Do you get nervous when..?

[Rebecca929]

Hi everyone,

I'm in my first year (second semester) of nursing school and I really enjoy it so far. The only problem I have are my nerves! I get so nervous before I go into a patient's room to do my head-to-toe. It doesn't feel natural to me yet and I don't know how to feel more comfortable when talking to a patient.

So, how have you gotten over your nerves? Suggestions/stories?

[NurseGuy30]

The only thing I can say is laugh at yourself. Try not to take yourself too seriously. The patient will know you're a nervous student no matter what. Realize that to them, that's usually okay. They know you're nervous becuase you want to be perfect and you want to get things right. And if they have any foresight, they'll be able to understand that the one nurse they consider supernurse was once a nervous student just like you are now.

And experience helps. I've been humiliated in front of patients more times than I can count. Conversations gone horribly wrong, mess ups, walking into the wrong room, calling patient by the wrong name at the END of the shift, screwing up a dressing change in front of half of my clinical group and a hyperactive instructor, getting poop on my scrubs and not realizing it until 45 minutes later (how many people saw that and DIDN'T tell me?). Most of all of this happened to me in my job as CNA. Just take it in stride. Get used to embarrsssment, and eventually it won't be so embarrassing.

For what it's worth.