One of the few things I feel like I have the experience to speak from
authority about is nursing school. I just graduated so obviously I'm an expert.
There is a lot I read on twitter and facebook about and I think some things need
cleared up for those of you that are still inside or maybe this will just be
funny to the people who made it through and are looking back.
Stop worrying so much! My friends will laugh about that because I was pretty much a constant wreck because I never felt like I was doing well enough. I somehow yoked myself with this feeling of my entire life was riding on how well I did on the next test. If I passed and didn't do great I still felt like a failure. Well the truth is I did fine. I passed without any real worries, except maybe family nursing that was close, but really I was not in trouble. We were told we were already above average students so maybe when things went from easy to mildly difficult I didn't know what to do. Maybe I just became an asshole, that is still a debate, either way I got worked up over nothing and you probably are too. You need to focus on what you need to learn that week and move on. Trust me in your first year of nursing you are going to feel like you learned little to nothing. So all the little details you forced into your brain (mine was aplastic anemia) will mean almost the same as your ability to speak Sanskrit. You are going to learn a lot of details and the teachers are doing their job, but honestly the majority of that is just stuff you have to learn. A hoop that has to be jumped through, the same one those before you and those after you will have to jump through. The broad strokes are the things I have used the most as a new nurse not stuff like the Parkland-Baxter formula. Not that it matters you will have the deer in the headlights look a minimum of six months on your first job anyways.
Have a support group, and make sure they mean it. I was lucky; I have a wonderful girlfriend who is also in the health field so she understands my anger. My friends are good friends and supported me. I highly suggest you pick people to surround yourself in school for all the basics: Studying, travel, test preparation, and people you can trust to vent to when you feel like you have reached your limit. Nothing will ruin your day like traveling for an hour and a half to clinicals with someone that causes arguments in your group. I guarantee you will loathe your life in a hurry if that is your situation. I had a situation where we couldn't even talk in the car after a few weeks or it was an inevitable fight. Trust me when I say that made a long day even longer. You can't avoid all the arguments, we are human stuff is going to happen but someone with similar views and thoughts can go a long way. Just as important is having a support group outside of class. Pick people in nursing, out of nursing it doesn't matter. Make sure they are people you can talk to that see things from an entirely different point of view and use their advice it will come in handy all the time. I have friends that are nurses and cops, both way removed from class. They were there to balance me and keep me on track when my classmates were just as stressed as I was.
Have an outside life. I know we study a lot, I get it. You aren't going to tell me anything that I don't already know about school and tests. No you aren't different and IT IS the same for me as it was for you. You have got to do something un-school related while in the program. You will go crazy if you don't. Besides you can't study all the time you just cant after a while all the words will just run together and be a blur. Go to the bar, take a day off and go the movies it don't matter but stay away from the books every once in a while to put things in perspective. You can only retain so much information at once anyways don't waste your time beating yourself up over something you won't remember anyhow. When you really want to go out for a few hours with your friends, then do it and don't look back and think about the studying. If you make a decision stick with it and move forward. It's a skill you will have to master when you get onto the floor and they expect you to be in charge of people's lives, start practicing now.
Not all of you are going to make it. That's the breaks and it's the truth. If it was easy everyone would be a nurse and we wouldn't be as necessary. Embrace that truth and realize you are a cut above. You are going to be special and make an impact on people who need you the most. That's why it is tough and you have to go through it. If you want it bad enough, you will do it. I had moments of doubt like everyone else. The difference is we that graduated are willing to pay the price to have what we want, if you aren't then maybe you need to find something else. A lot of people can help and give advice, I know I am and so are most of the murses I know, but you have to use it.
Written by @TMFS786
Stop worrying so much! My friends will laugh about that because I was pretty much a constant wreck because I never felt like I was doing well enough. I somehow yoked myself with this feeling of my entire life was riding on how well I did on the next test. If I passed and didn't do great I still felt like a failure. Well the truth is I did fine. I passed without any real worries, except maybe family nursing that was close, but really I was not in trouble. We were told we were already above average students so maybe when things went from easy to mildly difficult I didn't know what to do. Maybe I just became an asshole, that is still a debate, either way I got worked up over nothing and you probably are too. You need to focus on what you need to learn that week and move on. Trust me in your first year of nursing you are going to feel like you learned little to nothing. So all the little details you forced into your brain (mine was aplastic anemia) will mean almost the same as your ability to speak Sanskrit. You are going to learn a lot of details and the teachers are doing their job, but honestly the majority of that is just stuff you have to learn. A hoop that has to be jumped through, the same one those before you and those after you will have to jump through. The broad strokes are the things I have used the most as a new nurse not stuff like the Parkland-Baxter formula. Not that it matters you will have the deer in the headlights look a minimum of six months on your first job anyways.
Have a support group, and make sure they mean it. I was lucky; I have a wonderful girlfriend who is also in the health field so she understands my anger. My friends are good friends and supported me. I highly suggest you pick people to surround yourself in school for all the basics: Studying, travel, test preparation, and people you can trust to vent to when you feel like you have reached your limit. Nothing will ruin your day like traveling for an hour and a half to clinicals with someone that causes arguments in your group. I guarantee you will loathe your life in a hurry if that is your situation. I had a situation where we couldn't even talk in the car after a few weeks or it was an inevitable fight. Trust me when I say that made a long day even longer. You can't avoid all the arguments, we are human stuff is going to happen but someone with similar views and thoughts can go a long way. Just as important is having a support group outside of class. Pick people in nursing, out of nursing it doesn't matter. Make sure they are people you can talk to that see things from an entirely different point of view and use their advice it will come in handy all the time. I have friends that are nurses and cops, both way removed from class. They were there to balance me and keep me on track when my classmates were just as stressed as I was.
Have an outside life. I know we study a lot, I get it. You aren't going to tell me anything that I don't already know about school and tests. No you aren't different and IT IS the same for me as it was for you. You have got to do something un-school related while in the program. You will go crazy if you don't. Besides you can't study all the time you just cant after a while all the words will just run together and be a blur. Go to the bar, take a day off and go the movies it don't matter but stay away from the books every once in a while to put things in perspective. You can only retain so much information at once anyways don't waste your time beating yourself up over something you won't remember anyhow. When you really want to go out for a few hours with your friends, then do it and don't look back and think about the studying. If you make a decision stick with it and move forward. It's a skill you will have to master when you get onto the floor and they expect you to be in charge of people's lives, start practicing now.
Not all of you are going to make it. That's the breaks and it's the truth. If it was easy everyone would be a nurse and we wouldn't be as necessary. Embrace that truth and realize you are a cut above. You are going to be special and make an impact on people who need you the most. That's why it is tough and you have to go through it. If you want it bad enough, you will do it. I had moments of doubt like everyone else. The difference is we that graduated are willing to pay the price to have what we want, if you aren't then maybe you need to find something else. A lot of people can help and give advice, I know I am and so are most of the murses I know, but you have to use it.
Written by @TMFS786
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