Nursing and dealing personally with ADHD

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 24, 2009

i am also entering my clinicals in the fall time at ramapo college i am a good student in college but i have trouble listening to directions if anyone can help me with this problem i would greatly appreciate i do have adhd

Welcome to the site

we have a few threads discussing this in the

Nursing with Disabilities forum

General nursing student forum

karenesn · Jun 25, 2009

Hi,

If you read all the threads, then I'm sure you've read mine. I graduated 12/08 from a 2 yr. RN program. What helped was going to the school's disability counselor who, every semester, typed letters for me to give to each of my teachers/instructors. It informed them that I had a disability (not saying what it was), and what consessions must be provided to me, by law (persons w/ disabilities act). For example, I should need to sit at the front of the class, I will be allowed extra time to complete all exams, tests,... if I chose to enlist a close friend/classmate to be a note taker, (the school would even pay them, I think it was like $4 bucks an hour),though note takers didn't help me. I could choose to take a test in a private room to avoid distractions... Of course my friends helped me in study groups. You will need to officially be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, providing a doctor's note to the disabilities counselor. Then came the time when I started taking medication (third semester). For the first time, I could read an entire page without having to re-read it 10 times. ( I was always 'labeled' a slow learner in grade school). Being diagnosed late in life was a revelation for me. Finally, never, ever tell your D.O.N, or fellow employee's that you have ADHD, because like it or not, there is a stigma attached to us, causing you to be 'watched' more closely, and sometimes unfairly. Good luck in school, and good luck in finding your niche in the nursing field. ADHDer's make great nurses.

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN · Jun 25, 2009

For anyone interested, there is a great magazine called ADDitude that has a website with a ton of information. http://www.additudemag.com/ I do not have ADD/ADHD but as a school nurse I keep up with it as much as possible, and this is a great resource.