My amazing niece graduated high school this past weekend and like thousands of other eager 18-year-olds, she will be heading off to college in the fall. The special thing about this situation though is that she will be starting her nursing career!!!  To say I am excited would be an understatement! There is so much to teach her, so much to prepare her for and more thrilling SO MUCH TO GET HER!!!  All of this has led me to think “what is the perfect nursing student gift?”  I have been searching the internet for hours on end to come up with fun, meaningful and useful gifts!! 

I had the very best time searching through pages and pages of nursing tools. I read review after review, blogs, diaries, nursing department school supply lists, but what really helped me is just remembering! I sat and thought long and hard about my own nursing student days (I like to pretend it wasn’t that long ago), and just tried to remember what tools I used or liked the most! I laughed at how unsure I was; I cried as I remembered certain patients; I cringed at the way things “used to be done.”

I compiled a big list and went “shopping” on the internet! I found all of what I wanted (and more that I didn’t even know I wanted). I got practical things, useful things, unnecessary things and even fun novelty things!*
 
My niece absolutely LOVED everything!  She was eager to learn about each item! You could see just how excited and ready she is to begin her nursing classes!

But, I will say I am the one that got the greatest gift!  Shopping for her gifts gave me the opportunity to sit and reflect on my very own nursing student days! I saw (the young version) of myself in this beautiful young woman who is eager to learn and beyond excited to dive head first into becoming a nurse!

The best gift was not the shiny new stethoscope or blood pressure cuff that I gave her. The best gift was what she has given me – an opportunity to reflect on my student days, a spark that lit my own eagerness to learn and most important, someone special to share my love of nursing!

Congratulations to all the new student nurses…and everyone they will inspire!
 

*Reference or photograph of any specific product is for general informational purposes and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation.