I feel like I don't know anything!

[Megatron89]

Hi There,

I was looking for just some input i guess. I'm an average student that came into my nursing degree with a previous degree. I'm currently in my 2nd year out of my 4 year program and I honestly just feel like I know nothing. I feel as though everyone around me knows so much more and I just sit there dumbfounded. I can sit there in the classroom ... where i thought I came in prepared.. and everyone is talking like they are already RNs... and i'm just the preschooler in comparison. It's like I can't get the biology behind things/disorders.. i can't figure out what tests are for what... what hormones cause this and that... all the damn medications and how they work and what they do.. everything is just a huge blur and nothing sticks. Nevermind when I go to lab and I feel like I got the skill and I go into clinical and just forget it entirely even if i've practiced before and felt good about it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I do my homework, I do my readings, I go to class, I go to clinical, i go to lab and to practice labs and sim labs... I always participate. Yet I honestly just feel stupid and useless as a student nurse. I just feel like there is just no knowledge in my brain. Clinical doesn't help when my teacher treats me like a complete idiot in comparison with the rest of my group. Should I not be in this career? Like is this just not for me? I love nursing.. I love everything about it... but I feel like I'm going to be a horrible nurse... like I just won't know right from wrong and make a bad call and then lose my job and then it was all a waste of time. Ugh please help...

[RunBabyRN]

How are you doing in your program?

A lot of my classmates (and I) feel like sometimes. Like we're just LOST in a discussion, or have NO idea about meds, or whatever. How do you feel your style of studying is working for you? Sometimes just doing the reading and the homework and labs and such is just going through the motions. It doesn't mean things are STICKING. You need to find what works for you. Most programs run really fast, and it's hard to absorb everything it feels like we need to absorb!

Feeling like you don't know everything can be GOOD- it'll stop you from having the arrogance to go do something and be wrong (and potentially kill someone) instead of stopping and either researching the answer or asking for help. Being a nurse isn't all about knowing everything. Sometimes, it's about knowing where to find answers.

When you have an actual patient, look at the disease processes, meds, labs, etc. Talk to the nurse and ask why this was ordered, or why that lab is high or low, or why they're on a special diet for this disease, or why if this body system is shutting down it's affecting this other body system, etc. Ask ask ask!! And while you're at it, RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!! I've learned a lot by going home after a day of caring for someone with dofsierahfreaoighreg disease and looking it up and the associated meds and labs and seeing why things are the way they are with this patient. Doing your own research is great, because you learn things at your own pace, and sometimes, things will stick out to you that you wouldn't get in lecture (or even your textbooks).

My closest friend in my class revealed to me today that she cried and panicked before every day of clinicals for the first 3 semesters. She was so freaked out and felt so green and like she didn't know anything. This is now our final semester, and she's precepting, and rocking it. She's finally had her "aha" moment.

Keep at it! It sounds like you have the drive and the desire to make it happen. You'll find your rhythm, and your "aha" moment will come! :)

[Megatron89]

I don't know nothing works for me with studying. I just get so bored. Like i said I'm an average student. I don't know.. I'm just afraid that i will never get it. I feel like i don't know how to make the decisions i would need to make. the responsibility of having someones life in my hands terrifies me yet i want to help and care for people. I just feel dumber than nails though... Especially compared to others in my class. Some just sound like encyclopedias and practice with ease. I dont get how they know so much while i know nothing in comparison. I feel like i haven't even left first year. I did decide to slow the courses down and take an extra 6 months but i still just am not getting any kind of rhythm. Im just totally unconfident now.

[Megatron89]

Even med calculations intimidate me

[MrGone]

Guess what, I've basically finished nursing school (2 years program) and have NCLEX equivalent in less than 2 months. I still feel(and know:/) that I know nothing. Somehow whenever I studied, the knowledge stayed with me just long enough to pass an exam, and then it's gone. poof.

My avg grade is 80~90, but that's mostly thanks for clinicals.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

You have actually come to the right place. One of the things we do here in AN is try to explain things in a way your faculty might not have done. While it is a student's responsibility to work at learning, it's also a teacher's responsibility to find a way for the student to understand, and this is sometimes hard when you have a class of forty and you don't get feedback from individuals except in the form of exam grades.

So, when you don't really feel like you are getting something, you can make an appointment immediately with your faculty to explain where your confusion lies....faculty really do want you to learn successfully, to get it, and will help you, but you have to meet them halfway so they know how to try.

We will also be happy to help you with those putting-it-all-together, get-to-that-aha! things. Your feelings are far from unique, and if you are really interested in having those, let us help. And don't give much thought to your classmates. We see a lot of students who talk a great game, but you know what? They aren't much more clued in than you are. You're just more self-aware about it, which actually puts you ahead of them professionally. :)

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

What are your test scores like? If you are passing nursing school and not cheating on your exams, you have to know something. It could be anxiety getting in the way of your potential. In nursing, there is a time when everything clicks. For me, a lot of A&P clicked in Med-Surg class, and even more when I started working as an RN on the floor. It took until I started working and actually giving medications for medications to "click" in my mind. I had known the meds, could answer questions about them (I had passed NCLEX), but didn't fully understand them. Likewise with tests, procedures, and laboratory studies. A whole lot of nursing is learned in the "trenches" of the floors.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

If elt the same way while in nursing school, and for at least another year after, but now I see that it is a normal state. If you are passing then you are learning. The idea is to keep learning. Instructors might be able to help you focus on certain topics or tasks and give hints on how to "abosorb" it all. I hope you find peace in this soon.

[Megatron89]

I guess i just wanted to confirm if this is normal or not. Im tired of feeling stupid and feeling like i know nothing. I guess i will have to keep waiting for anxiety to go away and the knowledge to flow. It feels like everything so quick.. You start to get it then its on to something else. Then someone asks you a question putting it all together and i stand there dumbfounded and they expect you to just know it. Its so intimidating to me that sometimes i cant even study anymore... Theres so much pressure to know everything right away that i cant even learn anymore.

[Megatron89]

For the first time this semester..i just shut down and cut some courses. Slowed the course load down so id actually start feeling less like a dumbass and more like I'm getting this. I feel like the theory is there... Its the anatomy, the patho, the meds and their calculations... The things you need to know to make connections and decisions... I stumble and forget. It just makes me feel so stupid when others just know it instantly...

[pixiebuddymick]

I TOTALLY GET IT! I am right there with you. Second year as well. Hang in there. Interestingly enough, my grades are actually way up from the previous semesters. Some of my friends in the program ask how I did on an exam and I say I got an A (total shock to me I got an A on my foundations nursing exam... first one) and they say "you are SO smart!" and I sit there feeling like I know absolutely nothing. I am not one of those students you see who gets an A on everything and goes "omg I am going to fail". I have gone from a C to an A in part two of this course somehow. Yet I go into clinical and you would think I just started yesterday. Scares me. Intimidates me. My clinical instructor can be as sweet as pie, then at the flip of a switch a complete troll. I leave clinical ready to cry. Then I realize I am doing this for my patients, not a persnickety clinical instructor. And if I have made it this far, I must know something. I right now am just going back through to brush up on basics. For example, my head to toe (that I passed and did really well on for return demonstration final last semester) is GONE. Just poof. Left. So I made a reference sheet for myself. I've always been told by a friend who went through nursing school that "you know more than you think you do". I believe that and have found it to be true. Sometimes I just do not TRUST that I know something. Then again, this is my second year. This is my first clinical. I have only been to clinical 3 times. I shouldn't know everything. Hang in there.

[LPN Guy]

What are your test scores like? If you are passing nursing school and not cheating on your exams you have to know something. It could be anxiety getting in the way of your potential. In nursing, there is a time when everything clicks. For me, a lot of A&P clicked in Med-Surg class, and even more when I started working as an RN on the floor. It took until I started working and actually giving medications for medications to "click" in my mind. I had known the meds, could answer questions about them (I had passed NCLEX), but didn't fully understand them. Likewise with tests, procedures, and laboratory studies. A whole lot of nursing is learned in the "trenches" of the floors.[/quote']

I managed to get through the first leg of school and pass NCLEX-PN, but I still didn't really begin to "get it" until I actually started working as an LPN. And I have always been more of a learner by doing as opposed to hearing about it in a classroom. I am an older person, second career and BS in another field BtTW, so don't lose heart. And the advice given here about not worrying about what your classmate are doing is correct - some people talk a good game but keep what you are openly expressing to themselves.