I feel incompetent as a student nurse, after being diagnosed with GAD and Depression

[Lina1]

Hello everyone!

I am a third year student nurse on my first semester. I feel that I have scraped through the last few years to get where I am.

I do try and work very hard to pass all my papers, but I feel incompetent.

This week we were put into simulation rooms with possible patient scenarios etc. When I was next to the bed with my manikin patient, after been given a handover I literally froze as I did not know what to do. My clinical teacher was very unhappy.

I feel I have forgotten everything, all the pathophysiology, my communication skills, pharmacology everything, and everything feels overwhelming. I start my inpatient placement next week and I want to do well, this is my dream career... but I feel like a failure. There is so much I have to know but at this stage in time I wouldn't know how to apply it. And revising everything I have been taught from year 1 to now feels overwhelming too. Would I remember it all?

I was also diagnosed with GAD and depression in November 2014 after having an accident. Since then everything has gone down hill for me, and this incompetent feeling has me very very depressed...

I am not sure where I am going with this..

Can I even still be a nurse with GAD/depression and this awful feeling of not being good enough?

Thank you for reading.

[DWillaman72]

You didnt "forget" everything, you are simply new and not used to pressure. Your are going to have to figure out how to manage your anxiety as you cant always go to work doped up on benzos :) That being said take a deep breath remember your KITES, knock, introduce, tell them why you are here, eliminate germs (sanitize), check safety, nursing instructors want to know you can manage yourself, almost moreso than the pt. sometimes. Make sure you are asking questions during hand-off, start your assessment, remember what you are in the room to do. Get the vitals, then head to toe, address all safety issues, sanitize out. Assessment is the key. You have to be in charge and be confident. Always ask the pt. if there is anything you can do for them. Assessment is the key, write stuff down! You will be a great nurse even with GAD, it is all about management, get your routine and execute! Good Luck!

[Nonyvole, BSN, RN]

Yo. Nice to meet you. You'll find that there are a fair few nurses with GAD and depression...and we all made it through and are surviving.

The thing about simulations is that it is a perfectly safe place to, well, screw up. To freeze. You clinical instructor probably wasn't as unhappy with you as they appeared; it's partly that GAD and depression can ramp everything up.

Clinical rotations don't mean that you're going to be taking on a full patient load. A student nurse is not a RN, and the world knows it. You also aren't going to be thrown in at the deep end and expected to build a raft out of discharge paperwork and paper clips.

And like DWillaman said, in scenarios? When in doubt, assess. That's the first rule of any new patient interaction, and it's a good place to start from in simulations.

Finally, if you haven't already, think about seeing a professional for treatment. There's nothing wrong with needing to take medication to get through the day, as long as it isn't something like benzos. (And talk therapy. Talk therapy is good.)