End of 1st semester: what was the hardest thing?

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in Acute Rehab.

I'M SO HAPPY THE FIRST SEMESTER IS DONE....well it's almost done :-). I currently have A's in all the classes && let me say, I've never had to work so hard for an A in my life. I'm used to studying the night before and acing a test. This took some effort. All i have is a drug calculation final (easy), and the nursing and pharmacology final....both of which shouldn't be to hard (according to 2nd semester students). This semester wore me out! I mean, at times had me close to tears and made me want to quit, but I'm glad to have persevered.

My question to you all is: what do you think was the most challenging aspect of the first semester? Before the semester started, I undoubtedly thought I'd have the most issues with Pharm, but surprisingly, that was the easiest class for me. What turned out to be a nightmare was Nursing Theory. The lectures were often times extremely vague. The powerpoints were just outlines of the chapters, which in turn forces you to read the whole chapter! And wow!...the reading....omg i don't even wanna reminisce on that. Not having a clue of what was going to be on the test was absolutely horrifying. Skills and Clinical were excellent though, I had an awesome instructor for those classes :-). All in all, this semester was Nursing Bootcamp, the introduction of what's to come no doubt.

What are your thoughts?

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The most challenging thing... probably waking up at 4 am and driving for about an hour to get to clinicals on time. Yeah, I think that's it. xD

Oh yeah, and on top of that, going to the clinical site the day before and gathering all your patient information, looking up everything there is to know about all their medications, past health, surgeries, family, why they are there, etc etc etc and developing a care plan and yeah yeah all that jazz.

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Specializes in Acute Rehab.

Yeah i can sympathize....and I am not a morning person in the slightest! :yawn: lol

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

They laugh at me because I work nights, but come in to clinicals dragging....I have to get up @ 4, leave at 0445/0500 to get to one of the clinical sites on time....

I tell them, it's one thing to stay up all night, and completely another to wake up in the middle of the night....

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Specializes in Dialysis.

The hardest part was doing my patient's paperwork the night before clinical day. I was in class from 9am until 3pm. Got home around 4, started researching my patient's medical diagnoses and medications until 11pm, woke up at 5am and be at clinical at 6:30am. Those were the longest days.

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Oh yeah, and on top of that, going to the clinical site the day before and gathering all your patient information, looking up everything there is to know about all their medications, past health, surgeries, family, why they are there, etc etc etc and developing a care plan and yeah yeah all that jazz.

Is this common for many nursing schools? I have heard this a few times now and I can't imagine. Traffic here is horrific.

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Waking up hungover and having to drag my butt into clinical at 6am to give people "showers." Blah... what a waste of my time.

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Specializes in Acute Rehab.
Is this common for many nursing schools? I have heard this a few times now and I can't imagine. Traffic here is horrific.

From what i hear, it is very common. The good news is that you only have to do this in the first semester. After that, they want you to arrive at clinicals and figure things out as you go ((like a real nurse)). but yeah it's a pain. getting there the day before, searching through charts and kardexes for everything! On top of that, i had to work on those days. So I would go to pre clinical from 10-12, try to hurry and do most of my clinical paperwork on my patient before work at 3 or 4, get off at 1130 or 1230, and then finish before clinicals the next morning at 7! I felt like a zombie :o

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Specializes in MSN, FNP-BC.

The hardest thing for me was trying to get used to being under a microscope. I have been a tech for 2 years and am used to doing things on my own without supervision. Well all the skills we learned in my first semester were skills that I have been doing already for 2 years except for a full head to toe assessment. I am comfortable doing these tasks on my own but when my instructor would watch me do things such as wound care which I've done many times alone, I would get so nervous and make stupid little mistakes. Ugh!

I'm so glad that's over. I can't wait for second semester when we are in the hospital. My first semester I was in a skilled inpatient unit (aka....nursing home)

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WOW...the more I read around this forum the MORE and more freaked out I am about starting nursing school!!!!! haha I am really good at school and taking on big loads of tough classes and doing really well in them, but this seems like a totally different ball game...

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WOW...the more I read around this forum the MORE and more freaked out I am about starting nursing school!!!!! haha I am really good at school and taking on big loads of tough classes and doing really well in them, but this seems like a totally different ball game...

I too, am feeling "freaked" out. I am completely elated to have been accepted for fall, but so curious as to what is in store for me. I love challenges and I try to hold very high standards for myself so NS is going to be an adventure. I have a feeling that what I have experienced in the pre requ.'s, API&II, will be easy compared to NS. From what my professor has told me about how the NS professors try to "weed" out those that they think cannot handle the stresses of nursing, well, it has me on edge to say the least!!!

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Time management was the hardest thing for me. The material isn't that difficult, but prioritizing and making time to study everything was challenging. There is a lot on info thrown at you all at once, and if you get behind, it is almost impossible to catch up.

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