Frustrated!

[alwaystheoptimist]

I'm sorry to all that end up reading my post...but I am so frustrated and need to vent! I have never felt more inadequate in my life than now. I am doing my prerequisites and only have 2 (yay!) left! I have made all A's in my first 8 and am finishing A & P 1 and Chem 2 this semester. These two classes are making me feel like I am the most incompetent person around! I feel like I study enough...I make the time and the effort to do all of the study guides, learning obejctives, etc, and can't seem to do well. Not to toot my own horn, but I have my Master's in Education, graduated with Honors, made an 1120 on the GRE, made the Dean's List last semester and now I feel as though I am at a stand still. I know I can be a nurse and I KNOW that I want it bad enough, but what lengths do I have to go to to prove that I am worthy enough to do it?? I feel like these classes are to "weed out" people who think they can be nurses, but don't apply themselves. Why does that have to happen? Why make it so difficult for people to achieve their desires? Isn't it hard enough to realize what you want to do in the first place? Why make students second guess themselves? I am not one of these students, I WILL be a nurse, no matter how long and how much it takes, but in general, why do some programs make students feel this way? Maybe it is just the specific school I go to, and I'm sure some people are very happy with how they are being taught, but I can't seem to shake the frustration that comes along with this process!

[Jennifer425RN2B]

Oh boy can I sympathize with you! I finished all my pre-reqs last semester and now I'm just waiting for a spot in the nursing program which is a 2-3 semester wait !!!! Anyways, I too made great grades in all my classes a and b's, I also made the deans list several smesters, but when I took a&p 1 and 2 wow!!!!! They were the worst and they were my last classes!!!!! I had a really hard time with these classes and I had to study my butt off just to pull off c's. I was devastated to say the least!!!! I couldn't believe that my "perfect" gpa now had c's. After I got over being upset, I was just glad that I passed them and it was over with!!!!! My advice to you is forget about an a and just pass it and get out of it!!!!! I agree, I think that they make it almost impossible to get into nursing, it's so frustrating! Hang in there!!!! Best of luck!!!!

[BostonFNP, APRN]

Nursing school is challenging by its nature, I don't suspect its personal. Some people won't make it academically, or clinically, or personally; you are learning material that may have profound implications for your patient's lives (life and death at some times). Does it suck that you are a straight-A student and flunked out of a program because you messed up a decimal point on a question on your med-calc test? Yes, but if that was a medication you were giving a patient, they might not survive it, or might survive with significant injury for the rest of their lives. This is serious stuff that requires serious work.

The good news is that if you make it through, you will be ready/safe.

Stick with it, it's worth it.

[Thujone]

They make it tough because you will someday be responsible for someone's life. Healthcare isn't like any other field where mistakes can be corrected. If you mess up in healthcare, you mess up big time.

[alwaystheoptimist]

Maybe I should clarify...I am by no means saying that the subjects or concepts are not important. I do understand the importance of all of the things I am learning. I am also not yet in a nursing program. However, what I am saying is that my specific teachers for my general education courses are teaching above the level of where we need to be. Why is it that I study for hours on end and see nothing of what I have read in the books, on my study guides, and Chapter Reviews on my tests? I was a teacher myself and understand how to create tests to assess a student. But, I feel as though these general education courses are taught at a much higher level. Do remember, I am not generalizing all courses or all schools. I was simply venting about my personal experience.

[Merlyn]

They teach at a higher level to make you reach for a higher level . Nursing will demand everything from you. Your family time, your free time, your life. The end of the oath says it best, "..and dedicate myself to those place within my charge." What does Nursing give you in return...nothing. Not even the time of day. You may get a Thank You from a patient once in a while.

A doctor may call you everything but a Child of God. Brake downs every once in a while. A lot of tears. This is the life you have chosen. Why do I still do it after 40+ years because there were and are times that if I wasn't there, people would have died. People would have been injured. People would have taken their own life. Lighten up on yourself. I never had a patient yet

ask me what I got on the A&P exam. Remember what my old friend Ben Franklin wrote in Poor Richard's Almanac, ' There is no gain without pain.' If you want to kill yourself for that straight A average that's your business, what I'm saying that your class rank means very little to that suffering patient in front of you.