had it with nursing school already!

Nursing Students General Students

Published

I need some feedback on how to deal with some of the issues that I am facing now in week 5 of school. Its really gotten old. We have lots of instructors that do not communicate well with each other, countless hours of busy work, confusing assignments, and students who instead of supporting each other are contstantly trying to show each other up:( I can litterally feel the knots forming in my shoulders and neck right now. I manage time well and dont procrastinate.... so how do I learn to enjoy school again?

Specializes in 2nd Year RN Student.
well, what are your options if you quit nursing school? Maybe you can be a checker at Jewel?

Seriously do you know how many people would DIE for this opportunity? You will be a well-respected professional in the hottest job market around. You will get a job any where, with benefits no less. You will have the chance to make a difference in others' lives.

Perhaps you might want to think about starting a gratitude list.

Wow... you're perfectly equipped to be one of those great empathetic nursing instructors that ruin a good nursing program. Please, don't consider teaching later on down the road.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Well I felt the exact same way but just tucked my head down and pushed forward. My reflection back was that nursing school was not a good experience for me. It makes me kind of sad because the information was very interesting and I really enjoyed learning however all the disorganization, double standards and political crap really soured me. The good news is that I stuck with it, got great grades and by semester two it really didn't phase me anymore and the best news is that I ended up becoming really close friends with a couple of my classmates.

Listening to all the horror stories makes me feel as if nowhere else was much better so I stuck with where I was and am really proud of finishing. Good luck. Jules

I felt the same way as you, Jules...nursing school left a sour taste in my mouth that won't go away. I did complete school and am now working as an LPN, but, from my experience, I'd never go back for RN (not that I wanted to in the first place, mind you). In fact, I didn't even attend my own graduation and I was the second highest for grades. I was just that disgusted.

Competition continues once you become a nurse, as well. What I do is just stay out of it to the best of my ability and serve the patients...the reason why I became a nurse to begin with.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

What this experience will do is determine how interested are you in being a nurse. If you are, you will somehow have to put the negativity to the side. But, if you do decide that you don't want to do this, do not feel guilty. Once you become a nurse, this behavior does continue, unfortunately, and this is something to think about.

I totally empathsize with you because, while I did complete my nursing course and am working, I have to say that I honestly hated nursing school and would never return for an RN program. It is just not worth the headache for me to sit through that again, no matter how much of a money difference it would be and I think I would be even deeper in the mess that happens between nurses. Currently, I am working in a clinic, and I involve myself with the patients and leave the other mess alone.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Dear First Year Student: It's great to strive for all "A's". However, when you graduate you take the same board that everyone does, and I've never applied for a position where they asked my grade point. I heard an old saying once - "What do they call an RN with a "C" average?" The answer: An RN. The good grades will always hold you in good stead, hopefully you will remember it all, but a lot of great nurses had lower averages in school and great in hands on clinicals.

Absolutely! I am with you on that. I don't think grades correlate with how nice you are, how good you are in clinicals, how good of a nurse you will be, how smart you are or even, incredibly, how good of a student you are (one gal in our class is super smart but gets poor grades because she works full-time and is a single mom -- I don't know how she is passing but she does it!). That was the point of my post, being an A students does not mean you have to be disliked by your classmates.

But I can see the point of the poster who I responded to -- learning is the priority here, not socializing.

I will say, however, that sometimes people believe that there is a split between good classroom students who are poor clinical students and poor classroom students who are good clinical students. I do see this, but also plenty of students who are good overall or bad overall...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Absolutely! I am with you on that. I don't think grades correlate with how nice you are, how good you are in clinicals, how good of a nurse you will be, how smart you are or even, incredibly, how good of a student you are (one gal in our class is super smart but gets poor grades because she works full-time and is a single mom -- I don't know how she is passing but she does it!). That was the point of my post, being an A students does not mean you have to be disliked by your classmates.

But I can see the point of the poster who I responded to -- learning is the priority here, not socializing.

I will say, however, that sometimes people believe that there is a split between good classroom students who are poor clinical students and poor classroom students who are good clinical students. I do see this, but also plenty of students who are good overall or bad overall...

My instructor had a motto: "C" your way out. If you happen to do better, great, however, the grade does not matter, the fact that you will be a nurse does. Unfortunately, this rule does not apply to the pre-requisites to nursing, at least in my school. I think that being competitive starts the minute you enter college when you want to become an RN. Most schools require a high GPA, which fosters competition, and the students are still brainwashed with this mentality throughout the nursing program. Personally, (and this is coming from a student that was second top of the class), I think they should totally do away with giving away academic awards...it takes away from the students that struggled with work, school, raising families and other drama who made it as well, even if it was a C average. I was not working while I was in school and I was on a paid leave of absence from my job and didn't have to worry about money, so, of course, I had the total focus, and made the good grades. It didn't matter to me, though. Bottom line is that I finished. Focus on comprehending the material, not the grades per se.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB.

absolutely! and my school has this "Nursing Student of the Year" award. Give me a break. All it boils down to is a popularity contest. NO ONE can be "the best".. only if they base it on acedemics, which they dont.We all "vote" and then the instructors have the final say. whatta bunch of cr*p

Everyone has their own story. Who is to say I am any better than the girl sitting in front of me that is a single mom with 2 kids that had to move in with her parents so she could go to school to make a better life, and on weekends, she is waitressing to make ends meet... what about the guy in the back row who lost his daughter to cancer last year... and so the girl who gets all A's on her tests because she is 23 with no kids, no responsibilites (lives with her parents and they pay everything) she is student of the year?

I absolutely HATE that award and am being very verbal about it. Probably get kicked out and I bet I wont be Student of the Year!:lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
absolutely! and my school has this "Nursing Student of the Year" award. Give me a break. All it boils down to is a popularity contest. NO ONE can be "the best".. only if they base it on acedemics, which they dont.We all "vote" and then the instructors have the final say. whatta bunch of cr*p

Everyone has their own story. Who is to say I am any better than the girl sitting in front of me that is a single mom with 2 kids that had to move in with her parents so she could go to school to make a better life, and on weekends, she is waitressing to make ends meet... what about the guy in the back row who lost his daughter to cancer last year... and so the girl who gets all A's on her tests because she is 23 with no kids, no responsibilites (lives with her parents and they pay everything) she is student of the year?

I absolutely HATE that award and am being very verbal about it. Probably get kicked out and I bet I wont be Student of the Year!:lol2:

I didn't even attend my own graduation because of that mess, and I knew that I was up for the award. I remember we had a student that worked as a cab driver for at least 12 hours 7 days a week, and still came to school everyday. He had a language barrier, and unfortunately because of that barrier, I heard he failed the boards. He may eventually be the best nurse around, but heck, he made it out of there. Three cheers for him! I hope he makes it, eventually...he was really trying to make a life for himself.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have tried to get to know most of the students in my class and once I hear their stories I am, with few exceptions, impressed by their committment and intelligence -- especially the foreign students who have so much to overcome.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Since this is only week 5, rest assured that many of the people who are bugging you right now (fellow students) will wash out, and you will be left finishing nursing school with a better, more focused, more dedicated group of students. (And yes, even some of those show-offs won't make it!!)

Also, again since this is just getting started, realize that you will have a different round of professors later on, they will treat you differently since you will have made it through the wash-out phase, and you will be expected to be more autonomous, self-directing, etc. and will have less busy work to do.

Things will get better. For now, you just have to hunker down, stick to yourself, and get through it. I did very little socializing *at all* my first 2 semesters of nursing school. But now that I'm nearly done, I have a core group of friends who are as serious as I am but do not have any need/desire to one-up their classmates. We are supportive of each other, help each other out, encourage each other. And the entire class gets along better. Somewhere along the way, nursing school gets hard enough on its own that it burns the pettiness right out of most people ;-) Who has time for petty games when you have a 2 care plans due on Tuesday and an exam on Wednesday and a paper due *and* an exam on Thursday...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am sorry that you are having such a difficult time in school, I am in 3rd semester and have been lucky to be surrounded with incredible people. I take night classes and have made some incredible friends in the program. I do know that the day classes are a little bit more cut throat. So I try to support my friends in the day program that are haveing the struggles that you are. If you are in your first semester most of the people at my school would agree that 1st is one of the hardest because there are so many adjustments to make..organization was and is key for us, you are not only covering ALOT of material the environment is different than other classes...did you get into the program with anyone that you know? If not, what worked for me was being really supportive to other people, really showing that I was there to become a nurse not to compete with other students...in the end you all have the same goal...and realizing that the NCLEX is pass fail, that you will not know who got the higher grade...and that hospitals only care about your license not who graduated at the top of the class may help some others to lighten up a bit...hope this helped in some small way...Good luck and hang in there!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

It is that way all over. The Prereq's were not like that, but it seems that the "program" brings out the best and worst in people.

You are there to make it through... that is all. Kiss what you need to kiss. and ignore what you need to ignore. It is only for the first semester...we have more to deal with next semester. But just remember, you can do anything for 7 days at a time... the weekend is still yours.(just use it wisely)

We all cried the first couple of 5 weeks (even the bullies by the way), thought of getting on antidepressants in order to save our families sanity (and Ours), it is a part of the Nursing Process - Must Survive Humility...then we can get on with the program. Stop being afraid of your instructors, they have been just where you are, they know what you are going through, they sympathize with you, but the thing is, you have to want to be a Registered nurse all the way to your bones, or you wont make it. That is what seperates them from anything else.

You will ALWAYS regret it if you quit!

Good luck and hang in there!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hang in there, you got this far already ! I too am in my first 2 months of my first year of the RN program and have gotten to know some really great supportive students in which we help each other out alot, there are cliques in the program too in which we dont seem to care much about since we are learning to let that crap slide and be concerned with exceling in what YOU do! we too have the rumour mill in fill working order, its amusing to see who has the time to get involved in the garbage that comes from the rumors . I spend my time studying and practicing instead . I have instructors that are great and others that are so wishy washy you really cant figure out how they ever got their degrees ! But if they can do it so can you!

Having a variety of good instructors and bad instructors to me is a lesson on how to deal with ALL people regardless, since we will all have great and horrible patients after graduation !

"What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger!"

"keep your eye on the prize!"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment