Don't go into nursing school if_____

Nursing Students General Students

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Fill in the blank with any advice you can give students who have just been accepted into a program or who are thinking about embarking on the journey of nursing school.

Here's mine:

DON'T GO INTO NURSING SCHOOL IF you haven't done your own research about the realities of the profession. Good, bad, truth, and common myths & misconceptions.

Yall's turn!

Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.
Ohh this has been fun to read! :) One of the comments was that if any of these things describe you you shouldn't go to nursing school. Now, I'm not in nursing school yet (I'm a fall 2014 applicant), but I just want to say I found one or two things that DO describe me. And others probably did, too. But I feel like being aware of those, and making an effort to improve them, means something! Ex: I'm kind of chronically late, and I'm also over-sensitive. I know it. And I'm working on it. I have been for a while and I'm not there yet, but I've seen improvement and if I keep working hard I should, hopefully and in theory, see more improvement. So just putting that out there. It's a good reminder, actually, because I know I'm working on improving the right things. Heehee. Thanks for all the info, everyone![/quote']

I'm chronically late also, but I always seem to make it by the skin of my teeth. I'm not a morning person either so I've gotten my morning routine down to a very manly 15 minutes or less.

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Ohh this has been fun to read! :)

One of the comments was that if any of these things describe you, you shouldn't go to nursing school. Now, I'm not in nursing school yet (I'm a fall 2014 applicant), but I just want to say I found one or two things that DO describe me. And others probably did, too. But I feel like being aware of those, and making an effort to improve them, means something! Ex: I'm kind of chronically late, and I'm also over-sensitive. I know it. And I'm working on it. I have been for a while and I'm not there yet, but I've seen improvement and if I keep working hard I should, hopefully and in theory, see more improvement.

So just putting that out there. It's a good reminder, actually, because I know I'm working on improving the right things. Heehee. Thanks for all the info, everyone!

Totally agree with this. I know what I need to work on and I'm trying to better myself in areas. If I see myself in some of these post, it will not deter me in any way going to nursing school.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Don't go to nursing school if you can't accept that life can be horribly unfair.

This needed a bump...

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

Don't go to nursing school if you can't be simultaneously really tough and really kind.

Don't go to nursing school if you are not fully, 100% prepared to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for what you learn. You will almost certainly run into a few excellent professors, even more mediocre ones, and maybe even a couple really bad ones. NONE of them can possibly teach you everything you need to know; it is up to YOU to find a way to learn it.

Don't go to nursing school if you want to feel glamorous at work every day.

Don't go to nursing school if TV or movie nurses are the only ones you've ever witnessed on the job.

Don't go to nursing school if you have a problem with authority.

Don't go to nursing school if you need everything to be just so...but don't go if you don't hold yourself to incredibly high standards on the things that matter either.

Finally, don't go to nursing school if you can't handle a little bit of tragedy and hardship every single day. Nurses see many great and wonderful things happen in their jobs, but we are here to help people through some of the hardest, most frightening trials of their lives (at least in a lot of cases). It is not going to be uplifting or encouraging; it's going to be tough. On YOU. Make sure you have a way to take care of yourself and build yourself up, because this job won't.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Don't go into nursing school if you have privacy health issues; in order to LEARN and be a part of this business, there are certain expectations that need to be held for the protection of YOUR health and the pt's health.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Don't go if:

1. You aren't going to give it your all.

2. You think you aren't going to wipe butts or clean up puke or snot.

3. You can't be empathetic, this is a hard one since we all judge but sometimes you have to imagine yourself in someone else's shoes.

4. You think that you shouldn't work weekends, holidays when you land a job. This isn't an office

5. You can't ask for help or delegate to others

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Do not go to nursing school if you're uncomfortable with genitalia.You will see it at some point/ in some fashion.

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I think people look for ANY reason to be offended.

I started this thread because I was looking for INSIGHT and OPINIONS from those who have experienced or are currently experiencing nursing school. That's it. ALL OPINIONS/THOUGHTS ARE WELCOME. If she would have said "you will need the power of Satan to get through nursing school" I would been a little creeped out, but I would not have been offended because thats HER opinion. Y'all need to relax and stop taking thing so personal. Geez!

LOL, "power of Satan" oh you made me laugh with that one! And I think you are right. That poster was just stating how FAITH and HOPE may be necessary when dealing with the wrath of certain clinical instructors .... or patients, or family members!! :cat:

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.
Don't go to nursing school if you can't handle human weakness. Poor choices in life fill hospital beds. There are people who repeatedly make the same bad choices over and over again.

I actually have struggled with this quite a bit with all the DM we are constantly faced with. And, then my own family is now sliding down that slippery slope into DM land. It frustrates the living daylights out of me that people allow this to happen and actively contribute to its development and progression.

So, I get faced with the side of me that wants to have uncompromising compassion for these people in their moments of abject weakness and the other side that says, screw it, go be a peds hemonc nurse since those babies didn't do nothing to precipitate their illnesses. But, I guess that's the depth of the nursing compassion -- looking at people who did the most incredibly silly stuff to/with their bodies (that largely was preventable) and giving them superstar care and comfort without judgement. That's so hard....>_

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Don't go to nursing school if you must over-analyze and over-think everything at the peril of your intuition (and repoire with your instructor).

Don't go to nursing school if you think you are entitled to having professors that are 100% on top of everything. These instructors usually work regular jobs, too, so if you can't be understanding that they might be behind on grading or may screw up the numbering on an exam that they were up until 6AM writing (after having a 10 hour clinical and god knows when they last slept) then go away, we don't want you here.

Don't go to nursing school if you can't stand the thought of having to do homework that ultimately seems like busywork (but time and maturity will show you that it wasn't the case at all).

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You can't take constructive criticism

Good one, you're going to get a lot of it! :)

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What's yours? To serve an imaginary benevolent entity in the sky?

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