Nurses/Clinical Instructors: What makes you scared (in students)

[loveoutloud]

I have completed my third day of clinicals in a surgical unit. Some things I believe could have gone smoother (forgot to to my 5 rights a third time, forgot what one my meds side effects was, applied too much positive pressure after flushing picc, and too slow in removing air bubbles, and in general feeling like I have about 100 left feet). I also feel like I need to really improve in my organization, multi-tasking, etc and feel like a complete nursing failure. Anyways, I asked my instructor how I was doing and she said I was fine and that I seemed to understand principles/techniques. In nursing I am very hard on myself as i am terrified of doing harm to a patient.

What things do nursing students do that scare you about their ability to be a nurse? Can you tell when they are blanking out due to nerves vs incompetence?

xoxo

[dayanara]

In just a 1st sem student, but I think nerves can really make you forget things and make mistakes. I was so nervous in my basic assessment validation that I forgot the carotids and the conjunctival sac, but when I did it again to help a friend practice I remembered everything!