dyslexia

I have been a nurse for 26 years. I don't think I was ever formally diagnosed with dyslexia. However, since I was a small child, I have had difficulty with transposing numbers. It was a challenge for me as a nursing student and new nurse back in the day when we had to total IVF and I&O at the end of the shift and sometimes the numbers I would write down after a long 12 hour shift were off the hook. I was tired, that is the worst for me, if I'm tired or extremely pre-occupied with something. I would end up going back into patient rooms and checking numbers again and again to get mine totalled correctly. In my current job I have trouble with phone numbers. I will always transpose a number or two. I just have to check, double check and then call a wrong number to find out I'm still wrong and go back and look at each number again one at a time, slowly to make sure that I get it right.

I have a friend who was diagnosed with dyslexia during the first year of our nursing program. She worked with the accomodations specialist at our school to develop techniques to deal with it while still attending school. She graduated as an LPN but is taking time off before finishing her RN education.

There is a lot of reading in nursing school, but if you have a BA, you must have figured out how to deal with that already. Definitely take advantage of any special programs or instruction at your school.