Do you find that Nursing school was alot harder than actually working as a Rn?

ericalynn, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2007

there are nights where i WISH i could just go back to school! No way was nursing school ever harder than being an RN!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2007

Two different ballgames. Nursing school to date remains the hardest thing I've ever done. Staying in nursing for 16 years is next. :)

Dolce, RN · Oct 31, 2007

They are both just so different that it is hard to make a comparison. Nursing school does not have the same kind of stress that working as an RN has but it is still stressful. I think that you don't realize how stressful the field of nursing is until you are off orientation and on your own and you are responsible for your patients. In nursing school you have your instructor and the primary nurse who are in charge, but when you graduate you take responsibility and that can be a stressful thing. Also, learning never stops after you graduate. I am constantly looking up information or asking colleagues questions about different diagnoses, drugs, procedures, labs, etc. Nursing is just the first stepping stone into a never-ending career of further on-the-job education and life experience.

Cartman1532 · Nov 1, 2007

I am in a 12 month BSN program. I am almost done with my second semester and looking forward to beginning the last one in January. I currently am carrying 20 credit hours and have Clinicals 3 times per week. I have four patients on a Cardiac Step down Tele unit each day. I dont have anyone holding my hand while before I pass meds--or anything else for that matter. It is stressful and I cant wait to finish school. Yes nursing is stressful too--I see the stress on the faces of many of the nurses during the day and evenings. Most of them are burnt out but some are not. I think that the shortage, and internal issues within the profession make things worse. It will only get worse--too bad so sad. :banghead:

RNmom08 · Nov 1, 2007

I can honestly say that nursing school vs. my orientation as an RN was a cake walk. The learning curve is much steeper once I hit the floor. In nursing school, you have one patient that you prepare for, you look up meds, you look up pathophys, you study their chart. I'm not discounting the fact that nursing school is tough, so nobody flame me, please. In my opinion, working as a (new) RN is much more demanding.

Are you serious when you say you only had ONE patient? We had three. I would stay up till the wee hours of the night and go on 2 hrs of sleep some nights doing med sheets on all of the patients we had, and it was all of their meds - not just the ones they were receiving at the time or the ones we passed. One instructor was especially nice and made us do med sheets on their at home meds too... Wasn't that nice of her??