as an art and a science, I feel like you spoke to that really well. Something that at Northwestern Medicine, I think we really try to emphasize that, again, back to this concept of the holistic person, but you have so much more to offer than the tasks that you're doing at the bedside. And I love that you have this perspective already as a student, having had that student nurse internship experience here, but also all of these other things that have shaped who you are and how you got to this point is really just so special. And it's a nice reminder that everyone has a story like this. Everyone got to the point that they are because of the people around them. And, I feel like we're very lucky that your journey led you to a certain nurse internship with Alyssa's team.
[00:08:43] Eianncris Panaligan: Definitely. I mean, growth comes when you are uncomfortable. It all started with hitting that fork in the road. I was always thinking about having nursing as my backup plan, but when I had to hit that fork in the road, I decided, well, if I'm going to go into nursing, I'm going to give it all that I can. So.
[00:09:01] Laurin Masnari: Speaking of tough situations, how has nursing school been? Have you found it to be more challenging than you thought? Is it what you expected? How do you feel like your summer here at Northwestern Medicine has influenced your perspective on nursing school?
[00:09:16] Eianncris Panaligan: Nursing school for me has definitely had its ups and downs. Nursing school all across the board, it requires you to put in the time, it requires you to be independent, and it requires you to really learn about yourself. In terms of curriculum, I'd say like fundamentals was relatively easy for me. Med-surg and pharmacology definitely showed me what the grit and hard work in the program would look like. That led me, um, to the summer. My summer was a lot. I'm really thankful for Alyssa being there because she was really helping me not feel overwhelmed. And she was really helping me understand my balance. I was working 60 hours a week, and I was doing the program with Northwestern Medicine. I was also doing my tutoring in the nursing curriculum at my university. I was also doing mental health and psych rotation at Jackson Park Hospital during the summer. It was just a lot to balance. Now I’m finishing my maternity rotation up pretty soon. And while I can definitely say it's not my strong suit, I am enjoying what I'm learning about it.
[00:10:19] Alyssa Saklak: There's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's what we kept talking about through the summer too. Like one step at a time, which I feel like a lot of nursing students feel. There's a point where you're at overwhelm, and you need someone to kind of be like, OK, next step. What's your next step? And just keep moving forward. And you did that exactly. So, what do you feel like was the biggest thing you learned from your student nurse internship? Being on the floor, consistently with a nurse shadowing, you know, it's outside of what your school expectations are. What do you think was the biggest takeaway from it all that you learned.
[00:10:52] Eianncris Panaligan: Well, in terms of my focus toward nursing, this was probably the greatest amount of growth that I've experienced throughout my time in the nursing program. Being in the classroom is very theory focused. And you know, conceptualizing can only go so far. But, being on the unit to do that clinical practice and be a part of that internship really allowed me to have the chance to apply my knowledge to a real-world setting. And I think that's so important to experience. If I were to tell anyone, if there's one thing that they should try to do, it's really involve yourself in an opportunity where you get to see things firsthand. Being in that setting, I got to practice handoffs and really that interdisciplinary communication, being able to communicate with patients too. I was able to sit in grand rounds and see how everyone talks to each other. And at first, to be honest, you know, it's surreal because you're like, wow, I'm really here, you know? And it's like, I deserve to be here. And it's, you're just taking everything in. Another thing that I learned was really being able to trust myself, my ability to take care of patients and just growing my confidence. I was able to practice phlebotomy, Foley removal, head-to-toe assessments, IV removal. And those weren't things that were definitively like available to us, just doing clinicals. And I really thought that Alyssa, for me, set the pacing just very well. it wasn't being overwhelmed, but it was really about how much I can grow and seeing how much I'm able to put myself to it. Every single day I was there, I was like, I want to challenge myself. I want to make Alyssa proud. You know, like --
[00:12:29] Laurin Masnari: Me too.
[00:12:30] Alyssa Saklak: You guys, I promise I didn't pay him to say this.
[00:12:34] Eianncris Panaligan: But she was really like, like one of the people that I felt believed in me. During our orientation of the SNI program, I got a letter from her, and it was just showing how excited she was just to have me. And it was like, wow, I'm really happy to have a patient care manager that believes in me and someone that is able to mold me into the kind of nurse that I want to be because I know that she has a lot more experience over me. And I know that our mentality on this was almost one in the same. She just wanted to help me grow, and I was really thankful for that.
[00:13:08] Alyssa Saklak: Eianncris, I'm like crying over here. That was really, really sweet. And I think sometimes we forget the impact that we have on one another, especially in the team setting. I think you, I think you summed up the experience so well and articulated how challenging but also how rewarding it can be when you're in uncomfortable situations and learning new things. What advice would you give to other nursing school students? I know one of them was, anything that you can do to get, you know, firsthand experience is so huge and can help you so much as you grow into the nursing profession. But any other advice that you would give maybe younger Eianncris that you wish you would have taken starting your nursing school journey?
[00:13:50] Eianncris Panaligan: I would say definitely take the time for yourself to wind down during the program, like find a hobby. It's so important to have a way to de-stress or even just disassociate from all the work you get. But at the same time, this also leads to learning how to manage your time. Time management is so important. Before nursing, I was never a Google Calendar user. Halfway through my first semester of nursing school, I became an avid Google Calendar user. It's definitely like loaded. And that's something that I would have never expected, like, for myself. I was organized in other ways, but I feel like now it's definitely become to a point where maybe I'm a little like, a little meta-organized. Like, I've never been like this prepared and looking so far ahead. Being able to manage your time will keep your stress lower. Also, learn how to study efficiently. I know a lot of people that study for a long time, experience that fatigue and that burnout and that's real. It exists. Really taking the time to sit down and learn what study style fits you best. How can you learn the best? It even comes down to what time are you most receptive when it comes to studying? I like studying in the evening. Or I have to wake up really early. And that puts me in like this deep learning space.
[00:15:06] Alyssa Saklak: The rest of the world is sleeping. It's only me and my nursing school books.
[00:15:10] Eianncris Panaligan: Yeah. It's like the, and, and it's also the time that I find that there's like less distraction or almost even like no distraction and it's just peaceful.
[00:15:18] Alyssa Saklak: Yeah, no, I love that. It's a great perspective.
[00:15:21] Eianncris Panaligan: Nursing school is definitely the time for me to get to know myself. Nursing school is going to teach you about hardship and really being able to put the effort in when it matters and believing in yourself and trusting yourself. You have to be able to be your biggest supporter in this battle. And that's why I like finding these hobbies, being able to de-stress. Those are the ways where you can be your biggest supporter. I'm definitely a firm believer in that.
[00:15:44] Laurin Masnari: I love how this conversation sort of shifted from the intent of learning about you as a student and how you're working through nursing school and sort of giving advice to people that are listening. It's sort of taken on this common theme of holistic well-being, which is very in line with our previous season, that so much of what you're talking about in learning to know yourself, finding out what works for you. When are you the most productive? How do you respond to feedback? Things like that, that translates into the professional workplace and beyond. And these are all skills that are so valuable, and it's so good for our listeners, I think, to hear why this is important and how you're just really setting yourself up for success in the future. Eianncris, it was so great to talk to you today and get to know you a little bit because we had never met, and I'm super excited for your future career at Northwestern Medicine. I think there are a lot of bright things ahead for you.
[00:16:38] Alyssa Saklak: Thank you so much for all the insights. I feel like I learned so much about myself just hearing your own story. And hopefully the listeners can take away as much as we have in this session today. So, thank you so much.
[00:16:49] Laurin Masnari: Thanks, Eianncris.
[00:16:50] Eianncris Panaligan: Thank you guys for having me.
[00:16:51] Laurin Masnari: Thank you for listening. Please follow us wherever you get your podcasts and rate and review the show.
[00:17:00] Alyssa Saklak: We'd love to hear your comments and any topics you might want us to explore.
[00:00:06] Laurin Masnari: and I'm Lauren Masnari.
[00:00:08] Alyssa Saklak: On Better, RN, we get real about nursing.
[00:00:11] Laurin Masnari: The good and the gritty.
[00:00:12] Alyssa Saklak: We talk to real healthcare experts.
[00:00:15] Laurin Masnari: With the goal of becoming better.
[00:00:17] Alyssa Saklak: For our patients, our colleagues.
[00:00:18] Laurin Masnari: Our family, our friends.
[00:00:20] Alyssa Saklak: Our partners, and ourselves.
[00:00:28] Laurin Masnari: Depending on where you go to school and what stage of life you're in, nursing school can look different for everybody. We know it looked different for Alyssa and I. Alyssa, you were an athlete. I was just a student. But there's one thing that most people who study nursing have in common, is that they feel really a call to enter the profession.
[00:00:44] Alyssa Saklak: No one better to talk to than Eianncris Panaligen, who is currently in nursing school and doing his clinicals at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Eianncris is going to share why he's pursuing nursing and give us a glimpse into what his life is like as a nursing student. We had the pleasure of having Eianncris as a student nurse intern this past summer in the student nurse internship program. We're so excited to hear his take on nursing, nursing school and really what it's like for nursing students today.
[00:01:10] Laurin Masnari: I'm excited to get to know Eianncris because he was your student nurse intern, but I heard such lovely things about him and I'm, I'm really excited that he agreed to be on season two of the podcast. Let's talk to Eianncris. Welcome!
Welcome.
[00:01:22] Alyssa Saklak: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:01:23] Eianncris Panaligan: My name is Eianncris Panaligan. I am a fourth-year student at Chicago State University. I used to be a Division I soccer player here. I played for two years before entering the nursing program. And I've been playing soccer since I was five. I definitely hit like this fork in the road where I was like, “Oh, do I want to pursue nursing? Or do I want to go through and play athletics and go into soccer?” I really wanted to dedicate most of my life to advocating for people and just being able to help people out. And I decided to go and stick with that.
[00:01:55] Laurin Masnari: That must have been a really hard choice.
[00:01:57] Eianncris Panaligan: Yeah, I definitely gave it the time that it needed, and I was really happy. And I knew that regardless of the decision I made, I'd be really happy.
[00:02:05] Alyssa Saklak: One thing that stood out to me in my first interactions with Eianncris was he'd reached out via LinkedIn prior to any of the interviews. And it stood out to me because a lot of patient care managers have networking profiles, and obviously there's jobs that are posted online where most professionals are looking for their first job. Is that something that your school prepared you for? You know, I think in knowing you, you've been really tied to social media. That something that you've utilized before?
[00:02:34] Eianncris Panaligan: I think being able to set yourself up is very important. And I've done career acceleration programs. And we just saw how important it was to be able to list your qualities. When I was making my LinkedIn, I was like, wow, there's so much potential for growth, and it really, it was almost like a visual representation of like, wow, there's so much that I can do. I really want to be able to fill this out more. I think LinkedIn is so important because it's a place where you can find mentors. It's a place where you can honestly ask questions to the people in the profession that you want to be in.
[00:03:14] Laurin Masnari: You know what's so interesting to me about that is that Alyssa and I were starting in nursing, I feel like there was such a big emphasis on cleaning up your social media and like, almost like not having a social media presence because that was somehow deemed unprofessional. And I love, I mean, LinkedIn is a professional website, obviously, but I love this sort of shift of like, no, let's figure out who the whole person is and let's see how they represent themselves online. The opportunity is there. And I think that's a really, really interesting perspective change that I like because it's showing that we value more than just what you're bringing to the table as an employee. We value the whole person. So I think that's really cool.
[00:03:55] Alyssa Saklak: Would you say that some of your peers and other people in school with you are as tapped into social media and tapped into seeking out information through the internet? Or do you feel like you're maybe unique in that situation? Tell me a little bit about your peers and kind of how you see them navigating their nursing journey and profession.
[00:04:15] Eianncris Panaligan: In terms of the perspective of how we can use social media or even like platforms such as LinkedIn, I was slowly starting to introduce to my friends and showing that, Hey, there's actually so much that you can do besides scroll, you know? Resume building, CV building, LinkedIn profile building. You get to see what they're passionate about, what kind of experience they want to go into. It just brings a lot to the table. It's just about the way you word things, how you're able to showcase yourself.
[00:04:46] Laurin Masnari: I agree. I think that's awesome. And the capabilities of social media have a positive influence on nursing. I feel like we're just sort of scraping the surface. So I'm looking forward to this next generation of nurses coming in to continue to revamp that. I think that would be great, but I also think this is sort of a good segue. You talked to us a little bit about having to make that hard choice between soccer and nursing, but how did you even decide on nursing as your career path? What got you interested in the field in the first place?
[00:05:16] Eianncris Panaligan: Oh, this goes a long time back. I didn't decide that I was going to go into nursing from the get-go. I wanted to be in health care. I know that I wanted to go into medicine, but it was really like, what part of medicine do I want to go into? ’Cause there's a lot that I find fascinating. I think my greater purpose comes from around the age of 10, my only grandparent alive passed away from the development of pneumonia complications. And it was due to neglect from the nurse and the healthcare team in the Philippines. And because both of my parents were working in the field of health care, my mom was a nurse and my dad was a respiratory therapist, the impact of her death was really great upon my family. Growing up, I always heard these stories of patient cases that my parents would bring to breakfast, after working their night shifts at the hospital. And while I had already found both of their lines of work fascinating, after my grandmother's death, it made me realize that I wouldn't want to have anyone experience that neglect and mistreatment. That's how I decided I wanted to go into medicine. Since I was a student-athlete that wanted to continue playing in college at the time and even possibly go professional, my thoughts led me to believe that I wouldn't have the time to pursue medicine and go into medical school and become a doctor. I had thought about being a nuclear medicine physician at one point. Or even like a general orthopaedist. And I also thought about going into, like, prosthetics. Those were things that interested me. But my senior year of high school, I completed the certified nursing assistant program that was offered, and I was able to finally obtain my own firsthand experience working alongside nurses. So while I had questioned what career in health care I was going to pursue, I found the reasons why nursing was my calling. I found patient advocacy and intervention to be something that I just really aligned with. So during my work experience at a long-term care facility, I witnessed two of my nurses carry the same compassion and perspective of care that I really felt had true value to myself. Humanistic and personable care really helps patients be heard and understood. Nurses are the first line of communication to help make this possible. And I was like, yes, that's me. I want, I want to be there.
[00:07:37] Alyssa Saklak: I have like goosebumps from that because I feel like hopefully everyone else can resonate and Laurin maybe you too, but absolutely I feel like that he summed up maybe feelings that I didn't even know I had about that humanistic care.
[00:07:49] Laurin Masnari: I love that the whole time you were talking, I was thinking, and Alyssa is the biggest champion of this, but the marriage of nursing as an art and a science, I feel like you spoke to that really well. Something that at Northwestern Medicine, I think we really try to emphasize that, again, back to this concept of the holistic person, but you have so much more to offer than the tasks that you're doing at the bedside. And I love that you have this perspective already as a student, having had that student nurse internship experience here, but also all of these other things that have shaped who you are and how you got to this point is really just so special. And it's a nice reminder that everyone has a story like this. Everyone got to the point that they are because of the people around them. And, I feel like we're very lucky that your journey led you to a certain nurse internship with Alyssa's team.
[00:08:43] Eianncris Panaligan: Definitely. I mean, growth comes when you are uncomfortable. It all started with hitting that fork in the road. I was always thinking about having nursing as my backup plan, but when I had to hit that fork in the road, I decided, well, if I'm going to go into nursing, I'm going to give it all that I can. So.
[00:09:01] Laurin Masnari: Speaking of tough situations, how has nursing school been? Have you found it to be more challenging than you thought? Is it what you expected? How do you feel like your summer here at Northwestern Medicine has influenced your perspective on nursing school?
[00:09:16] Eianncris Panaligan: Nursing school for me has definitely had its ups and downs. Nursing school all across the board, it requires you to put in the time, it requires you to be independent, and it requires you to really learn about yourself. In terms of curriculum, I'd say like fundamentals was relatively easy for me. Med-surg and pharmacology definitely showed me what the grit and hard work in the program would look like. That led me, um, to the summer. My summer was a lot. I'm really thankful for Alyssa being there because she was really helping me not feel overwhelmed. And she was really helping me understand my balance. I was working 60 hours a week, and I was doing the program with Northwestern Medicine. I was also doing my tutoring in the nursing curriculum at my university. I was also doing mental health and psych rotation at Jackson Park Hospital during the summer. It was just a lot to balance. Now I’m finishing my maternity rotation up pretty soon. And while I can definitely say it's not my strong suit, I am enjoying what I'm learning about it.
[00:10:19] Alyssa Saklak: There's a light at the end of the tunnel. It's what we kept talking about through the summer too. Like one step at a time, which I feel like a lot of nursing students feel. There's a point where you're at overwhelm, and you need someone to kind of be like, OK, next step. What's your next step? And just keep moving forward. And you did that exactly. So, what do you feel like was the biggest thing you learned from your student nurse internship? Being on the floor, consistently with a nurse shadowing, you know, it's outside of what your school expectations are. What do you think was the biggest takeaway from it all that you learned.
[00:10:52] Eianncris Panaligan: Well, in terms of my focus toward nursing, this was probably the greatest amount of growth that I've experienced throughout my time in the nursing program. Being in the classroom is very theory focused. And you know, conceptualizing can only go so far. But, being on the unit to do that clinical practice and be a part of that internship really allowed me to have the chance to apply my knowledge to a real-world setting. And I think that's so important to experience. If I were to tell anyone, if there's one thing that they should try to do, it's really involve yourself in an opportunity where you get to see things firsthand. Being in that setting, I got to practice handoffs and really that interdisciplinary communication, being able to communicate with patients too. I was able to sit in grand rounds and see how everyone talks to each other. And at first, to be honest, you know, it's surreal because you're like, wow, I'm really here, you know? And it's like, I deserve to be here. And it's, you're just taking everything in. Another thing that I learned was really being able to trust myself, my ability to take care of patients and just growing my confidence. I was able to practice phlebotomy, Foley removal, head-to-toe assessments, IV removal. And those weren't things that were definitively like available to us, just doing clinicals. And I really thought that Alyssa, for me, set the pacing just very well. it wasn't being overwhelmed, but it was really about how much I can grow and seeing how much I'm able to put myself to it. Every single day I was there, I was like, I want to challenge myself. I want to make Alyssa proud. You know, like --
[00:12:29] Laurin Masnari: Me too.
[00:12:30] Alyssa Saklak: You guys, I promise I didn't pay him to say this.
[00:12:34] Eianncris Panaligan: But she was really like, like one of the people that I felt believed in me. During our orientation of the SNI program, I got a letter from her, and it was just showing how excited she was just to have me. And it was like, wow, I'm really happy to have a patient care manager that believes in me and someone that is able to mold me into the kind of nurse that I want to be because I know that she has a lot more experience over me. And I know that our mentality on this was almost one in the same. She just wanted to help me grow, and I was really thankful for that.
[00:13:08] Alyssa Saklak: Eianncris, I'm like crying over here. That was really, really sweet. And I think sometimes we forget the impact that we have on one another, especially in the team setting. I think you, I think you summed up the experience so well and articulated how challenging but also how rewarding it can be when you're in uncomfortable situations and learning new things. What advice would you give to other nursing school students? I know one of them was, anything that you can do to get, you know, firsthand experience is so huge and can help you so much as you grow into the nursing profession. But any other advice that you would give maybe younger Eianncris that you wish you would have taken starting your nursing school journey?
[00:13:50] Eianncris Panaligan: I would say definitely take the time for yourself to wind down during the program, like find a hobby. It's so important to have a way to de-stress or even just disassociate from all the work you get. But at the same time, this also leads to learning how to manage your time. Time management is so important. Before nursing, I was never a Google Calendar user. Halfway through my first semester of nursing school, I became an avid Google Calendar user. It's definitely like loaded. And that's something that I would have never expected, like, for myself. I was organized in other ways, but I feel like now it's definitely become to a point where maybe I'm a little like, a little meta-organized. Like, I've never been like this prepared and looking so far ahead. Being able to manage your time will keep your stress lower. Also, learn how to study efficiently. I know a lot of people that study for a long time, experience that fatigue and that burnout and that's real. It exists. Really taking the time to sit down and learn what study style fits you best. How can you learn the best? It even comes down to what time are you most receptive when it comes to studying? I like studying in the evening. Or I have to wake up really early. And that puts me in like this deep learning space.
[00:15:06] Alyssa Saklak: The rest of the world is sleeping. It's only me and my nursing school books.
[00:15:10] Eianncris Panaligan: Yeah. It's like the, and, and it's also the time that I find that there's like less distraction or almost even like no distraction and it's just peaceful.
[00:15:18] Alyssa Saklak: Yeah, no, I love that. It's a great perspective.
[00:15:21] Eianncris Panaligan: Nursing school is definitely the time for me to get to know myself. Nursing school is going to teach you about hardship and really being able to put the effort in when it matters and believing in yourself and trusting yourself. You have to be able to be your biggest supporter in this battle. And that's why I like finding these hobbies, being able to de-stress. Those are the ways where you can be your biggest supporter. I'm definitely a firm believer in that.
[00:15:44] Laurin Masnari: I love how this conversation sort of shifted from the intent of learning about you as a student and how you're working through nursing school and sort of giving advice to people that are listening. It's sort of taken on this common theme of holistic well-being, which is very in line with our previous season, that so much of what you're talking about in learning to know yourself, finding out what works for you. When are you the most productive? How do you respond to feedback? Things like that, that translates into the professional workplace and beyond. And these are all skills that are so valuable, and it's so good for our listeners, I think, to hear why this is important and how you're just really setting yourself up for success in the future. Eianncris, it was so great to talk to you today and get to know you a little bit because we had never met, and I'm super excited for your future career at Northwestern Medicine. I think there are a lot of bright things ahead for you.
[00:16:38] Alyssa Saklak: Thank you so much for all the insights. I feel like I learned so much about myself just hearing your own story. And hopefully the listeners can take away as much as we have in this session today. So, thank you so much.
[00:16:49] Laurin Masnari: Thanks, Eianncris.
[00:16:50] Eianncris Panaligan: Thank you guys for having me.
[00:16:51] Laurin Masnari: Thank you for listening. Please follow us wherever you get your podcasts and rate and review the show.
[00:17:00] Alyssa Saklak: We'd love to hear your comments and any topics you might want us to explore.