5 months til graduation & feeling like we dont know anything!

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Well, we have 5 months to go before graduation from the LPN program.

Most of us are feeling scared to death and like we don't know nearly enough to actually be nurses yet!

This last semester is:

Med-surg I lec, lab and clincals from Jan 8 - Feb 11 (we've already worked on med surg floors for clincals the two previous semesters but the courses were called other things)

Med-surg II lec, lab and clincals from Feb 12 - March 14

(plus pharm 3 is mixed in with the med-surg I & II courses)

Practicum (basically working fulltime as a nurse with a preceptor) March 16- the last week in April

Finals week - first week in May

Sheesh......we just feel like we still have soooo much to experience and learn, that it can't be possible that we are almost done.

I'm thinking that we'll leave the practicum having learned a whole lot.

But is this "normal" to feel like we still dont know anything and are so close to being nurses? I'm getting excited to see a light at the end of this tunnel but getting worried and anxious feeling like I dont know diddley-squat!

(but I did make the Dean's List this semester!:balloons: so I must have learned something...right??? LOL!)

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Specializes in OB.

congrats on the Dean's list!

Dont worry, most everyone I know from the class ahead of me that graduated last year felt they knew nothing as well.

Several of them told me the real learning began once they got out of school. School is a place to learn how to practice safely, real world is where you get your experience.

I graduate in May as well, RN. I know nothing. But I got an A this semester, so SOMEBODY thinks I know sumthin...

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

You really do know more than you think you do.....it just takes a while for it all to mesh. :icon_hug:

If you are really uncomfortable, look for a place that has a 6 month orientation, I know that our ER gives new grads at least that long.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Hi,

It wasn't until the end of my second semseter that I really felt confident with my skills. All the sudden it just fell into place and what a great feeling it was. My last semester of Peds and L&D were really fun after med surg so just keep plugging along.

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Specializes in telemetry.

I know when I went through the LVN program I felt that way. And they kept telling us that you only get 10% of what you need in nursing school, the rest you learn on the job. You will have a lot to learn when you start working after you graduate, but you will also be surprised at how much you did actually retain from it all. I see the RN students around me now (the ones who weren't LVNs first like me) & they are terrified & feel the same way you do. I keep trying to reassure them that they are fine.

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Specializes in Home Health Care.

I'm a new nurse, just recently hired. I still feel I know nothing even though I graduated and passed the NCLEX-RN. I think it's normal to feel clueless.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

It's perfectly normal to feel this way. In fact, it's probably healthier for you and for your patients. Most experienced nurses will probably tell you that it's not people like you that worry us, it's the students/new grads who think they know just about everything that scare us!

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

I think we all don't KNOW that much when we get out of school...you have to see the real-world way to practice nursing....and when you work in healthcare, you sometimes feel like you learn more from work than you do at school...especially when you have to answer a test question the "right" way vs. the way it's always done at work! Just buck up, and look forward to getting the first year of nursing out of the way! That's the only real way to get it all done!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.

Wow, I have five WEEKS til graduation and I feel like I know nothing too!

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Specializes in Dialysis, Home Care, Hospice.

It's unfortunately a normal feeling. Most of what you learn will be on the job but I agree that you know more than you think you do. This is why it will be very important that you carefully consider the first position you take. Be sure they have a complete and thorough orientation. I do wish you luck!!!!

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.

i am in the same boat as you all. Good luck with nursing school.

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My instructor told our class the other day that you only learn about 20% of what you need to know in nursing school. The other 80 % you learn in the field.

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