I still feel complately incompetent!

1. Just started my Junior med/surg rotation this week (our 1st med-surg after fundamentals but we have had MH, OB and Peds) and I feel like I know nothing. I have the VERY basic stuff down, but am overwhelmed when it comes to knowing what else is going on. It seems like we are just thrown into clinicals and it is sink or swim! I am so confused half the time I wonder if I am helping ANYONE?
   
   I graduate in December and wonder if I will be ready...
   
   Ugh. Am I all alone in feeling like this??
   
   
2. 

   About allthingsbright

   Joined: May '02; Posts: 1,595; Likes: 201
   Labor and Delivery RN
   Specialty: LDRP

   9 Comments

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3. 
   Apr 13, '07

   And I am so tired from clinical today that I can't spell--sorry guys!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. 
   Apr 13, '07

   I'm about done with my second semester. Took fundamentals first semester, now I'm peds/OB. All I can say is that I'm right there with with. I remember everything I learned in fundamentals, but I havn't had the opportunity to apply it yet, which sucks. Our clinicals right now are 99% observation, and that only gets you so far. I'm hoping that next semester I'll get to put into action what I know. I'm just lucky I work at a hospital and get exposed to a lot of stuff; I think that'll help me more than anything I've learned this semester. Plus I've heard other students say the same thing, so you're not alone. Just do what you know, ask questions, learn more, and keep going. What always keeps me somewhat optimistic is knowing that all the good nurses I've ever talked to say something on the lines of "you learn a lot in nursing school, but there's a LOT they don't teach you." And knowing that you really don't start gaining experience until you're out of school. But I'm right there with you on this one...
5. 
   Apr 13, '07

   I'm only in semester one, but the instructors are constantly remiding us that we're supposed to feel confused and overwhelmed.
6. 
   Apr 13, '07

   Look into local hospitals and see if they have "Nurse Techs" "Nurse Interns" or "Nurse Externs" These are job opportunities for student nurses. You are generally paid very well and you get great exposure to the hospital environment.
7. 
   Apr 14, '07

   Almost the end of my second semester and the majority of my classmates echo your feelings. It's horrible to feel this way and try to imagine someday being totally in charge of other human beings' lives!! Ugh!!
8. 
   Apr 14, '07

   I'm in an accelerated program that lasts 13 months (4 semesters) and I'm in the beginning of my 3rd semester right now. I still feel totally confused on things. Our first semester, we were at an elderly care facility, and didn't experience much. 2nd semester we were in a hospital setting changed floors every week. They're doing the same thing this semester....I hate it. It makes it feel like I can't get anything down. I'm in Med-Surg one week and then in Ortho the next. Its hard, because next semester is my preceptorship. As of now, i don't know how I'm going to be able to keep up in a preceptorship, come next semester.
9. 
   Apr 15, '07

   LOL right there with you will be finishing my fourth semester in a week and am now just starting to feel confident. I think I finally found the specialty I want to work in which is ICU. I'm planning on upping my hrs during my externship over the summer and reading as much as I can on critical care (our fifth semester in the fall) so I'm all ready for what's to come.
10. 
    Apr 15, '07

    This probably won't make you feel better, but it's true: this happens to everyone. Take a deep breath, let it out slowly, step back for a sec and get some perspective.
    I've barely scraped by sophomore year now and finals are in about 2 weeks. I've felt like **** and even posted a nasty thread where everyone blasted me because i was so bitter. but they were right to do so because it helped me realize that there are worse things in life. and yes, nursing school is hard, but if it were easy we probably wouldn't be good nurses. I thought i had it bad until I heard what some students go through in the EMT courses.
    
    My nursing school makes us students feel stupid everyday and no one gives a word of encouragement or compliments. we even made our own shirts that say "---- Nursing, where your best was never enough since 1939." It doesn't help that our school is disorganized in general. Finals are upon me, and i know i just gotta give it one more big push to hang in there to the end.
    
    One thing that helped me was what one nurse said in my clinical one day. She hadn't been on our floor for a while and the one week she came back she told us: "Thanks for your help. You guys are a big help for us and I can tell in the weeks that I was gone you learned A LOT."
    
    What she said wasn't deep or profound, but it was enough to shock me into stillness. I wanted to hug her for it!! It was the nicest thing anyone ever said to us all year.
    
    Another thing that helped was when a high school student came in to observe in the PACU and she knew nothing about med terms or hospitals or equipment, etc. My classmate and I slowly started explaining things to her and at one point I stopped and thought, "wow, i guess we do know a lot!"
    
    If you need help, go to your instructors. Ask them what you can do to improve. they may have some ideas. Go to older students, find out what they did to survive. another thing meandragonbrett brought up was the student nurse/extern job. working at a hospital will give you experiences that you can't learn from a textbook. we all make mistakes or can't remember every detail about a disease process, but like Luv's says: "live and learn". learn from your mistakes and remember them and move on. You'll find your strength. Just hang on!!!
11. 
    Apr 15, '07

    ooo... long post, sorry 'bout that folks! my paragraph disease must be making a comeback....:spin:

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