Am I being paranoid

[Zeena]

I don’t know if nursing is for me, I like patient care and helping others, but I have the fear of being responsible of a life and making a mistake that can harm them holds me back to become a nurse. I was in a nursing program, but dropped because I doubted myself and felt like I needed to know if nursing is really for me. I loved g retaining the knowledge and using the knowledge to educate patients, but harming them is something I know I can’t live with. I know it might be fears, I’m going to try volunteering at a hospital and see if this is for me. But am I just being paranoid ? And overthinking this?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

We cannot possibly answer that for you. Only you know your temperament and ability to think beyond your fears. It does sound like you are anxious in a way that will inhibit your ability to give patients the care they deserve. Keep questioning and exploring and you will figure out where your calling lies. There are a lot of areas in medical care outside of nursing.

["nursy", RN]

Volunteering at a hospital is not going to give you a taste of the responsibility that comes with being a nurse. That being said, a nursing education not only gives you technical knowledge, it also teaches you how not to make mistakes. If you follow protocols, you will usually be safe. Now, EVERYONE makes mistakes, That is just part of being human. The vast majority of nursing mistakes are non-life-threatening. The ones that are, almost always involve a huge breach of protocol, or not asking a question when you are not sure about something.

You might be overthinking it, or you might be looking for an excuse to not go into nursing because it really isn't right for you. There are plenty of other options in healthcare, i.e. physical therapy, sonographer, etc. I think you just really need to dig deep and figure out what you really want. You could be in a car accident and inadvertently cause someone's death, but you still drive a car, right?

[brownbook]

So hard for us to judge your paranoia. Is it so bad you feel like you're having a heart attack, if someone asked you your name you'd stare at them with a blank look? Describe what your physically feeling and thinking, when you have these "fears".

Every nursing student should feel some level of nervousness. Many nursing students, including me, were sure we could somehow kill a patient by the slightest mistake. New nurses feel that way for several months.

As "nursy" RN said the vast majority of mistakes are non-life threatening. One wrong pill, one wrong IV antibiotic, one wrong intramuscular injection, yes it's an error but it's not going to kill a patient. (Yeah yeah...I know there is an extremely remote possibility it could..maybe, one in a billion chance.)

I actually like to have a small, still able to remember my name, level of nervousness even after 30 plus years of nursing. I think it keeps me on my toes.

Nothing worse than a nonchalant nurse thinking she can, will, has, never made a mistake.

How old are you? I could have never made it through the nursing program when I was young. I entered the nursing program when I was 30. Maybe you can take a break, work as a CNA a few years and go back to nursing school.