Hey there,

I am a Nursing I student and I am feeling very discouraged. I am 21 years old and have been working as a CNA in a hospital for two years. Anyways I notice in clinical that I am very hesitant when it comes to giving care as a nurse and not as an aide. I get caught up in the way that i usually do things at work for example giving a bed bath the way I choose too. But in clinicals in nursing school, everything is by the books so i have to learn in a different way.

I am upset because I feel like everytime i am in clinical, i am always doubting myself especially when my professor is very tough and is very into knowing the pathophysiology of our patients. I want to feel confident in my skills but i am lacking that confidence and think im not good enough. My care plans are always so-so and i struggle with them and it takes me like 5 hours to even get a basis on what im writing about no matter how many care plan books i use or internet resources, im so hung up on making my care plan perfect for my professor because shes always looking for "meat and potatoes" in the care plan which gets very frustrating. I just spent 5 hours on my care plan last night and i just feel like when i get my results back, its never good enough no matter how much i try.

Anyways, i feel im lacking in clinical and that the professor doesnt like me because im not on top of things like the other student. I want her to be able to test me on my patient and let her know what is going on but shes very intimidating and i kind of draw a blank around her. I have serious issues! I neeed adviceee!

Other people may disagree, but I advice against admitting self doubt to your instructor. She/he may then target you and nit pick everything. My advice is to spend as much time in the lab practicing as possible. And 5 hours for a care plan doesn't sound nearly enough. It sounds like you need to get a better grasp on pathophysiology, which probably also means a better grasp on normal physiology. In school we had to write a pathophysiology paper, very in depth, for each patient. So to say that your instructor is big on patho, well, nursing in general is big on patho. You can do it, with a lot of work, but you can do it. I had tons of self doubt and actually saw a counselor all through nursing school. It was a big help. My counselor patted me on the back when I deserved it, and called me on my crap when I wasn't putting in 100%. I was honest with myself for the few times I received mediocre grades. It was because I put in mediocre effort.