Failure in Nursing School and Options

dianacs · Jan 20, 2003

My clincial instructor has already made friendship in school a requirement for passing clinical and she expects to read a log book about how we feel about our lives on a weekly bases and it must be personal and at least 3 pages long. Is this what nursing school is about?

Nursing school can be so crazy sometimes! Can you imagine the law schools or the med schools or the business schools requiring something like this? Make friends or else?

purplemania, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2003

You are stressing out over things that really don't matter. Nursing school is an endurance test. All you want is a grade. You will learn "real nursing" when you are working as a nurse. Do not think 50% fail. 50% PASS. Get in a study group and DO NOT waste time whining about things that are not fair, or make no sense or are too time consuming, etc. Just do it. When you graduate you will find that life is not fair, people make no sense and work is time consuming. So what. Work is not your life. It is just what you do to finance your life. Life is happening while you are worrying and complaining. Don't waste it on negative vibes.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2003

Oh, I forgot: the journal thing is part of the mental masturbating that goes on in nursing school. Just play with it.

New CCU RN · Jan 20, 2003

BioRN,

I am doing things the exact opposite of you. I already have my BSN but I am now going back to school for a degree in Bio ... trust me if you can get a 3.7 in Bio you will be fine. :)

I personally find the Bio much harder, much more time consuming. Don't get me wrong, nursing school isnt easy.... but you can definitely do it.

As far as those dumb journals, I had to do them every stinkin semester for all of nursing school..... just BS them, they are not important...... prof will never know.... i know that sounds terrible but they aren't worth a whole lot anyhow. :)

Good luck to ya and hang in there... you will be fine

AprilSN · Jan 20, 2003

Hey, I in the second semester of 5 semester program. We also heard the speech about needing friends or family to help support you during nursing school. It helps, but the only real person you can count on is yourself and your desire to make it through. As for failing the first semester, four of my classmates did fail the first semester. The head of our program withdrew them so it would not be counted in their GPA. They get to reapply for next year and a chance to start over. Hope this helps, but you're not going to need it, you're going to graduate with honors!

sunnybrook83 · Jan 20, 2003

I think I would have to consider the journaling assignment as a creative writing- we never had to do that crap when I went to school. If you want to do it on your own-fine, but as an assignment for a nursing class???!! Anyway, make the instructor happy, make up some crap and move on. I'm sure you will pass with flying colors, so quit stressing!!

researchrabbit · Jan 20, 2003

Originally posted by BioRN
I truly believe that I will be failed for things like:

She was too stressed out to be a good nurse.
Her personality is not suited to nursing.
She did not make enough friends in nursing school.

First off, everyone in your class will be stressed, one way or another. Guaranteed. My hands trembled every time I did a check off, EVEN ON THE BLOOD DRAW and I had been drawing blood sucessfully for 6 years prior to the check off!! So unless you are having panic attacks on a regular basis, don't sweat this one.

As far as personality goes, if you can work with others, then you are just fine. I have met every kind of personality in the nursing field and they would have a hard time flunking you on "personality". I'd appeal that one with a lawyer! Not every nurse is an extrovert. And not all of us can be the sunshine nurse.

"She did not make enough friends in nursing school." -- this one blows me away, actually. I did not make any CLOSE friends in nursing school, I had too much going on outside school. For your journal, write about successful interactions with other students, instructors and folks you meet at the hospital.

Nursing school was hard, but not impossible. The material actually did not require as much studying as my first degree (French).

BioRN · Jan 20, 2003

Thanks everybody. You all made me cry with joy to have such a great support group on the allnurses.com board. I decided to go for it and not worry about making it or not until the very last minute before the end of the withdrawal period (March 20th). I may be back writing about my stress at that time, but until then I am just going to work hard and do my best.

BioRN (to be) P.S. Hey, New CCURN good luck with your Biology program.

Agnus · Jan 20, 2003

I had a 1.69 GPA as a result of flunking out of a Nursing Program in a Community College.

Schools will not let you eliminate transcripts when applying. If they say submit all you have too. ESPECIALLY if there is any chance that any financial aid of any type from any source is involved, in either program. If a school insist on all transcripts you must submitt them all.

You do not need to list a school on a resume or job application.

Now here goes: I have a ADN degree and am working on my BSN. I did this after the old school sent that awful transcript to them. I won't go into detail how I achieved what I did inspite of my past. Not enough space or time. The point is you can do it.

Now stop worrying. You have a 4 yr degree in a tough subject. You are not very likely to be one of the students that fail. You know how to learn difficult material. Nursing school is VERY difficult but THOUSANDS have finished sucessfully. It does not take Einstine nor a super strong person to finish. Most of us are average intelligence and average endurance. Though it feels like you must be super woman.

You have past sucess to build on.

Don't create in your mind these outrageous senerios that have not even happened to you. If you worry like this over stuff that hasn't happend to you you will never cross the street again. A car could hit you. It hasn't happened but other people have been hit by cars. so it could happen to you.

You always have options. Now go to nursing school and Knock thier socks off.

Agnus · Jan 20, 2003

Originally posted by BioRN
First, thanks to all of you that responded. I need you to please respond again with the understanding that I believe very strongly that I can handle the theory class. Studying for me is not what I need to do to avoid failure. I truly believe that I will be failed for things like:

She was too stressed out to be a good nurse.
Her personality is not suited to nursing.
She did not make enough friends in nursing school.

My clincial instructor has already made friendship in school a requirement for passing clinical and she expects to read a log book about how we feel about our lives on a weekly bases and it must be personal and at least 3 pages long. Is this what nursing school is about? Why should she have the right to my inner thoughts about how I am doing?

If she failed me for this psycho-social crap with a "B" classroom average, would I win on appeal?

You need friends. Choose them carefully. This does not mean these friends share every detail of your personal life or are even involved. The friendship that your are expected to have are more inline with support. Someone in the group may end up being a true personal and very close friend. However, your instructors are looking more for your willingness to be supportive and seek support for yourself.

Do you seek support and provide support to your fellow classmates. This is a profession where it is important to support others and seek it for ourselves. Remember "an officer and a gentleman" where Tom had to learn that no one gets through this alone? It's like that.

The journal is to be a reflection of your learning and experiences in nursing school. It is not a probing into your personal or family life.

For example you went to clinicals today and saw or experienced something. You have thoughts about that experience you journal them. Sally is having trouble with learning Anatomy and you help her but you feel she is becomming too needy and you find a way to deal with it. Or you are wondering what you should do about it. You journal that. You are haveing trouble with an aspect of school, learing a skill, something. You journal your progress in over comming it.

A teacher said something today that made you think about something. Journal it.

Use your journal to show that you can do critical thinking. Use your journal to show what you have and are learning. Yea, today you finally started an IV sucessfully, record it. You ran into something unusual with a patient record it.

The teaches do not care about your personal secrets. They need to see that you are thinking and evolving. Later you can go back to your journal and see where you have been.

I am sorry this is not psyco social cra& Nursing requires a lot of psyco social understanding and skill. If you get it now as a student you will have less problem later.

She is simply asking that you use thoghtful introspection about your experiece. That you demonstrate your willingness to support others and are receptive to the value of other supporting you.

You may have more to offer me as a friend than I do you. I may even be a lousy friend but you might journal what you learned from the experience.

Yep you will probably end up recording your tears, worrys, joys of learning this new field. If you record your tears and then show how you overcame that problem or show that you acknowledge that it will probably be an ongoing problem you have demonstrated that you get that you have debth in your self understand. This does make a real difference in dealing with people in ths field.

I understand you may be more a hard science person. Nursing is not just hard science. You may discover that you belong in reasearch or some particular area of nursing this way. Some of us are bad with empathy and know we should not work in certain areas of nursing but love the machines etc. Or you may discover or reveal you have yet a different bent. It is a way to discover thyself or at least demonstrate that you know thyself.

Along the way you may find that you really do like the psyco soc stuff or confirm that you don't the journal is a process nothing more.

Agnus · Jan 20, 2003

You find it is a natual outcome of clinicals especially that you share your experiences and thoughts about thoses experiences. She is just asking that you do this on paper.

The friendships will develop naturally. Nursing school is unique in that everyone inspite of yourself form bonds. You are going from biginning to end through a tough trial. The people you experince it with are the ones who you will relate to best. Don't worry the friendships will come. These are the only poeple who will really understand what you are going through. Because they are going through it with you at the same time. The friendships are inevitable, even if you think of yourself as Tom Cruze's chacter.

Dr. Kate, BSN, RN · Jan 20, 2003

Yowzza, sounds like my nursing school experience and that was 20(mumble, mumble) somthing years ago.

I, too, went to an AA program in nursing with a BA in Biology. And CCURN is right, bio is much harder and more demanding academically.

Agnus is right on in her suggestions.

A lot of this feels like mind games, and maybe it is. But, there is a great value in reflective thought (the journal)--but don't bare your soul.

I had a classmate who used to take 30mg of valium (it was a long time ago) just to get herself into the classroom. She tended to be more of a perfectionist than I am, and nothing is worth that.

Be gentle with yourself, no one expects perfection, they just act like they do.