For the recent grads!

Hardest part for me? Balancing school with work and a social life/family. Content-wise I hated pharm and endocrine. What kept me in it? I will make a positive difference in peoples' lives at critical times. I also like a challenge. I believe in the philosophy behind nursing...and being a patient advocate. Good luck to you!

For me it had to be trying to balance wife/mother/student and keep it all together. When I started nursing school my daughter was just barely 1 year old. I felt like I was depriving her of my time so much that I always walked around feeling guilty. I have the best spouse in the world. He was and is my backbone. I could not have done any of this without him. Now that I look back on it, you can do anything that you set your mind to do. My daughter did not suffer, nor did my marriage and I am a much better person for it.

Please remember on thing I said throughout nursing school "It can't eat you and it can't take your birthday"

among other things, the "hardest" was trying to keep motivated the last few weeks of each semester. faith, support, and a great desire to become an rn kept me going.

Well, The Hardest Part For Me Was First Going To School Part-time. We Had Two Extra Semesters More Than The Full Time Class. Then, I Got Laid Off From My Job Of 7 Years Halfway Thru School. Then, I Got Pregnant. Then, My Husband Lost His Job. I Guess What Kept Me Going Was Knowing The End Result. I Graduated May 1st And Am Taking Boards On June 19th. I Am Working As A Graduate Nurse And Its A Good Feeling Knowing I Accomplished Something I Set Out To Do Three Years Ago. So, If I Did All That And Finished On Time, I Say Go For It And Do What U Gotta Do To Finish And Prosper. And Always, Always Pray And Keep God In Your Life. You Will Make It!!!!!!

1. Finding time to study! I buckled down and went to the library to read!! I never studied at home. I got too distracted.

2. I stayed with it because I want a career to be proud of and help support my family! Got three kids to put thru college....... :)

1. The hardest part of nursing school for me was being a mom with 5 kids and going to school. I have a supportive husband and that helped a lot.

2. What kept me going back was that I really enjoyed the variety of situations i found myself in. (Nursing is definitely not a boring job :)

The hardest part for me (which is trivial from other peoples) was not being able to go out that much, really missing out on some of the fun things with my sorority or friends

What kept me going is the motivation to finish my degree. Also, the profs in my program were very encouraging.

1. The hardest part of nursing school for me was being a mom with 5 kids and going to school. I have a supportive husband and that helped a lot.

2. What kept me going back was that I really enjoyed the variety of situations i found myself in. (Nursing is definitely not a boring job :)

I just graduated at the beginning of may 04. It was definetly a long 4 years but i think it has been well worth it. Many times I was so frustrated with stupid assignments and stupid professors. But I kept coming back for more...I just couldn't give up. I didn't know what else I would do. I knew since the time that I could remember that i wanted to be a nurse. it was just my calling and the good Lord has seen me through. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is the only thing that got me through. it is tough, but when you know that nursing is your calling, you can't give up on it. Good luck!

Amy RN-BSN

two questions:

1. what was the hardest part of nursing school for you?

2. what made you keep going back for more ?

feel free to share any tips etc. i for one have not started nursing classes yet so any insight would be great!

congrats to all the new grads!

:balloons:

hardest part? being in school 4-5 days a week and working when not in school. i hardly got to see my hubby! studying my butt off nonstop for every week (we would have 1 test a week). trying to look confident in clinicals when you really wanted to roll into a ball inside. it was all very challenging when i think about it.

what kept me going back for more? remembering what i would gain at the end of it all (i would be able to finally start my family, spend more time with hubby, buy our home). also, that awesome feeling that comes from giving so much to others and enjoying every second of it!!! of course, finally getting a decent paycheck at the end of all of this is nice too....but not my main reason for going into nursing.

1. What was the hardest part of nursing school for you?

The hardest part is easy for me to answer, my instructors. The first two years of the program I went through is filled with instructors that feel it's their personal duty to "weed out the undesirables". Unfortunatly I must have looked awfully undersirable because they made my life a nightmare. I personally feel (and I'm not the only one of my classmates to say this) that I spent that first year being emotionally, verbally, and psychologically abused. I was repeatedly made fun of, put down, laughed at, and told to "drop out now and save everybody the trouble" as well as being told "someday you're going to kill a patient and I just want you to know I'm going to be there to laugh when you do". My third symester moved me into much more supportive instructors, for which I will always be eternally grateful. Although I have to say that the instructor I had for the maternal/neonatal/peds section scared the heck out of me because she never had the answer to any question and would tilt her head, buck her teeth out like a chimpanzee, squint and say "I don't know the answer to that. But my clinical skills are awfully rusty". I suppose it would have been funny if she hadn't been seriouse, but she really WAS incompetent.

2. What made you keep going back for more

?Sheer force of deseration? Honestly I'm not sure how I did it. For me it was mostly all the people counting on me to make it. And a certain stubborn streak that refused to give the baddies the satisfaction of watching me fail. I also have to give a great big THANK YOU to my husband for taking such good care of me while I essentially had a two year long nervouse breakdown. (at one point I repeatedly begged him to break my arm for me so I didn't have to go back to school. and then was furiouse when he refused). I also had a handful of loyal friends that were always there to listen, even though at least half the time they hadn't a clue what I was talking about, and in one case a friend revealed that many of our conversations where he'd excused himself briefly was so he could go throw up because he's got a very weak stomache and my horror stories had caused him many nightmares. It took an awful toll on people who I loved and people who loved me.

Then there was that handful of genuine experiences. The ones that had made me want to be a nurse in the first place. The time that I got to be there to ease the passing of a patient who had no one else to be there for him, to hold his hand and bring peace to his last hours. Or the patient that hadn't eaten for over a week and tried to bite me when I first came in... but who took her first bites of food from my hand four hours later, hugged me when I told her I would be coming back tomorrow morning, and she called me an angel. The terrifying thrilling moment when the OB/GYN said "you're going to be a night nurse so you'd better elarn how to catch" and then walked me through my first delivery untill there was a tiny new life birthed into my hands. Those moments are there. Sometimes it got awfully hard to remember them, but eventually they came to me.

I graduated in December, and the hospital I work in now is the one I did my first clinical rotation in. I only see the new students for a few minutes once in awhile. But I see that look of terror I know I once wore. I hear them whisper "but my patient is sleeping, I can't just wake her up". And I smile and I tell them about the good times ahead, and that eventhough it's scary and it's overwhelming that they *will* get the hang of it. Sometimes it's the little things that make a world of difference.

Well, The Hardest Part For Me Was First Going To School Part-time. We Had Two Extra Semesters More Than The Full Time Class. Then, I Got Laid Off From My Job Of 7 Years Halfway Thru School. Then, I Got Pregnant. Then, My Husband Lost His Job. I Guess What Kept Me Going Was Knowing The End Result. I Graduated May 1st And Am Taking Boards On June 19th. I Am Working As A Graduate Nurse And Its A Good Feeling Knowing I Accomplished Something I Set Out To Do Three Years Ago. So, If I Did All That And Finished On Time, I Say Go For It And Do What U Gotta Do To Finish And Prosper. And Always, Always Pray And Keep God In Your Life. You Will Make It!!!!!!

I totally agree! Prayer is the only thing that helped me to get through 4 years of absolute torture. I.E. especially disease & pharm! However, in the end it is totally worth it :) When thing's get tough, always remember, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. New grad 5/23/04