How did you get through nursing school?

Purple_roses · Mar 13, 2016

Are you really pulling out your hair? That's serious OP :sorry: Panic attacks are not a standard part of nursing school. I'm also nearing the end of my second semester and I haven't felt like this at all. I can't imagine what you're going through. I believe you should see a psychiatrist about this.

pixierose, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2016

OP -- ((Hugs))

I second Purple_roses -- if you're really pulling out your hair, that's serious. You stated what you need at the end of your post -- help. It's time to see a psychiatrist/therapist. And *that's ok.*

I'm a nursing student, and yes -- it's been really stressful. But you seem to be experiencing way more anxiety than most; your stress management techniques are not working for you. Whatever you are doing isn't working for you at this time. Do you have a good support system? Other personal, emotional or medical issues you are already facing? How are your study habits? What's going on in clinical, and can you talk to your clinical instructor? These are questions you need to ask yourself, and a good psychiatrist/therapist can help you on your way.

You mention friends -- call them. A good support system is really key to getting through nursing school, at least in my case. You can only study so much, and I think this sometimes thwarts students -- studying at the expense of everything else.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Many hugs.

Fish 1 · Mar 13, 2016

Use any resources that you can find, there are a lot of them online. Study questions from your book but focus on rationales. What makes nursing school so hard is that often they just tell you to read the book and that's it - most likely you will fail this way - I focus on rationales, signs and symptoms, Interventions. This is the key to passing. Also study like crazy, if you are putting in 2 - 4 hours a day forget about it, 6 - 12 minimum. You blow 1 hour checking emails and surfing the net. Make friends in class you be surprised what resources people have.

pixierose, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2016

Use any resources that you can find, there are a lot of them online. Study questions from your book but focus on rationales. What makes nursing school so hard is that often they just tell you to read the book and that's it - most likely you will fail this way - I focus on rationales, signs and symptoms, Interventions. This is the key to passing. Also study like crazy, if you are putting in 2 - 4 hours a day forget about it, 6 - 12 minimum. You blow 1 hour checking emails and surfing the net. Make friends in class you be surprised what resources people have.

While I agree with a lot of your study strategies (and use them myself), I think telling someone who is experiencing severe anxiety to study 6-12 hours *minimum* is poor advice. Encouraging quality (like the first half of your post), not quantity would be of more benefit.

I see a lot of classmates follow and fail by this logic, hence my concern.

ED Nurse, RN · Mar 13, 2016

I'm just going to put this out there- nursing may not be for you. I think first and foremost, you need professional help to get your mental state back on track. What you are saying you are experiencing is not normal and you are making a bad situation worse by continuing to go on like this. Second, nursing school is stressful, yes, but actual practice is far more challenging and daunting than nursing school. You are responsible for the safety, health, and well-being of patients- you are out in extremely stressful situations, sometimes life and death, and you CANNOT react negatively or lose your composure. Maybe you need to take a break from school, speak with a therapist, and determine if nursing, actual nursing practice, is meant for you. Why lead a life of misery, like currently, if you can have a career that doesn't cause you such intense despair. Think about it.

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 13, 2016

Do you have a study group? If not, I suggest you find/form one. Two reasons:

Studying with others is usually very helpful. Everyone brings different study traits or habits to the table. You will learn from others and others will learn from you.

Every study group I ever belonged to was largely study, but partly sharing/commiseration as well. You all support each other. Maybe that sharing with folks in the boat would be a helpful outlet for you.

Fish 1 · Mar 13, 2016

Like my professor said if you are not putting in 6-12 hours a day in your are going to fail. I did not believe him at first but if you truly look around, those who are truly stressed out beyond belief are because they are not studying enough, in fact I was one of them. Now when I take a test I expect to get an A, why because with time in comes quality along with quantity. You have to break it down, it can't be done in 4 hours. If you are studying less than your school is using mainly Test Bank questions than you will get an easy A or B. I laugh when I hear someone say they got all A's in nursing school, I say crap - most likely the school used all test banks for questions. If they are not using test bank questions you better put in 6-12 hours or you will most likely fail! Nursing school is a beast! You gotta study like your life depends on it period. The stress level will decrease substantially!! No other way around it nursing school takes no prisoners you conquer it by studying period!

Purple_roses · Mar 13, 2016

Like my professor said if you are not putting in 6-12 hours a day in your are going to fail. I did not believe him at first but if you truly look around, those who are truly stressed out beyond belief are because they are not studying enough, in fact I was one of them. Now when I take a test I expect to get an A, why because with time in comes quality along with quantity. You have to break it down, it can't be done in 4 hours. If you are studying less than your school is using mainly Test Bank questions than you will get an easy A or B. I laugh when I hear someone say they got all A's in nursing school, I say crap - most likely the school used all test banks for questions. If they are not using test bank questions you better put in 6-12 hours or you will most likely fail! Nursing school is a beast! You gotta study like your life depends on it period. The stress level will decrease substantially!! No other way around it nursing school takes no prisoners you conquer it by studying period!

I put in that much last semester. This time around its 2-4 hours per day, tops, and I went from Bs to As. If you're studying that much per day then you might not be understanding what to focus on. It certainly isn't an easy A, and there have been a few days where I had to put in 6-8 hours, but not the majority of the time. I'm also not including the time it takes to read in this (because that's not actual studying).

More importantly, the OPs pressing issue is NOT how to study, but rather how to cope. Very different.

pixierose, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2016

Like my professor said if you are not putting in 6-12 hours a day in your are going to fail. I did not believe him at first but if you truly look around, those who are truly stressed out beyond belief are because they are not studying enough, in fact I was one of them. Now when I take a test I expect to get an A, why because with time in comes quality along with quantity. You have to break it down, it can't be done in 4 hours. If you are studying less than your school is using mainly Test Bank questions than you will get an easy A or B. I laugh when I hear someone say they got all A's in nursing school, I say crap - most likely the school used all test banks for questions. If they are not using test bank questions you better put in 6-12 hours or you will most likely fail! Nursing school is a beast! You gotta study like your life depends on it period. The stress level will decrease substantially!! No other way around it nursing school takes no prisoners you conquer it by studying period!

I only study 2-4, occasionally up to 6, hours and I'm doing just fine. All A's. Quality versus quantity (Saunders, UWorld, as supplements; using the lectures and power points to guide my reading, etc).

Please don't dramatize it with "you gotta study like your life depends on it period." Especially in this kind of post, with an OP who is having a tough time with anxiety. Yes, nursing school is hard. But it's *manageable* and you "conquer" it with the right strategies in place. The OP already stated she studies "all the time." She's not eating, she's pulling out hair. And now you're telling her to study even more? That's not the underlying issue here.

Fish 1 · Mar 14, 2016

You must be using banks!!

Purple_roses · Mar 14, 2016

You must be using banks!!

I don't. It took a lot of hard work for me to figure out how to get good grades in nursing school. It's absolutely ridiculous for you to assume that the only way people can get higher grades than you is by attending an easier school. It's actually comical.