I really, really feel like calling it quits

Nurses General Nursing

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This a continuation of my other post. Today I had to meet with my clinical advisor and the instructor afterclass and I was told that I am not to go back to the clinical site on Monday and instead I have to go to campus and watch films and write reports, then I have to check off on five blood pressure readings and do an head to toe asking all of the pertinent questions (all of this is due before Feb. 8) before I will be allowed to go back to the clinical site and if I don't meet the criteria then I can be excused from the Med/Surg program.

Basically I was told that I am the worst student in the program and that I don't know anything. My clinical instructor said that it wasn't fair to the other students to have me around because I don't know what I'm doing. I am really devastated. The semester just began and we have only done two clinicals. I will admit that I made mistakes but I believe that the punishment is very harsh for the mistakes that I made. I feel stupid, I feel like a failure and I really feel like just giving up.

I have wanted to be a nurse for as long as I can remember and I have given up so much to get to this point and I feel really discouraged. It's like a hatchet hanging over my head, threatening to destroy my dreams and there isn't much I can do about it. I mean, what if I don't get all of the blood pressures correct or I miss a few of the assessment points? I'm really upset and I just need a little advice and inspiration...please someone help me. :crying2:

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Show them what you can do! You might be down, but you're not out. I know it must be hard to feel positive, but tell yourself you can do it. If you go into it feeling hopeless, you might be setting yourself up to fail.

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Specializes in Inpatient Rehabiliation.

I would say since you've come this far, don't give up without a fight. Realize that there are things you will have to learn to be better at. You probably already know that. Now, if you want to stay in and fight the fight then you have to be able to do what they want you to do. Play some "Rocky" music in your head and train harder than you've ever trained before. Find one of your class mates to help you study this stuff, practice, practice some more, and practice a few more times after that. Take blood pressures on everyone you know to get experience. You want to have confidence in yourself. Practice/experience will help you with this. I was in a sort of similar place before and I decided that I had put too much into this to let it all fall apart. If you want it, do what you have to do to get it. Be encouraged.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, ER.

You can do it!! Hold your head up high, and show them what you can do. Prove to them that you are not the worst student, but the most ambitious! Think positive and don't set yourself up for failure!! Keep us posted, and GOOD LUCK!!

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quitting is not an option. If you quit you will regret it for the rest of your life, you will always wonder could I have made it if I stayed. Dig your heels in and do what is requested of you and show them what you are really made of. It is better to stay and try than to never try at all...or is that love?

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Babe Ruth spent his childhood years in an orphanage and, as a baseball player, struck out 1,330 times...on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Elvis Presley was banished from the Grand Ole Opry after one performance and told: "You ain't goin' nowhere, son."

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her television reporter's job and advised: "You're not fit for TV."

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Wow, that's pretty harsh. :( I feel for you. I don't know what to say...

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I work with a nurse in ICU who is fantastic and she was told by her clinical instructor that she's never make it as a nurse, that she should go into something else. She's awesome.

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If you don't like what you've been doing in school so far, then breathe a sigh of relief that you figured it out early and move on. If you still want to be a nurse (and not just the idealized image of a nurse you may have had before starting school), then don't give up. Failure is simply a detour on the road to success. Sometimes, what you learn through failure is what ultimately leads to your success.

If your instructor can't give you any suggestions on what you could do to improve your performance this term or when repeating the term, then she's not doing her job properly. If she won't sit down with you and calmly discuss her perception of your strengths and weaknesses, you needn't put too much weight on her judgement of your capabilities. You do have to deal with her grading of your performance, which may involve repeating a term and/or consulting your department on this instructor's lack of support. The instructor can make it more difficult for you to become a nurse but she can't make you give up. However, if you decide you really just don't want to be a nurse, let it be your decision and not purely based on this one instructor's judgement.

I keep the following notes on hand to give me a boost when I'm feeling like I just can't win...

Top oil companies, even with the consultation of expert geologists, find oil in only one well in ten.

A successful television actor is turned down 29 out of 30 times after auditioning for roles in commercials.

Winners in the stock market make money on only two out of five investments.

Sometimes you're going to strike out. But if you keep playing, you'll have your days of singles and doubles. Occasionally, you'll hit a home run.

When Bob Dylan performed at a high-school talent show, his classmates failed to realize he was a young man bound for great things, and they booed him off the stage... failures and setbacks are a routine part of being human.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

My first clinical instructor made me go talk to the Dean after 3 weeks because she didn't think I was cut out to be a nurse.

llg, PhD, RN

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Thanks for all the support. I just really feel terrible right now but I know that this is what I want to do. I realize that I haven't been putting my best foot forward but I still don't believe that I deserved such a harsh punishment. I cannot change what has already happened, all I can do is brush off the negativity and move on but I am anxious and nervous about the blood pressure checks and the head to toe checkoff. I will be practicing however and speaking with my advisor.

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Ok, so you know you need help with blood pressures and head to toe assessments. Ask if there is some way you could have more practice with those. Could you work teamed with another student at clinicals? The only thing you need to remember is that getting down these skills IS VERY important. Lives can depend on your ability to take and understand a blood pressure and your ability to do a thorough head to toe assessment. It's a good sign that you know what you need to work on. Keep trying!

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