Anyone having second thoughts about nursing based on their clinicals?

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Anyone having second thoughts about nursing based on their clinicals?

I know it wont be easy, but I know that what I learn will be invaluable.

Yes - I've still learned quite a bit during clinical. It's where what you learn in books really sticks, after you've experienced its real-life context. You also learn about the rigorous aspects of being a nurse. So, the learning is two-fold. I've come to appreciate nursing as a profession all the more. I'm just not sure nursing is for me, considering my experiences. Perhaps it's lack of confidence from not really having done much, really.

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Specializes in acute care.

So far, it's just been Pass/Fail

Do you get graded on clinicals?
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Specializes in acute care.

Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do in nursing before you started school? I didn't expect to like all of my clinicals, simply because none of them are in the area I am interested in. I tried going in with an open mind, and it worked last semester but I see that this semester will be more of a struggle. (I'm really trying, though.) This semester I am in a rotation in a specialty that I could never see myself doing. But because I can see that my instructor has a real passion for it and will be very supportive, I am trying to remain positive and get the most out of this experience. (Like I said, I'm really trying.)

I think that if I didn't know what I wanted to do in nursing, I would have quit a long time ago. Because I do, I'm still here and plan on finishing.

I'm just not sure nursing is for me, considering my experiences. Perhaps it's lack of confidence from not really having done much, really.
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Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do in nursing before you started school?

Yes - I was interested in clinical trial nursing. But I think I should do med-surg nursing before anything, to hone my basic skills. Unfortunately, I don't think nursing working conditions in med-surg are, let's say, optimal.

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.
Do you get graded on clinicals?

In my program you could have an A in the lecture portion yet fail clinical and you fail the semester. You have to be able to master the knowledge in lecture and APPLY it in clinical.

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This is probably something you should have looked at before starting NS! I think having NA or CNA experience or training would be one of the best pre-requisites for NS!! There are a couple of ADN programs in my area that take 60 students per semester & have an average drop rate of at least 20% both 1st & second semester! The same school had 900 applicants waiting to get in! I really hope you can stick it out....it gets better once you get into the "groove."

Also remember some days will be better and more rewarding than others. Also you are just getting a small tast of what's out there right now;)

Best of Luck!

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
Anyone having second thoughts about nursing based on their clinicals?

Clinicals didn't give me 2nd thoughts, but they did redirect my interests from the typically male ER/OR slant to wanting to working newborn nursery or NICU, which I'd never imagined I'd ever have any interest in.

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This is probably something you should have looked at before starting NS! !

I know... I'm actually thinking as well it should be a pre-requisite for nursing school - to have CNA or significant shadowing experiences.

I had done some patient care before, years ago. The thing is - I hated it then. But I chalked up that past hatred to immaturity, and now find that I haven't changed my mindset after all these years - I really did hate it. I do want the knowledge from nursing school, though, since I am intertested in clinical research - that hasn't changed.

A lot of my hatred of clinicals, I think, is just not knowing what to do, or how to do it, and being at a loss on a new unit constantly. I guess not being in the driver's seat, not knowing how to work this particular IV pump, not knowing what a unit's protocol is for this-and-that, having to get a nurse or an instructor in order to do something, etc., is my main frustration. I just hope it's not patient care itself that I don't like.

Anyway, sorry for the psychobabble. I'm hoping my 13-hour med-surg clinicals this semester will give me a clue as to what it is that I really don't like about the clinical setting (well, besides the getting up at ungodly hours and being on one's feet for 13 hours, yikes).

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Specializes in LTC.

So far clinicals have not made me have second thoughts. I just hate when I feel like us nursing students are a burden to the staff. Apart from that, I love clinicals and can't wait to get out there on my own and make a difference !

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