How knowledgeable are you expected to be as a brand new nurse?

[Blueskies028]

I will be applying to nursing school soon and have a few questions:

How knowledgeable are you expected to be as a brand new nurse? As of right now I know absolutely nothing about how to be a nurse and it scares me because I'm wondering if everyone else who plans to become a nurse already knows a lot about nursing. Is this something that you learn during nursing school? Do you know pretty much everything there is to know when you graduate? Do you know as much as a doctor? Do you learn about every disease/medication/etc, or just the basics...is it something you learn on the job and during clinicals? Did you feel competent to nurse the day you graduated, or did it take a while to feel confident in your abilities?

Thanks. ANy advice is appreciated!

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

Not quite through 1 year of nursing school but I'll assure you that you won't be completely trained to be a nurse after you graduate. You'll have seen a lot of disease processes and understand how to deal with some of them and you'll likely be a good technician when it comes to the basics. It will take several months to years to feel competent as a fully functioning nurse and even then, there will be lots of questions. This is a lifetime of learning.