 Hi, and welcome to Nursing School Explained. I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you. My name is Petra Beals, and like many of you, I started my career in the medical field as a medical assistant. I actually had many of supporting roles, if you want to call them that. So I started as a medical assistant at a urologist office and then took all my prerequisites to go to nursing school. Once I was accepted to my associate's degree RN program, I worked at the local hospital as a CNA. Later on, about maybe a year, a year and a half into my ADN program, I transitioned to work as an emergency room tech, which really helped to open my eyes. And I was really excited working in the ER. This also became my golden when I graduated with my RN in 2007. So I was able to transition right into the, as a new grad, right into the emergency department, which was exciting and scary all at the same time. I had a very good experience. I worked with some excellent nurses that had lots and lots of experience that were able to teach me how to become an efficient emergency room nurse. I continued working in the ER for a total of about nine years and at two different hospitals. And then I continued going to school. And in 2010, I received my bachelor's degree in nursing, which I completed online. And don't worry, your bachelor's is nothing compared to your initial associate's degree program, unless you're already in the bachelor's program getting your RN. So from there on, I also worked on the side or partially in different roles because I wanted to also know what else is out there. So I worked partially in the ICU because I wanted to get a better understanding of how ventilators work, critical care drips and be able to manage those better while I was working in the ER. I also worked a little bit in home health which was a completely different environment. And then I also tutored at the college that I actually got my associate's degree in. And on the side, I also did critical care transport which is basically an ICU or an ER nurse requirement to transport patients from one hospital to the other from a skilled nursing facility if they need procedures and so forth. And then I also work as a clinical instructor which I really, really enjoyed. And so I knew that if I had to go back and wanted to instruct full-time I had to obtain my master's degree. So I went back to school and in 2015 I received my master's in nursing and my family nurse practitioner degree. After graduation, I worked in family medicine as a family nurse practitioner for about 15 months or so. And then I went back to work as an NP in the emergency department. But really my passion was always to teach. And so in 2017 I found an opportunity and I was able to teach both clinical and lectures which was super exciting to me. And so since then I have taught, like I said, both clinical as well as simulation and then lectures and case studies. And so nursing school has changed quite a bit from when I went to school. And there's a lot more hands-on training now application, case studies, all those good things that I think are very important to help you develop your critical thinking. But there's not so much time spent in explaining the concepts and explain the physiology, the path of physiology, the signs and symptoms which are in my opinion the foundation to really be able to apply the critical thinking and then the nursing process to a patient care scenario. So in late 2019, we had simulation lab and one of my students said, you should make some YouTube videos. And I said, oh my God, there's so much content out there. I don't have the time for that or whatever I said at the time. And then over the winter break, I actually thought about it and I started recording some videos that are now in the Fluid and Electrolike playlist that I thought that students always had a hard time understanding these concepts. And then so in March 2020, when COVID hit and we were all not allowed to go back to campus, it was really hard to teach online which the format really didn't change much but there wasn't really that connection part that I could just draw on the board and start explaining things. And so I continued making videos for whatever I taught at the time. And then over the summer, there was a request from my students, can you do this, can you look into that? And so the playlist just started growing and it's become actually a great passion of mine. And now it's December 2020 and I'm almost at 500 subscribers which is unreal and I'm really excited for that. And my passion is really to share all this information with you and hope to reach as many of you so that you can benefit from understanding these building blocks, these very basics and then apply them into your practice wherever it is that you're going to be working or whatever semester of your nursing program that you're in, whatever you're learning at the time. Now, besides being a nursing instructor or professor, I also am a big advocate for self-care and I've experienced that myself, working under stressful conditions for many, many years and not really taking care of myself really well. There was some times where I almost experienced a burnout and I discovered that I really need to take care of myself first before I can actually take care of others. And I really enforced that or really emphasize that with my students too because you really don't go to anybody else if you're not whole and well taken care of yourself. So the things that I like to do to take care of myself is to get fresh air whenever I can. I'm known to commute on my bicycle all over town, to campus, to the grocery store, wherever that might be. I love hiking, I love running and I also started doing yoga. I actually became a yoga instructor because it really helped me to slow down and breathe. And that's really a skill that many of us are not very good at to just slow down and take a deep breath. And yoga has taught me that and over the years by instructing others how to do yoga and guided breathing, I've really learned to slow down and really think about certain things and slow down and think about maybe something that you say before you actually say it out loud. And it's helped me a tremendous amount in caring for myself and just feeling better physically and mentally. And there's really something to be said about that. So one of my playlists also focuses on that, resources for self-care, which are so, so important. So currently in the works, I have topics on critical care and other things that are in the lineup. So keep watching. And I really look forward to seeing you again. I'm always happy to see suggestions of topics that you would like me to go over and I'll do my best to accommodate those. So please leave comments, give me feedback, share with your friends. Let me know how I can help you during this journey, which can be a challenging one, but it is very, very rewarding in the end. Once you get through your first nursing school and you get that RN degree by whatever means, whether it's a bachelor's or master's or an associate's degree, it really doesn't matter. And that's the hardest part to get through and then from there on, it's all good. So thanks for watching this introductory video. I hope to see you soon and happy studying. You got this.