clumsiness, communication, and stress

[ccl316]

I have an interest in RN work (not a student yet), but in spite of what I've always been told about "stretching" myself, the need to set challenging goals & persevere in working towards them, etc etc etc, I'm thinking more and more that maybe becoming an RN is an unrealistic goal for someone of my personality. I work very hard, am not squeemish about messes or needles, and am not worried about the purely academic side of nurse training. BUT 1) I have some serious problems with clumsiness and absent-mindedness, and they get worse whenever I'm under stress or am confronted with multiple demands at the same time. 2) I'm not a good communicator--I know how to be polite and attentive and deal with the more rote parts of conversation, but if I try to give an extemporaneous explanation of anything, it comes out a big mess of spoonerisms and missing/transposed words. And 3) Based on past experiences, I'm worried that if a stressed-out patient were to act very angrily towards me, I would collapse (my legs wd. give out for a moment) and that if a patient were to cry, I would cry.

I know that clumsiness, communication issues, and reactions to on-the-job stress are things that lots of nurses probably struggle with to some extent, but for someone like me who struggles with these issues even BEFORE being in a nursing setting, do you think they constitute real barriers to being a successful RN? Or would it depend a lot on what sort of job I took? I just don't know whether my ideas about the environment and daily requirements of being an RN are accurate or not, so it's hard for me to know how seriously these weaknesses would affect my ability to work well. I realize that this question might be tricky to answer, so thanks in advance to anyone who wants to take a stab at it!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I'm glad that you're taking a good and honest look at yourself.

All that you mentioned are definite hinderences. Are they things you think you can over come if you work on them, or are they pretty much set in stone.

Nursing requires a steady hand, the ability to think quick on your feet in times of stress and the ability to deal with angry paitents, doctors, coworkers and families.

There might be an area of nursing that you can find a niche in. However, you are going to have to get through the rigors of nursing school.

If you're not 100% sure you want to be a nurse, I'd continue to look elsewhere, because in order for you to overcome all your personal obstacles, you're going to have to want to be a nurse real real bad and be 100% committed.