Any one else ever feel this way?

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Please say I am not alone? I am in my 2nd semester and I have not had any previous medical experience(most of the people in my class have had some type of previous training) I get decent grades(high Bs) but sometimes I feel so stupid :( Today I had my first 5 week evaluation of the semester for clinical and she wrote in that I ask to many questions. I didn't have this instructor last semester so I guess she just doesn't know me. I explained to her that I sorta suffer from a lack of confidence so I tend to want to double check that I understand some things:scrying: I left today just feeling like maybe I don't have what it takes. Has anyone ever feel this way? Better yet has anyone felt like this and actually made it? Any advice would ge great!!

I just graduated and I felt that way all through my program and still feel that way. However my instructors were very welcoming of questions and never made you feel ashamed for asking. Like I said I did graduate so you can make it. I always studied very hard and I asked questions if I didn't understand the material and couldn't figure it out or I could not find the answer anywhere. I also had a grade point average of high B's. I was an LPN student. Just wondering if you are an LPN or RN student?

Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.

Some clinical instructors should think about the way they act. You pay them to teach you to be a nurse and ask them questions.

I'd be afraid of a know it all nurse who never asked questions.

You aren't doing anything wrong.

Please say I am not alone? I am in my 2nd semester and I have not had any previous medical experience(most of the people in my class have had some type of previous training) I get decent grades(high Bs) but sometimes I feel so stupid :( Today I had my first 5 week evaluation of the semester for clinical and she wrote in that I ask to many questions. I didn't have this instructor last semester so I guess she just doesn't know me. I explained to her that I sorta suffer from a lack of confidence so I tend to want to double check that I understand some things:scrying: I left today just feeling like maybe I don't have what it takes. Has anyone ever feel this way? Better yet has anyone felt like this and actually made it? Any advice would ge great!!

I am in my second semester also and feel TOTALLY CLUELESS! My careplan was due today and I did not finish it not sure if I can even get it done by friday. I have been up since 4:00 wednesday morning. I am seriously thinking about quitting and getting a job in healthcare and trying again next year. This whole nursing diagnosis crap is driving me nuts. I just dont get it! I have read the threads on careplans and have several books and it is just not clicking. Im so tired now I think I would have trouble understanding anything! Anyway thanks for listening to me rammble.

There are only 6 people in our group....and apparently I stick out because I do ask questions. Like I said most of them have previous experience and dont' seem to have self confidence problems.

I am just going to try harder and maybe ask less questions. I would love to hear others expereinces. Its really good to hear from other people. I somehow feel less alone :)

Specializes in OR Internship starting in Jan!!.

I think it's great that you ask questions!

As a bit of advice -- try to watch that you are not interrupting the teacher, or asking questions at inappropriate times.

Keep your chin up --I always think it's better to ask and make sure :D

Second semester RN student here. I don't have any experience either. Just a lot of schooling. EMT-Basic and CNA. I feel that way often. I just try to make sense of it all and move on. I asked one of my instructors on the last day of clinical last semester if it was ok to still feel a little bit clueless. She said it was fine. She said that by the time we finish school we will have confidence and we'll go get a job and feel clueless again. I feel like things are coming together more and more everyday. It is like a puzzle. The pieces are being put into my brain and when I get done I'll know what the picture is. Not having experience is not necessarily a bad thing. We don't have any bad habits to break. Take care and keep asking questions.

On our last day of school one of our instructors told us now you know about 10% of what you need to know. You know how to practice safetly you will learn the next 90% on the job. Don't stop asking questions. That is your job as a student!!! Hang in there you've made it this far and that is an accomplishment in its self. I know many times I felt like giving up. My life was so upside down, I felt like I didn't have a clue and I would definitely suck as a nurse, and I am sure when I start my job I will feel this way again, but I am sure of one thing now that I do want to be a nurse. Many times I questioned this during school, but I am so glad I stuck with it and you will be to. Remember the only dumb question is the one that isn't asked, because if your thinking it at least 2 or 3 other people are too. You just have the cahoones to ask it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have felt that way often, but I think its normal. I'm a third year nursing student in a BSN program and just last week one of my professors told me that although I am doing well in clinical, my confidence level seems to be low. I often feel like I might be wrong and then I begin to question myself and act timid. I used to ask a lot of questions as well, and it kinda made me stick out too. My peers would tell me that they don't ask a lot of questions because they feel like it might lead to the professor questioning their knowledge...but that they were happy that I asked a lot of questions because it helped to clear some things up for them! :rolleyes:

I think the best advice I can give you though is to really utilize the knowledge of your co-assigned nurse, as well as books and pamphlets etc. that may be on the floor your working on because they are usually geared towards diseases and drugs that you will typically see on that floor ....and keep asking questions!!

I am also a second semester student with absolutley NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE in the medical field. I feel like i'm behind many of the other students all the time because they have been CNA's or worked in a medical office or lab. The truth is maybe they do feel a little more comfortable with the enviornment but after talking to them they usually seem to feel pretty overwhelmed too. I always feel like i'm asking some of the dumbest questions but hey-it's better to get them out now then when you get your first job. I decided after the first semester to stop worrying about letting my instructor know that I didn't know EVERYTHING and started asking questions. I think we all get worried that the instructor expects us to be at a level we're not and are afraid to 'let them in on it' by asking questions about things we've covered in the past. REALLY, if i'm not comfortable with my knowledge on something it's my instructors JOB to clarify my questions and by not asking those questions maybe I would be putting a patient in danger. Always ask questions if you have them!

Um yea! I feel dumb everyday at school! Especially clinical! I know all my classmates do.......at this point were all so clueless. I guess the trick is to fake it?

Yeah, but here's my theory. I tried the 'fake it' thing last semester and I don't think it worked out very well. (I too feared that I would be found out!) So if I instead ask a ton of questions, maybe the instructors will take it down a notch and start speaking to us on a level we can understand. (I'm testing this out this semester). They seem to forget sometimes that we don't necessarily know details like the back of our hand yet. The instructors are so advanced in nursing (meaning they've been in the 'biz for a awhile) they speak to us under this false pretense as if we actually understand everything they're talking about all the time....I think they KNOW that we don't. When in reality most of us are a few steps behind. Then they start asking questions and we all start hiding behind each other. Why are we all pretending to know things that we don't? What good does that do anyone? I think that admitting we don't know things and exchanging a dialogue about those things will make us understand better. Who cares if we look dumb for a little while? We're students for crying out loud!

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