Don't feel ready!

avsmch · Oct 26, 2008

I totally understand how you're feeling right now since thats the way I feel often. Every once in a while I'll hit a time where I'm saying why do I want to be a nurse? Is this right for me? I think I question my career choice because ultimately I'm scared of all these new things and this is what everyone else is feeling too. For example, my confidence was really low because my clinical instructor wasn't the best while other clinical groups seemed to be so much more advanced than us. It turns out that my peers didn't feel confident in their skills either. Another thing to add is that although you learn all those new skills you won't necessarily use them right away and I was told some skills may not be used throughout nursing school clinicals at all. I learned about NG tubes & foley catheters but still haven't had the opportunity for insertion or discontinuation. The instructors know that we will be nervous and need support. You may want to talk to your instructor and let her know that you may need some extra support. Best wishes! I know you will succeed!

Nurseinprocess · Oct 26, 2008

I don't understand why you think you will be giving this woman a breast exam? That is something doctors do. There is no way that you will actually be doing all the skills they teach you on one single patient. I think you are psyching yourself out unnecessarily :uhoh3: ! Is your patient full care? I have given a bedbath to only one bedridden patient before, and she did require extra care to her breasts because they were large and causing yeast issues underneath (which requires anti-fungal powder to be applied), but it is not a big deal to just dive in and do something that they cannot do for themselves. If someone doesn't have an obvious issue with their private parts, you don't need to go in with your penlight examining every inch of their body. You can assess this woman's lungs and her backside at the same time. One thing I learned pretty fast is that if someone has a bowel issue they may have anal leakage and their bottom needs to be checked for skin breakdown (I had a pt laying in a small amount of leakage overnight that caused a stage I pressure ulcer). You are not going to be a perfect nurse your first week on the floor, truly you learn as you go, and you gain confidence the more times you hit the floor! Your fear is healthy to a certain degree, it will keep you from harming anyone; but don't let it get the best of you :nono: . Be sweet, kind, and gentle to your patient and you will be fine.

cursedandblessed · Oct 26, 2008

I was a nervous wreck when we started with REAL people. I sweated to where it was literally dripping off, as I was so afraid I was going to hurt one of them, by dropping them during a transfer or something. You are going to need help transfering them. It's just a fact of life, I'm quite strong but I cannot lift a person by myself, find someone who has a resident who does not require total assistance and get them to help you.

Make a list of the things you need to do and put it in your pocket. Remember to assess the skin during bathing, and you can do muscle tone/ROM then as well. You can assess a lot during bathing:

the eyes, alertness/cognition, hearing, cappillary refill, etc.

After four weeks of the LTC facility (which now we're soon off to the hospital) I FINALLY felt comfortable. Do you have a pre-conference b4 clinical day?? Ours took up 45 minutes to an hour every time.

So now it's 8 am, on two days my resident's were already dressed. All I had to do was vitals and set up their breakfast, change linens, and get them to therapy or as one resident put it "was done with me" I could go now".

On the other two days, I had to do full hygeine, briefs, oral, bathing, then set up breakfast. Beds etc. I had to get help for them.

So don't stress. A real person isn't like a dummy at all. My last piece of advice for you, is to not attempt to put a bra on a wholly dependant resident unless the facility requires it, or the resident requests to wear one (their needs always come first).

Lindalou76 · Oct 26, 2008

I know i'm freaking myself out about this, i just can't help but feel i'm not qualified to have a patient. I don't even have all my skills down! I guess maybe before clinical I can make some big notecards to put in my pockets on how to properly do procedures and if/when i get lost i can kinda glance at them to see what else i need to do. I'm very much a "list" person. I know i should stop stressing, i'm not gonna be totally alone, my classmate is totally willing to help me with my pt and i'm gonna help her with her pt. Our instructor even told us to "buddy-up". And worse case scenario i will just find my instructor and beg for her help and tell her i just can't do it on my own. She's very very nice i just don't want her to be annoyed by my over neediness (is that a word? lol). I'm just having so much anxiety over this, i'm breaking out in zits and possibly working on an ulcer from so much worrying....lol. I'm glad to hear from several of you that this is normal though, i don't feel like a total loser now. I'm hoping to pull myself together by Wednesday and just tell myself to suck it up and get through the day and once I see that i can make it through the day maybe my confidence will come back and i'll survive. lol I've got to at least try...I spent over a year doing pre-req's (BIO 100, CHM 100, BIO 210, BIO 211) and spent oodles of money (well over $2000 out of my pocket for tuition, books, supplies, uniforms etc, just for this semester) to just walk away. I just hate fear & self-doubt, it creeps in and starts to take over. I've just got to find the strength to tell it to go away! Thanks again ladies, I will repost at the end of the week to let you know if i survived!!! lol

txnursingqt · Oct 26, 2008

I don't know if this will help you or not but this is what I do...I just don't give myself the option to quit. I look at like this, when my sister got pregnant and was a few days away from delivering, she got terribly scared. She was so afraid of labor and didn't think she could do it. But in that case you don't have a choice because that darn baby is going to come out one way or another! So, I look at it in that way. You just don't have a choice to quit.

Like you said you have spent alot of time and money into your nursing education and you owe it to yourself to give it a try. If you go to clinical and find that you can't do something what is the worst that will happen...you will just have to find your instructor and say you can't do something. Big deal, nothing lost there. I am not trying to trivialize your feelings or anything at all, I just want you to see that this is not the end of the world and that what you are feeling is normal. Everyone gets scared and everyone makes it.

Do it for yourself and do it for all of us pre-nursing students out here that can't wait to be in your shoes! I know you can do it if you set your mind to it. You said you are doing good in your classes so you have the knowledge you just need the confidence. :icon_hug:

Lindalou76 · Oct 29, 2008

Well I did it. I survived my 1st real day of clinical!!!!! It was scary but I got through it and i am proud of myself! I only have 9 days left (2 days per week for 5 weeks) in the long term care facility so I think I can make it! I'm off to work on my careplan, what a headache! Thanks for all the support!!!

emmy27 · Oct 29, 2008

Congratulations! I knew you could do it. =)

It only gets less scary from here.

txnursingqt · Oct 29, 2008

Lindalou76 I am so incrediably proud of you. :yeah: I knew you could do it and I was praying that you wouldn't quit. I get so scared about things too and stress myself out but I am learning to stay strong and not let myself quit. You really inspired me! Now keep us update on how things go. I really want to hear how you progress.