In my job as a CNA, I'm always meeting new coworkers who say they are nursing students. After talking more about it, they tend to mostly be pre-nursing students not yet admitted into nursing school.
I don't know why, but it bothers me when people say they are nursing students before they are actually admitted into nursing school. Almost as if a pre-med student tells people they are in medical school.
What are your thoughts on this? This is really not an important topic, but I've been curious what others would think about this!
Heidi94-Spot on! Indeed I had clinicals where we were expected to be on the actual floor at 6:30am which means I had to be at the parking lot around 6am so I usually got up by the latest 4:40 or 4:50am. Sometimes I had clinicals where it started around 3:00 pm and parking wasn't friendly so I left earlier and don't come home till 10 ish pm. When you aren't doing "hw" you are doing something else that's still related to school. I consider it beautiful to get 5 hours of shut eye(I don't do all nightnighters). I will be starting 3rd semester in late August
Specializes in progressive care. med surg. tele. LTC. psych..
Who cares? Lol I always say nursing student because my plan is to become a nurse. Therefore everything I do/study is preparing me to become an RN - tah-da nursing student.
Same. Like I said in a similar forum, if someone asks me why I'm going to school, I'm saying nursing. Like I wouldn't be taking classes period if I weren't going to be a nurse. Obvi if I have to tell financial aid what my "major" was it would have to be whatever it specifies on my transcript. Liberal Arts.. [emoji42][emoji42][emoji42]
So anyway the second I applied to take courses I said I was a nursing student:)
I've known a lot of "nursing students" thst have been telling people they're in nursing schopl for 6+ years without ever being accepted to a program. They are still on the pre-requisite phase, not in (or accepted to) nursing school. I don't consider these people nursing students, but I imagine they do it so they can feel like they're on a path towards something. I don't consider them nursing students. PRE-nursing students, maybe. Try telling people in med school you're a "med student" when you're just pre-med (or, as ive seen a lot, in school to be a medical assistant) and see how that goes over.
I start clinicals in January and I still say I'm going to school for nursing. I can't wait to call myself a nursing student in January!!! It just would seem strange saying it now because I have not experienced nursing school, just the prerequisites.
For me, I never called myself a nursing student until I had that admissions letter in hand. I still kind of hesitate to call myself a student because I haven't technically started yet - for now I just tell people I've been accepted to nursing school and will start in the fall.
I say if you're accepted into a nursing program then you're a nursing student. Otherwise, pre-nursing. When I am asked about my plans with school I just tell them hopefully nursing - and leave it at that.
I love how people get hung up on titles. It is a fascinating psychological quirk folks use to bolster themselves. Let's think about this logically if we can. Someone who has completed all of their pre-med requirements, taken the MCATs, and enters medical school is called a "medical student". They can absolutely say they are in Med School and no one can question that.
It gets a little murkier when it comes to Nursing. It is not universally accepted, outside of the nursing community, to use the term "pre-nursing." Someone, like myself, who is working toward entering Nursing school can say things like "I am hoping to be a nursing student soon", "I will be applying to Nursing school in 20XX". Once you have taken all the prerequisites, done your volunteer hours, gotten your recommendations, and whatever else your particular school requires and you are accepted, then you can call yourself a nursing student.
The really grey area starts, and this is the same for the med student or the nursing student, when they both fail out. Is it appropriate then to answer their question with "Yes, I would like fries with that"?
I guess my point is that even though School feels like the biggest thing in the world I imagine an RN or an MD feel much more confidant with their "titles" than we should as students. School is a tool we have to use to get where we want to be. Just be thankful we're heading in to a career where our license will grant us the right to call ourselves RNs. My previous career was as a Chef. I went to school for it. I worked hard in the beginning to earn the title ACF Certified Chef. I worked hard during the next several years of my career and then was eligible to take the written and practical tests to become an ACF Certified Executive Chef. It is a very hard and long road to get their. To take the next step it wold have required a massive amount of studying and training and then 6 days of rigorous practical testing to become an ACF certified Master Chef. When I graduated culinary school in 1994 there were only 52 Master Chefs in the country. Imagine how fun it was to go to a neighborhood BBQ and hear the guy next door explain how he is "the chef". Or you the guy who was a dishwasher last week and due to a couple of firings is now the executive chef of Joe's Bar and Grill. My favorite is the one who goes on a TV show for 12 weeks and is given the title of Master Chef by Gordon Ramsey.
I'm not worried about what I call myself or what others want me to call myself until I pass the NCLEX and get my license that says Registered Nurse. Even then I know the public will think of any caregiver as a "nurse" and I am ok with that.
I start my 2nd semester of pre-nursing in 6 days and am anxious to get back to work. I actually find it hard to think of myself as pre nursing when I am facing chemistry, speech, and political science. I think it will be a little easier to visualize that Fall Semester when I am taking A&P and advanced first aid. Good luck to all of us students, pre nursing students, or nursing school students!!
OP why does it bother you?Is it possible this is stemming from a a personal insecurity or frustration with your own status, perhaps? Not trying to attack you but usually when something bothers me about someone else, I can trace it back to some interpersonal conflict if I look hard enough
dorkypanda
671 Posts
Heidi94-Spot on!
Indeed I had clinicals where we were expected to be on the actual floor at 6:30am which means I had to be at the parking lot around 6am so I usually got up by the latest 4:40 or 4:50am. Sometimes I had clinicals where it started around 3:00 pm and parking wasn't friendly so I left earlier and don't come home till 10 ish pm. When you aren't doing "hw" you are doing something else that's still related to school. I consider it beautiful to get 5 hours of shut eye(I don't do all nightnighters). I will be starting 3rd semester in late August 