Did anyone find nursing school challenging?

brownbook · Sep 4, 2015

How old are you?

I was almost 30 when I started nursing courses and really had no desire to even be a nurse! Even at my "mature" age it was a struggle. I dropped out one semester I was so scared and hated clinical's. I'm sure I never would have completed nursing if I had started when I was ten years younger. After ten years of acute care nursing I was nominated for nurse of the year at my hospital.

Of course nursing is scary, nursing courses are hard. But way worse than that is your parents lack of support towards your wanting to be a nurse "Oh you can't do that it's to hard."

Tell them you want to be a nurse, the best nurse you can be. If you have problems working as a nurse your co-workers or boss will be the ones to advise you. You need your parents support when starting out on a difficult but rewarding career.

Miss Infermiera2b, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2015

I'm currently in nursing school and I definitely find it challenging. For me, it's the combination of a rapid pace, wealth of information, and the shift from memorization and regurgitation to thinking critically in the NCLEX style.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 5, 2015

I suppose I'm going against the grain by saying that nursing school wasn't terribly difficult. Although it entailed a bunch of busy work and plenty of reading, I found it was not as challenging as many people portray it to be. Nursing school was not that hard; likewise, NCLEX was fairly easy.

I'm another person who never really had a passion for nursing. It was a practical career change for someone like me who wanted to escape manufacturing and low skill labor while maintaining a certain standard of living.

After 10 years of nursing, I still do not have a passion or deep interest in it. I view nursing as just a job and yet another means to an end.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Sep 5, 2015

Yes. it was a challenge. I realized just how differently I learned.

Do yourself a favor and get a tutor, join a study group from your school. Another thing that helped me is to use any resource you need to learn difficult stuff--ie: you tube

You can also take practice tests, grade them, and see if there is a theme to what you get incorrect. Concentrate your efforts on those things you need to.

If you are venting about the difficulty level, then I am sure your parents are picking up on that. Hence the questioning.

When school is over, you have a major test to take and then have to venture into the world, it can make everything real enough to be overwhelming.

Use your support systems.

Best wishes

Dranger · Sep 5, 2015

Not difficult just time consuming and laborious compared to other majors. Lots of fluff projects and assignments.

Pre-med courses were much harder for me.

AZQuik · Sep 5, 2015

I agree with not hard but time consuming. I think a lot of what ns teaches I learned from day 1 from my dad. Learn the standard, apply standard, admit and learn when you're wrong, go forth and do the best you can at what you do.

Lots of busy work and just enough empowerment to try not to kill people.

Nursing school kinda gives you the basics and teaches you how to learn. You start learning "for reals" when you start working.

For some it's busy work, for others it's hard. That's kinda how life works.

Perseverance. Saw several people achieve when I thought they wouldn't last a month. Nursing really does bring "the person" out of people

BSN GCU 2014.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

AuDDoc · Sep 5, 2015

Nursing school? No. I think my pre-med degree was much harder. Trying to work 40 hours a week, spend time with my spouse, and attend nursing school and clinicals was a bit rough.

If I had to do just nursing school and work part time it would have been a cake walk for me. Then again my pre-med program and my graduate program stressed critical thinking rather than rogue memorization. That's the difference in nursing school is most of it is applied knowledge not just memorized knowledge.

Emergent, RN · Sep 5, 2015

Your parents don't sound very encouraging. Wow, they should be proud of you for overcoming difficulties.

Congratulations on passing.

For me the academic aspect was not hard, but learning to function in a new environment, improving my social skills, dealing with time management, raising kids and working at the same time was difficult.

lavenderskies, BSN · Sep 5, 2015

RNCoda said

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I found nursing school to be very difficult but somehow I managed to pass. I'm currently struggling to pass the NCLEX. Lately, my parents have been telling me that they don't think I should've gone into nursing because it is obviously too challenging for me.

I'd question why any parent (I am a parent of 3) would say that to their child. Even if something is challenging, you can learn skills to overcome challenges. Obviously you're smart enough or you wouldn't of been accepted and graduated from nursing school. Sounds like you are struggling more with confidence, how you present yourself while working with your challenges and maybe in the differences in testing. Some schools do a better job in preparing candidates for NCLEX style testing. I'd invest in some more NCLEX prep books and just practice practice practice! And watch how you talk to yourself. It makes a HUGE difference. :up: