Do you cry a lot in nursing school?

[CaliforniaRNnow]

Do you find yourself crying a lot while in nursing school?

I never cried so much in a year as I have in this PAST year. I'm always scared about failing (I have one shot while others have two) or get so incredibly frustrated and stressed out. I'm in Med Surg 2 and these teachers are throwing SO MANY useless assignments and projects that take up so much of our time that we don't have time to study for the actual lecture tests. And we HAVE to pass the lecture tests before we can even go ON through nursing school!!

Sometimes I get confidence. And then I go back into freaking out and breaking down that I'll just cry. I hear that people cry as well. Do you?

[jwha]

I caught latent TB within 6 months of nursing school at my very first clinical placement, despite impeccable hygiene practices. Questioned my decision to become a nurse ten times over, then cried buckets over it.

[ShelbyaStar]

I'm a crier. I've gotten it more under control over the years but still, any strong emotion, especially frustration, can set me off. Not in NS yet but I cried after a CNA clinical after some not-so-good feedback from my instructor, and I cried yesterday from a multitude of both school and personal factors, so yes I've cried and I'm sure it will happen many more times.

If you do feel it coming on at a bad time I find it helps to look up, especially at light, keep your breathing even, and try to discreetly touch the inner corner of your eye. Ideally with a tissue but finger works too. Because you don't want to start since of course it's really difficult to stop once you do.

[Dohardthings]

I cried more than I normally do, but in private. It's normal.

[Just A Wanderer]

I cried the day before starting first semester of nursing school out of anxiety. Schedules, assignments, clinical, socializing... none of these things have brought me to tears... yet!

[dee789]

I haven't cried yet from anything directly related to nursing school, but I know lots of people do (the girl who sold my roommate her books said she cried every week when going thru the hardest semester). A couple people have cried during skills check offs as well. I don't think it's a huge deal, even if you happen to cry in front of an instructor .. no one cares that much. Our psych instructor even told us we could cry with our pts if we heard a particularly sad story as it shows empathy! So I don't think you need to beat yourself up over it .. but if you feel depressed you should probably get help for that.

[christina731]

I cried twice at school. Both when I failed dosage calc tests. I failed both by one dang problem because of a stupid error. On what planet does 5g = 500mg?!?! Same thing happened again the semester. Cried again the whole way home and did the retake the following day with 100%. Those tests stress the heck out of me and one little error could mean the difference between passing and failing. Since then the only times that I have cried were when I was dealing with difficult situations at clinical (specifically really sick kids in PICU - that killed me). Those instances were in the bathroom or my car so no one knew.

[kristen312]

I'm in my last med surg class. I cried a lot in my first medsurg class, especially when I failed, along with half the class. But never, ever, cry at school. I cried at home, when my stress level got so high I would have to let it out. Then, I would move on and conquer my challenges.