Being a hospital CNA has made me rethink my decision

[majaw]

I decided late in my college career that I wanted to go into nursing. I took my CNA course before I started college because I knew I wanted to go the medical route. I worked home health for a while, then moved onto hospital work which I have been doing for a few years now.

But working in the hospital has made me really question my decisions because of my inability to handle crisis. Usually I'm pretty good being able to handle things, but sometimes its difficult.

I was in the room with one of my patients when they collapsed on me. I was able to hold the patient up and I called for help quickly and was completely fine (worried, but fine), but once the nurse arrived and we got the patient up I was in full panic attack and had to step out of the room. Just makes me worried for how I would handle situations when I'm in charge as the nurse.

[TriChick]

Perhaps it's anxiety because it's a new type of situation? As you gain confidence in your ability to handle situations like that, it likely won't elicit the same response. I've had a lot of experiences in life where something new freaked the hell out of me, but looking back a few years more experienced and few years wiser, I kind of laughed at how nervous I was.:)

[N. Maren]

As you go through nursing school, you will learn to anticipate all of the things that can go wrong. Though this won't automatically make one 100% confident in their ability to handle crises as they come up, it's a starting point that somehow makes the notion of adapting to crises much more doable. Then, as you go through clinicals and the nursing residency program at your place of hire, a good institution will expose you to many different situations before letting you work on your own. Even then, you will always have the support of your coworkers if needed.

Basically, I believe that you will get better and more confident at dealing with such things as you go through the process. Nobody feels 100% confident when they are starting out either so don't let others intimidate you or make you feel inadequate in comparison.

All the best!

[Nurse Beth, MSN]

It's perfectly natural to react well in a crisis (which you did) and then to experience a panic moment afterwards. When it hits you.

The thing is, it usually happens after your first unknown experience, and diminishes with each like experience. Best wishes.