Help please-re na training

[Suitepea79]

Hi I just started my second quarter of nursing school and I freaked out. I don't work as an na or have any clinical patient care experience. My na training was 3 years ago so naturally I freaked out when I realized we were expected to be competant in those areas the first week. I thought we learned that in our first nursing clinical but we were expected to know that plus nursing skills. I had to withdrawl and take a break because I felt thoroughly unprepared and was afraid of hurting someone. How do I get past this fear? Now I am reinstated and am waiting another year to finish the rest of my classes. Can anyone help me or give any advice? I do well in all my classes but when it comes to clinical time my nerves get the best of me and I can't think straight sometimes. I also felt my na training was very subpar with only 16 clinical hours the rest was classroom time. How was I expected to feel competent in my nursing skills when I wasn't even competent in na skills? thanks

[ICor9:24]

Have you considered re taking the nurse aide training? I was in a situation similar to you - in the fact that I had taken the aide training around 4 yrs ago, and the subsequently had to withdraw from the nursing program after that. I never tested or worked as an aide as I had a really good paying office job at the time. Well, things changed and I was blessed with a new wonderful husband and the opportunity to leave the sucky office job and finish nursing school. I decided to work part time as an aide to supplement (some) income...

Not only did I have to re take the aide class (because in OH if you don't get certified within 2 years of the class you have to retake it), but I am glad I re-took it because it "reacquainted" me with patient care and like you said, I would have never remembered everything I had learned 4 yrs ago.

The down side is paying again to take the class, but IMO, it was definitely worth it. I know hands down I am ahead of the curve in nursing school compared to other students who have never touched a patient.

HTH!

[TweedleDee]

Sometimes getting comfortable with patient care just takes a little time. A lot of the students I'm in class with were uncomfortable touching patients let alone doing assessments, vitals, baths, etc. But after a little practice they became great at it. Rest assured it will come.