Inside nursing school. How hard?

NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN · Oct 22, 2016

What is the "super difficult" part of nursing? I mean, obviously it's a hard program, but for you nurses, what's the hardest part?

The large amount of info packed into a short amount of time. The program easily eats up 40-60 hours per week. If you have to work on top of that, or if you have children at home, that leaves very little time for any type of life. Further, just because you spend 40-60 hours on school/clinic/studying/homework doesn't mean that you get good grades. It will probably get you somewhere in B-land, but I know people who study their butts off and barely pass. I have had to write papers that took 50 hours and were due in 1 week. And that was on top of all my regular coursework and such. Thankfully we only have to do that once a semester, but it's intense. (different schools will vary, obviously)

As far as clinicals, what is it like? Do you have to participate with procedures or do you just watch?

Again, different schools have different layouts. Most will have you taking over full care, or at least working with a nurse and you will be doing the procedures. My program has us take over full care of the patient with our instructor's supervision. That means all meds and procedures are done by me. When the dr. rounds, I talk to him about the patient's status, and make requests if needed. If I see something that requires an order, I'm the one who calls the doc, pharmacy, or lab. If my patient needs a blood draw or a Foley, I do it. Basically, during that shift, I am the nurse. YMMV

I'm not really sqeamish, but the thing that I'm worried about is coming across a seriously ill child, and getting emotional. I fear that I'm not an emotionally strong person when it comes to things like that. Like it would be hard for me see that. Does this type of feeling eventually go away, or is this a sign that I would not do well in nursing?

A huge part of nursing is caring. It's okay to get emotional. I mean, don't ugly cry and make the parent have to comfort you or anything, but needing to step away to cry in the bathroom happens. I've done it at least 3 times in clinic. And in my psych rotation with children, I had a day where I came home and cried for hours. It made me very aware that psych is not for me, especially pediatric psych. Luckily, the specialties only require 1 rotation, so you won't have to spend a lot of time with peds.

After nursing school, do i HAVE to work in a hospital? I really hate hospitals and do not want to work in one. My plan is to become a fertility nurse/ obgyn nurse/ Ibclc...I'd rather work in a clinic.

One of the beauties of nursing is that it is so versatile. No, you don't have to work in a hospital. That said, L&D nurses do work in hospitals, although you may be able to find a birth center, but you most likely won't be working regular 9-5 hours. If you want to work in an OB office, your best bet would probably be to become a medical assistant. Be aware it doesn't pay nearly as much. And you don't have to be an RN to be a lactation consultant. You can go to a lactation consultant program. I am not at all familiar with fertility nurses, but I'm guessing with it being such a small specialty, you might have to work quite a few years in another area before being able to get a job in that type of specialty, then again, maybe not. Definitely something for you to look in to prior to becoming a nurse if that is your ultimate goal.

But, I guess I'm really asking what is it like in nursing school? The good and the bad.

I could go on for day about this, but it's a lot of work. I can't tell you how many times I've broken down over the last 2 years. It's overwhelming. It's time consuming. You miss your friends, your family, your down time. But it's just a snapshot in time. I graduate in 6 weeks and am so thankful for this journey and so excited to start my career. If it is your dream, don't let anyone talk you out of it. That said, do your research first, lac. consul. or OB MA might be a better fit for you.