I thought I would share my 2 cents on what I feel is the toughest part of Nursing School, and the profession......and i'll give some nice advice along the way as well....
You know, im amazed at how some students will say or claim that they never open the textbook...... that all they do is read powerpoints, and note sheets......I guess that for any student, the thing to note is, this is going to vary from school to school, every program is very different, and every student learns differently.
Some programs are "care bare schools, some programs put less of the reading responsibility on the student and more on the teachers, and others are completelyt self taught"
You know when I was in LPN school, I read everything, ....but I paced myself to 1 chapter a day.... my philosophy was
"One Chapter a day, keeps the grades of "F" away"
The Biggest thing though, no matter what was at end of the day, you have to really understand Nursing truely is its own art, and its own subject....its unique from other medical professions on that, your not just remembering whats normal and abnormal, and applying it to your patient and problem solving....what your doing is ultimately managing the patients response to illness and taking into account the entire holistic picture, the psychosocial and all, which is Nursing's most distinguishing feature a.k.a "the Nursing model"
I went to LPN School, and RT School, and I will say for me LPN School was very frustrating because of the type of NCLEX-PN style questions that have more than 1 right answer, sometimes 2 or 3 right answers and this is where you are constantly using that Nursing Process ...that ADPIE, and your remembering your ABC's and Maslow or Orem, or whatever theroist your school abides by....and of the 2 or 3 right answers, you have to pick the better one. I always criticzed this method of questioning because truthfully, ...you'll never really know if a student was right or not because you'll never know the rationale on why the student arrived there.
When I went to RT School, there was only one answer for a majority of the questions, and we were assessed from a totally different prospective,....we had NBRC style questions which are also critical thinking as all health care fields were, but instead we were assesed on treating and managing our patient. ....Personally I found the medical model much easier, and RT in general, mainly because I was better in the physical sciences, and RT is much more science orientated. Plus with Nursing, you have to know so much more such as, charting and documentation, and the psychosocial and family issues.
That dreaded Nursing model, I hated, and for me I felt like that was the hardest part of Nursing school....and you know what, some people never get it, .....thats why Fundamentals or the very first semester of Nursing School is so important, and possibly the most important level of nursing school.
If you fail Nursing,.....your not stupid, and it doesnt mean your not cut out for anything medical....I mean theres RT, X-Ray, Paramedic, Radiation Therapy, Med Lab Tech, PT.....plenty of options to go to....and dont think its your fault, ....in some cases, it could be your school, especially if you tried.....most people bash me for saying this, but personally, Im a firm believer of "theres no such thing as a bad student, just bad teacher", and if your in a program that graduates less than half of its students and has mediocre NCLEX Scores below 85%, then it could be your school.... so hope you pick a school with good NCLEX pass rates, an attrition rate of less than 40% and a good track record.
Lastly, Survival of Nursing school is not the last step......after you graduate, you have to survive the profession....and thats why I choose not to go get my RN and went to RT school instead. I know plenty of Nurses who have been in the job a while, and plenty of them want out....so be sure Nursing really is for you. If you wonder why some instructors and Nurses are so mean, and tough sometime, its for a reason...believe me I know.
