Plan B for if you Fail/Get Kicked out of Nursing School? I may need help with this.

[Athariel]

I am curious to hear from those who have considered this or who maybe approached many options; what do my prerequisites to get into the Nursing School allow me to go for if Nursing turns out to not be for me? I have heard of Health Information Management but what other options exist, if any? I wouldn't even know how to look, to be honest. Similar questions have been asked but those were specific to Pre Nursing. While the options maybe the same, perhaps there is something that would be a good fit to segway into after getting in. Thanks in advance for responses.

Backstory/Venting (Feel Free to Skip)

I find myself having to ask this now as I am not sure I am cut out to be a nurse. I am struggling with tests, but I can study more and master those, easily. I am confident in my next exam and expect a high B if not a low A. My issues have been with Clinical work (eg the most important part of Nursing School).

I love filling out the paperwork. I love the Nursing Care plans and even aced my first Nursing Care Plan, my only issue being my rationales didn't cite page numbers, only the book sources (others in my Clinical group had trouble staying focused on one Nurse Diagnosis whereas I had no trouble with that). Sadly, paired with my knack for memorizing medical jargon well enough to sound smarter than I am, that is where my talents in Nursing tend to dry up. I approach patients with an earnest wish to help but tend to look at them as a sack of fascinating components rather than people. I felt this was justified since Maslow's Heirarchy makes it clear that Physical well being is more important than Psycho-Social well being but my instructor has made it clear that unless I manage to become more human with my patients, I won't be getting through Nursing School.

One I was asked to get a full set of Vital Signs for complained that she hadn't been comfortable with me taking her apical pulse or checking under the blanket for sores and ulcers but that she felt intimidated into letting me. This is true and I do own up to it; I had run into problems with her allowing me to take vital signs and being, generally, very difficult. I approached it in kindness, initially, but when it became clear that my grade for clinicals was going to be jeopardized when she stone walled I relied on my old bouncer/security guard mainstay (eg nothing too big, or so I though; stepping just in inch closer than is comfortable, maintaining unnerving, unbroken eye contact, speaking in a curt yet persistent way, etc - I am not proud of it, but I am a big, uncharismatic, scary guy and this has always been my means of garnering compliance from others when avoiding/quelling/convincing them wasn't an option). I feel like much of this comes down to inherent brain function and personality stuff; things you can't just study for.

I don't like how this makes me feel. I don't like that I am viewing my clinical patients as obstacles to my success rather than sick human beings that need my help, more and more. I am sticking with it but if this doesn't click and I find that I can't deal with this, I would like a Plan B to opt into instead.

[Athariel]

Merriwhen: I can already tell that I get too attached to people to be a very objective or great nurse. I have a tendency to view sick people almost like children who need to be taken care of and can be a bit overbearing. Hard to maintain an objective, scientific mind when emotional. I guess part of being a Nurse is learning not to care about the patients so much that it becomes personal and you stay objective, right? I will have to work on that.

swansonplace: I am looking at that side of it now, yes. It is too late to drop the class and go for something else so I am sticking with it. Who knows; maybe it will all magically come together for me suddenly and go right. If not, I will at least enjoy the experience of new things. I paid the money so I should at least do that much.

Grad2012: Sounds like you had some naturals in your class. I envy people who can change their expressions like that and become people persons without much effort, going back and forth between mad/sad and happy/carefree in the blink of an eye. When I am stressed out I tend to look angry, even when smiling (I have a villain smile, or so a fellow clinical student told me in jest haha)

I can be passable, at least, with a lot of work. Better to be cold and aloof then scary, so it is progress.

ThePrincessBride: Funny enough, my clinical instructor actually mentioned OR Nursing for me as well due to my excelling in other aspects not dealing with people. I am on a rotation to do OR by the end of the month, I believe, so I am looking forward to seeing how it is in there.

priorities12: Oh that was a mischaracterization on my part - my apologies. You don't fail for just that and you do get chances to improve on stuff you are badly rated on. My Nursing school doesn't grade like other schools I have been to - it is a bit odd. I am used to percentages (You know the type; 90 to 100% is an A, 80 to 89% is a B, etc). This one doesn't use percentages, it uses a list of factors with each being marked with an S or a U, respectively. S stands for Satisfactory and U for Unsatisfactory (so there is just pass and fail - no convoluted percentage systems). The issue they made to me about it is that if you show a lack of improvement in a single area three clinicals in a row, you fail. There is a Needs Improvement rating too but she says that that will be used less and less as time goes on, since by the end of first semester we should know our stuff well enough.

For example, for taking vital signs and properly documenting them if you failed to do them to an acceptable degree and got a U for three clinical sessions in a row, you get drummed out. This professor has been somewhat kind on it but warned that later professors for clinical may not be so it would be good to get used to talking to patients in a friendly way. I have gotten a Needs Improvement and a Unsatisfactory already but it is enough to cause some panic that I am in the wrong line of work.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

It's OK to care for your patients :) But you also need to learn when you have to detatch...and yeah, that can be tough, even after you've been practicing for a few years.

[ianguitarist]

I must have missed where you were strong arming people. I've often wondered the same thing. Something more straight forward that carries some of the same prereqs is Dental Hygiene. They even make good money. Usually, you don't have to ask permission to clean someones teeth. If you find a way to be gentle they may even learn to love you. Pressure tactics are becoming more and more common to upsell optional services often not covered by insurance. The last time I went the Dentist came in to find out why I said no. It might be a perfect fit for you. If men can be nurses there is no reason we can't be D.H., and hey the money's just as good.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Esme: It isn't that I dislike the patients at all; it is quite the opposite. Part of why my stress causing me to see it as me versus them is so alarming is for that reason. The woman I was dealing with was having crazy high heart rate and had become septic due to an abscess that had broken into her blood stream, evidently, and messed her blood and insides up something fierce. Much of the nurse staff was busy and I wanted to help with her, in particular, since she was such a mess, but I just don't know how to inspire confidence in others. I am much better at inspiring fear, like a father to a kid more than a mother. Part of her issue was refusing medications she needed too; she was just generally very fearful and difficult, which upset me because she could have died, rights or none, from refusing stuff. When the nursing instructor began to bust my chops about not havign done much of the vitals and med check by the time the other students had, I snapped and simply became intent on getting them. Eventually, one of the charismatic nurses came in and helped teach her while I helped the CNA on the floor adjust patients for the rest of the day. Hence why I began thinking this job might not be for me.

But you said they are symptoms and diagnosis not patients. Using a bouncer mentality isn't the way to win over a frightened patient. You get more bees with honey. You can't as a nurse...snap. regardless of your good intentions. You have talked about obsessive thoughts...it would probably help to talk to someone....to get to the route of the problem

[Athariel]

Merriwhen: Yes, detaching is the hard thing. I used to help care for an uncle who lost his legs and much of his mobility to a bad MRSA infection where it seemed to just melt him and really wrecked his life to the extent he eventually died. Just gave up. I dislike problems that can't be solved easily, intensely, but when it comes to people there is a hard science for healing (vancomyicin in his case, for example). At least healing the body - healing the mind is a nightmare. Part of what drew me to nursing was wanting to learn the secrets of not being helpless when it came to people like my late uncle any longer. Unfortunately, I carry more issues with that then I thought as well and have a huge amount of time not thinking about them. Even now I am kind of going over and over in my head about some suicidal guy that wasn't even my patient along with all I have served so far. I suppose if I can't detach from these worries and thoughts then this job will consume me before long.

ianguatarist: I hadn't even considered the dental route. I will look into that. While the mouth may not be very critical, it is something that can help people and may make a difference for others all the same (even if not at the same level as a Nurse would). Thanks for the idea.

Esme12: Oh, I know that I can't snap. And I look at patients as components because the components, at least in my view, are the big thing to check on. A patient with septicemia from a ruptured abscess on her gall bladder will be killed by it, whether she is a saint or a total monster. The components don't care; if they fail, the patient dies. Thus, I focus on them. Perhaps to my detriment, as I am learning. I never gave emotions, spirituality, or psychology much thought before this class. I am beginning to see that my view on treating patients was in error and that I may have the wrong mindset for being a good Nurse.

Don't worry about me becoming a bad Nurse or something; if I feel my presence would be more detrimental to a patient than not and if I can't be a people person like others then I will opt out of the program. Sick people deserve better people to care for them than I. And thanks for your concern on the obsessive issue - I hadn't even considered that it would cause me to become so attached to patients to the point where I would snap and stress out so much. Thankfully, I am talking to someone about it now.

Sadly, no easy pill I can take for it like depression or OCD. I had hoped that pharmacology held some cure for this but, evidently, it will take effort and a whole lot of time to fix. Time is a commodity that Nursing School seems intent on consuming. Still, I am making it work, if barely. So thanks for the encouragement to that end.

[Lilredhen1]

Atherial,

As a former truck driver and recently graduated, licensed, and employed nurse, I'd love to share some advice learned from my journey. It seems like we have some similarities in our backgrounds.

1. In the clinicals, whatever your instructor says is the gospel. Sucking it up is a valuable survival skill.

2. It is a proven fact that people start to decide if they like and trust you in the first TWO SECONDS of seeing your face. It is well worth your while to start learning how to smile just a little bit and give a good introduction of yourself upon meeting. It goes a long way.

3. Trust is one of the biggest components of being successful in this field. If your patients do not trust you and your colleagues don't trust you, it's game over. Find a place within yourself that you can connect to a broader base of people (ie. treat an elderly female patient with the same dignity and respect that you'd expect someone else to treat your own grandmother). Chances are she is someone's grandmother.

4. Nothing about nursing is sunshine, rainbows, and fluffy unicorns. Don't ever feel you need to conform to that fairy tale. Frankly, this field needs more diversity.

5. Developing a good relationship quickly is paramount. If you cannot succeed at that, nothing else will work effectively. As nurses we have to ask very sensitive questions and see very intimate areas in order to help our patients. Even the most likeable person in the world will eventually have a patient not feel comfortable with them for various reasons (cultural, gender, race, our own lack of etiquette, maybe no reason at all). Try to think from their shoes. If you were going to the clinic with an STD, as a man, would you feel most comfortable with the 25 year old female nurse or a male to discuss those issues and expose your diseased parts? The very best thing to do in those scenarios is to respect client wishes, excuse yourself, and find the nearest nurse that you think would better suit that client. It's good for you, and them. Don't force. Don't take offense. Frequently, the person will be very appreciative of your sensitivity to their wishes. There's always plenty of other things to do, find your niche.

6. Honesty with ourselves is one of the toughest challenges in life. Sit down, remember why you chose this path, and ask yourself if you have it in you to adapt to meet these necessary changes.

7. Nursing school is meant to be an evolution, not just an education. We all change thru the process, struggle along the way. Ask yourself something--if you were a graduate tomorrow, how successful do you feel you would be in that "real world"?

Best wishes.

[Athariel]

Ask yourself something--if you were a graduate tomorrow, how successful do you feel you would be in that "real world"?

Thanks for the reply. As crazy as it sounds, I never even considered the future and how I would be as a nurse if I graduated tomorrow with all the stress of school and all the minutiae of Clinical and Theory. I did sit and consider it, though.

Prior to thinking about it like that (eg if I graduated tomorrow) I was sort of on the fence. You are right. People skills and inspiring trust are the basics, really. Stuff that should click naturally, if I put myself out there enough. It isn't even a matter of shyness - just extreme discomfort with intimacy. That is why it threw me off so much and confused me, initially (why I seem good at security work but suddenly started struggling and dreading the "people" part of Nursing).

I just never realized how intimate patient/nurse stuff was till I got my first few complaints of making patients uncomfortable in Clinicals. I think I always looked at Nurses as solving physical problems. Going through the class simply hoping that I don't get difficult patients and situations rather than hoping for them as learning experiences is a sign that I am not going to be a good nurse. I think patients deserve better than that.

The best choice will be for me to finish out this semester (too late for a refund and a headache to deal with financial aid and what not at this point) then pursue something away from intimate interactions with people in a related field. I can teach easily, speak in front of groups (weirdly, never feel any anxiety in group speaking or speech giving), and handle interpersonal office stuff but this exceedingly uncomfortable intimate stuff is for the birds. I can't do something that requires this sort of thing for a living and even if I could fake it, I would want better for my family if it were reversed.

I think I will start studying coding when Christmas break gets here and go for Health Information Management. Thanks for helping me put things in a clearer perspective. And thanks to all who responded for giving me some clarity.

[kringkring5144]

Hi!

I recently got kicked out of my nursing school this recent semester due to failing my clinical portion(my teacher said I was not concerned enough)and felt completely lost for about a couple of weeks before I got back up.

I recently applied to the Health Management Program at my school and it is pretty limited too. I dont find out until the first week of June though. I wish you the best of luck!

[CajunShrimp84]

I mean this in the most sincere way, but I know that it might sound bad...If you don't see the patients as people, but rather you see them as objects to learn from, why not look into being a medical examiner? You would be performing your skills on a dead patient & be able to use what you have learned & learn more still from each person without having to deal much with living beings besides families & coworkers.

[RNyourBusiness]

Maybe you could make a career in nursing for the prison system. Just a thought?

[Peanut&Buttercup]

What about becoming a CRNA? It sounds like you might be more suited to something more strictly STEM. Engineering? A biomedical engineer?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

You cannot be a CRNA without being a nurse with critical care experience first.

What about biomedical engineering or prosthetics/orthotics specialist (a rapidly expanding specialty)?

I know you stated you failed a course was it a nursing or science course?