What sorts of Nursing Students should drop Nursing School? Am I one of them?

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Specializes in Medical Surgical.

If what you say is true then you have already predetermined the conclusion yourself.

I am just a nursing student, but I do very well in school. I DO NOT read my books all day every day. I do recognize that as nurses and future nurses we are the ones providing the care for our patients. We might be taking orders from providers but we are the providing the care. What happens when a patient starts to go downhill usually? THE NURSE IS THERE! What happens when the doctor prescribes a ped patient an adult dose of heparin? THE NURSE IS THERE TO HOPEFULLY CATCH IT! What happens when you as a nurse have 5 million things to do but have to figure out what is the most important and go from there? You turn on your thinking cap and get to prioritizing!!! Sounds like fun to me.

Look at your motives. Why are you in school? Do you want to be a nurse? If not maybe you should do something else. But if you truly do want to be a nurse stop reading those books word for word and memorizing because when the time comes for you to just act you can't just start reciting things that you read in a book.

Good luck to you!

Vysection

7 Posts

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Thanks for the compliments. I suppose I came off a bit dire there. The stress is sapping a lot of energy and what little happiness I normally maintain and the studying without break or time for personal activity over the past week left me much darker and more drained than I though. I apologize. I suppose I will have to consider what I really want - I went with Nursing because it seemed to fit and I breezed through the pre-requisites easily, on the first try. Reading around I see there is a degree of passion I might lack that others around here seem to possess. I will talk to my counselor at school to see what my options are.

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It is what it is.

That said, you bring up points I hadn't considered. I don't see myself contradicting a doctor and I tend to shut down when people get angry or aggressive towards me and clam up. I suppose that would make me not well cut out for patient advocacy. I didn't know that about the nurse taking the blame for doctor and pharmacist mistakes though (we haven't covered legal stuff in lecture yet - was coming up near the end).

If what you are saying is correct then it seems like nursing is a big gamble as a profession, generally, and not a very good deal - you have to be a doctor, a pharmacist, and do patient care all while making a fraction of the money of the doctor or pharmacist and carrying all of the risk. Are nurses just trained decoys to take hits for the hospital? I suppose that is why they say it is one of the top ten most stressful jobs around. Thanks for informing me. And don't worry; experienced nurse or not, you are in your senior year, practically a nurse already, so your two cents goes a long way.

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I guess I did predetermine a conclusion. I think I had convinced myself there was some pattern or trick I wasn't seeing to it. I am beginning to think that was in error.

I have been pretty good at just acting, though will admit I can get tunnel vision when it comes to problem solving in clinicals that has caused me some issues. I have a tendency to think in terms of what is on the charts and rarely connect knowledge from other potential problems to my current situation. During my second clinical I had an elderly patient who had trouble verbalizing issues admitted for a broken [...] so I became so busy watching for sores, turning, and making sure the dressing and such were up to par I totally forgot about oral care and when [they] didn't want to eat I assumed [they] were having pain and my instructor had to point out that I had forgotten a really basic thing (eg their mouth was a mess and affecting their appetite). The oral care did work.

I don't know how to stay open minded enough to remember the little things without getting overwhelmed by the millions of facts and possibilities so I end up blotting them out so I don't become frozen and inactive.

Kipahni, RN

70 Posts

Specializes in Oncology, Ortho/trauma,.

I am making an assumption but from your posts you seem methodical, intentional and cautious. There is a place for this in Nursing it just might take a while to get there. Perhaps Wound Care Clinic (if it doesn't gross you out) OR (focus on sterile field and documentation with assistance to surgeon) or a up and coming Nursing field is Electronic Documentation teacher, implementer, developer. ( I have worked at three hospitals who went from paper to computer charting and have been a beta tester and a super user)

If you feel like you don't want to go through the hassle of nursing school try going into biomedical engineering or medical librarian science?

Specializes in Psychiatry, Mental Health.

I'm sorry you are feeling challenged and disappointed by your choices. I went to nursing school in the 1970s and so I did experience the tail end of the nursing culture your grandmother and aunt knew.

There are many career fields in which a person can be an assistant without being a leader, but being a registered nurse today is not one of them. Have you thought of taking a CNA course so you can do direct patient care under direction? There is still responsibility required, but the decision-making is on a more limited plane than that for RNs.

Outside of health care, you might want to consider working as a teacher's aide in elementary school or in special education with the severely disabled. If you are a religious person, there are some additional possibilities I can think of.

I applaud your introspection and self-awareness. You seem like a very kind, intelligent and thoughtful person.

NurseDirtyBird

425 Posts

The level of insight you demonstrated in your original post leads me to believe you are not dumb. I am not particularly ambitious myself, I have no desire to have more responsibility than I do, or to manage people. But I did have the ambition to become a nurse, and that's necessary for excelling in nursing school. Memorizing facts is part of it, but you must also be able to apply these facts to real world problems and think critically to solve them. If this is not your forte, you may be pursuing the wrong field.

May I suggest the laboratory? In the lab, you follow exact procedures for performing tests, and analyze the results based on fixed criteria. You are not solving problems, your responsibility ends at the accurate reporting of facts. Your memorization skills would serve you well. In the lab, you are an integral part of the health care team, although not in a direct patient care role, except for maybe performing phlebotomy.

trishmsn

127 Posts

You seem well spoken and a clear writer, and I agree that you do not sound stupid in the least. I am in nursing education, and it really does sound as if this might not be the spot for you....but there is no need to beat yourself up. You don't know what you don't know, and now that you have some knowledge about your personality and the needs of nursing, you are making an intelligent self assessment. Nursing is a second career for me, after a degree in business and accounting (which fit my schedule in college but did not excite me at ALL....the thought of every day in a room at a desk horrified me!!) Take some voactional batteries and interest inventories at your school or the local community college, and see what else out there might fit you better. Something precise and low-key, like being in radiology or ultrasound, might be a better fit if you like the science and biology. You may also discover some career you have never HEARD of that fits you to a T. You seem to be a smart cookie...go find out what to do when you grow up!!

1hopefulChik

114 Posts

I don't see myself contradicting a doctor and I tend to shut down when people get angry or aggressive towards me and clam up. I suppose that would make me not well cut out for patient advocacy.

After reading several posts, I tend to think about your situation differently- but I could be wrong. I think a more important issue is that you seem to embrace being a pushover as positive. You do not need to be a leader-type to stand up for yourself. That's assertiveness, not aggression nor competitiveness.

No- everyone can't be a leader. But not being a leader does not mean a lack of assertiveness.

Unlike some, I am an assertive person when necessary but I am by no means competitive. I don't have to do better than others. I only need to do my best.

I don't know how to stay open minded enough to remember the little things without getting overwhelmed by the millions of facts and possibilities so I end up blotting them out so I don't become frozen and inactive.

If it helps, nursing diagnosis and medical diagnosis share the common thread. Both require a practitioner to look and analyze what they observe and come to some type of conclusion. Most of nursing is about decision-making.

Based on your deep analysis of yourself, you obviously have tremendous analytical ability. That would be a great asset if you were to be a nurse. I think the 1st semester of nursing school may require some memorization but probably not as much as you think. I'm of the opinion that it's more about analyzing the scenario presented against what you've studied. It's not about rote or regurgitation.

Your posts leave me with the impression that you are struggling with the art and practice of thinking for yourself, rather than taking cues from others. That's an important trait for any adult in any career.

No matter what career you choose, you will be frustrated unless you learn to think on your feet and for yourself. Besides, the very essence of true leadership is to be a servant of those you lead. Leaders make decisions so their subordinates have the direction, leverage and tools they need to do their job.

I believe you don't necessarily need to change careers as much maybe renewing your thoughts on servitude versus slavery. You can gain more confidence in your ability to think for yourself without needing to be a leader.

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

My post was not to discourage you OP. I agree with everyone else above. Everyone has an asset that they can contribute to the profession. You forgot oral care? People have done way worse. Like I said, think about your motives. Do you want to be a nurse? As they say, where there is a will there is a way :)

degratrj

57 Posts

Your talent is obvious from your writing. I think you belong in nursing, you just need to learn THE GAME. Creatives like yourself sometimes fight THE GAME thinking that it is below (or above) them. Take a sabbatical from school. Toughen up a bit. Reignite your passion for nursing, and do it to it. You will be fine. dg

Altra, BSN, RN

6,255 Posts

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

I agree with posts above -- you have excellent insight, and have drawn some valid conclusions.

I agree with your conclusions -- nursing is probably not for you. To continue in nursing classes, continuing to make poor grades, would potentially be damaging to whatever future plans you might make. A low GPA is a tough hole to crawl out of.

Finish your semester, and either fill your schedule with general ed courses next term or consider taking some time off entirely to plot out your future course.

Good luck to you.

PurpleLover

443 Posts

Do me a favor?

Actually throw yourself into this semester. Give it your best, and see how that goes. If at the end of the semester you still feel the same, walk away and never look back. We never know what we are capable off until we try. It could be just fear and uncertainty taking over right now. I must admit after orientation today, I thought can I do this? Then I said heck yes! I will probably cery, my ego will get bruised, but I will survive. Sometimes people can be their own worst enemy with the negative things we allow to manifest inside our heads. So, step back and breathe.

rwhite13801

1 Post

1st of all you have to ask yourself if you really want to be a nurse, or did you get into it because of influence from your family. I feel you on the nursing being over whelming. I'm a brand new nurse. I only been a nurse for a month & I feel like I don"t no how to develop my nursing judgement, but my passion is nursing, but I must admit some days I feel like going back to being a C.N.A which didn't carry a whole lot of responsibility. I don"t see myself as a problem solver, because I'm still in the phase of asking what to do for my patients. as far as the NCLEX is concern, I don't think it's for natural problem solver. I just studied kaplan & did a whole lot of praying and Jesus took care of the rest. although I'm officially a Registered Nurse I still feel like I'm in nursing school, but I'm in it for the long haul. so if you really want to be a nurse, you can do it; just make sure it's what you want and not your family:)

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