Your experience in nursing school

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Sep 11, 2016

I was more than a little nervous going in, after hearing from EVERYONE that nursing school is incredibly difficult. I had (and have!) 2 special needs kids when I enrolled in nursing school, and knew I was going to have to work 30+ hours a week to keep us afloat. I was terrified that my near-perfect academic record was going right down the toilet.

And, yeah. It was hard. But just normal hard. Academically, it was totally manageable, certainly no harder than any of my previous college experiences. I was a stressed out mess, but that would have been true regardless of the course of study I chose. Granted, I was already familiar with learning in a mixed didactic/clinical setting (had completed a 3 year direct-entry midwifery program a few years before going for my RN), and I will say that 9 hour clinical shifts was a walk in the park compared to the brutal call schedule I was expected to maintain in midwifery school. So my perspective may be different.

So I guess I would advise new students to keep the whole experience in perspective; nursing school is challenging, but not extraordinarily so. And with the full benefit of hindsight, I would also say that nurses are a varied bunch. Most are great at their jobs, some are excellent, and some are just not very good. Not all nurses have a good grasp on higher level thinking skills, and misinformation/pseudoscience is not uncommon (of course, this is not unique to the nursing profession).

Be responsible for your own learning, and remember that while nursing is indeed a "caring" profession, at the end of the day health care is a scientific endeavor. Learn about the ways our brain fools us into false conclusions, and be wary of your own biases. Learn about the scientific process and what it means to be a true skeptic.

And also, the fixation on NANDA in my nursing school was just ridiculous. In real life, it is used as intended; a guide to planning care. But in nursing school, we lived or died by the NANDA-approved dx list. I graduated thinking that every unit must have a dog-eared NANDA book, and nurses would walk around talking about "impaired spontaneous respirations" and "readiness for enhanced fluid balance." Turns out,the doc will not be impressed with your diagnosis of "ineffective childbearing process." And you will not be accused of practicing medicine for saying that your newly born patient is in primary apnea.

AutumnApple · Sep 11, 2016

I kind of talked about this in an article I wrote.

I was confident going into nursing school, but had become somewhat......ummm.... competitive while in school.

No, not the same person when I graduated.

During my first job, I became more than a little obsessed with my job performance. I developed poor coping and became isolated.

For me, looking back, it was as if someone turned the difficulty level up on this game called life. I was cruising along with life set to "beginner" and suddenly, overnight, I was in the "expert" zone. I didn't know how to cope other than to "outscore" everyone around me.

Upon realizing I had not become the person I meant to be, I had to reflect on my ways and change.

Now, years later, the biggest change I've made in my life is: balance.

I became a better nurse by exorcising the idea that I had to be a perfect nurse. Ironic, but it's true.

On a side note, as far as school goes, practicing NCLEX style questions will help. Don't fret about the content of the questions too much. It's the format and style of questioning that gets most people, not the content.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Sep 11, 2016

On a side note, as far as school goes, practicing NCLEX style questions will help. Don't fret about the content of the questions too much. It's the format and style of questioning that gets most people, not the content.

Would it be wise to study the NCLEX while I'm in nursing school or before?

AutumnApple · Sep 11, 2016

Would it be wise to study the NCLEX while I'm in nursing school or before?

I'd probably save it for when school starts.

If you really want to be smart, when you start making friends, introduce them to the idea. Make a study group out of it. Have different people get different NCLEX prep/question guides and do them together.

Benefits to this: You have more material to go over, enough to last for the whole program. Also, the friends you make will become important allies during clinical rotations.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Sep 11, 2016

I became a better nurse by exorcising the idea that I had to be a perfect nurse. Ironic, but it's true.

What's crazy is that I've had some tell me never walk into nursing school as a perfectionist. Don't expect you'll get an easy A. I know one nurse I asked if she thought nursing school was hard and she said "nope".

AutumnApple · Sep 11, 2016

What's crazy is that I've had some tell me never walk into nursing school as a perfectionist. Don't expect you'll get an easy A. I know one nurse I asked if she thought nursing school was hard and she said "nope".

Many truly don't have any issues with nursing school. I didn't. But at what price?

Many also start abusing anti-depresents/anxiety meds during school. I lost count of how many of my fellow students were getting "a small dose of Xanax off a friend, from time to time, for clinical rotations and tests and skills lab and............and..............and..............".

What your friends warned you about is the mistake I made. I was not one to lay back while my (cough cough) perfect academic career was laid to waste by instructors who were more interested in telling everyone why they wouldn't make it than figuring out how to redirect the struggling students. I became obsessive about grades and clinical performance, and it showed.

It showed in my grades, yes. It also showed in my social life and overall attitude towards life.

Balance. That, coupled with a "I'll do this or it will kill me" mindset (yes, those two things seem mutually exclusive but they are not) will get you through.

What I mean by the mindset is: You may have to make tough choices. Will you put school first? Good example would be: If you are in a relation that just doesn't seem to work well enough to make room for school............will you end it or keep going and hope for the best? What if you have to cut cable to help budget and not have to work so much?

My experience tells me nursing school is easy for no one. Just, some have an easier time making the decisions necessary to keep school first.

ejnjj143 · Sep 11, 2016

My class in RN school had developed this saying: "It is what it is." RN school stole my life away for 2 years but I passed with flying colors. I dedicated alot of my time to studying and I wanted to understand the material through and through. It taught me how to think like a nurse thus the saying, and also things changed constantly so you had to be flexible, thus the saying. It's good practice for when you get into your career field. Once you get your first job and feel comfortable, things kinda calm down. They did for me anyway. It's a rough school, but it's worth it, I promise you that.

barcode120x, RN, NP · Sep 12, 2016

Nursing school was tough, as it should be for most, if not all prior nursing students. My first day I thought it was another day in school, but a new chapter in my life which would define me once I finished. I never really had much anxiety or nervousness (that came when I starting working lol). Nursing school eventually became routine, kind of like a job. Study your orifice off to pull off at least a 75 and move onto the next subject(s).

I definitely came out of nursing school a different person. Before nursing, I was a shy/introverted guy that kept to myself and stayed at home a lot on the PC with a small group of friends to play tennis with on a regular basis. I was also kinda lazy and took general education classes for granted pulling off B's and sometimes A's, but not trying at all really. When I started nursing, that's when I knew I could not EFF around. I basically became the complete opposite throughout nursing school. I became VERY studious, studying 3-5 hours almost every day and with nursing classmates. I became very outspoken and went out a lot with nursing classmates (something I never really did before). I'm glad I went through nursing school. Taught me a lot not just about life and my future, but about people and patients.

Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA · Sep 12, 2016

Do instructors usually test off the book or do they make up their own questions? If they test off the book then all you should really have to do is study their powerpoints, read the book, and listen to lectures? What about those math tests that you have to get a 100% in or you don't advance? Do they make those up or do they test from a book too? Is that pharmacology? If it is, do you get to read how to calculate dosage? Like to learn? If nursing school instructors usually test off the book then that will give me a huge amount of weight off my anxiety attacks..

AlmostANurse321 · Sep 12, 2016

It depends on the professor. Most of them make Power Points that track the book. The most important thing is to listen for what the professor emphasizes, because that will be on the exam.

Meeshie · Sep 13, 2016

It depends on what you mean by 'test off the book' but I'm thinking the answer is no. Nursing classes require you to understand - not memorize. For example you're not going to get a "what is the definition of" type of question. You're going to get a lesson on gastro disorders and then get a question like " A client with a history of heart failure has been prescribed an antacid for treatment of PUD. What instructions should the nurse give when teaching this client about his new medication?" And no, that isn't going to be in the book written like that. It will be in the book, but split amongst the sections. You have to know the diet for heart patients and types of antacids and the basic teachings and now which one is going to be important for heart patients. You'll have learned about diets for heart patients possibly in an earlier semester and not in the current semester, as well.

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