I am sucking at skills :(

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I need a little advice/encouragement. I am about to wrap up my second semester of school and I feel like I am lacking in my skills ability majorly! I have had clinicals both semesters and our school has a skills lab class as well, but things like IV's are still so foreign to me I freak out when I have to do anything with them, I don't even know what I would do if I had to actually do trach care...like what is wrong with me...is it just me??

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Same here! I don't even know what I'm doing! But skills will get better with practice:-)

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Its all scary at first, it's new! But once you do them over and over it becomes second nature. I am a senior student and still suck at IV's, but that doesn't mean I don't try! I am good at Foley's and have even instructed other students on how to do them (With the nurse in the room). Some people are awesome at some things, some are not! We aren't expected to be pros at everything when we graduate!

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Does your school offer open lab hours? If I'm having difficulty or feel uncomfortable with a skill then I go to our open lab and the instructor there will walk me through it or watch me practice and critique me. It's a great way for me to improve on things I'm insure about.

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I'm the same way. They say some people are visual learners and some people are auditory learners. I personally don't feel comfortable until I do something a thousand times. Repetition is the only way I learn. If you do something over and over again it will eventually sink in. Don't concern yourself with "how long it takes" to sink in. Just make it sink in through repetition. This means you'll probably need to attend open lab to practice practice practice. Whey they're closed, practice some more at home. You'll get it down. But it's up to you alone to make sure that you get it down.

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Specializes in Oncology, Critical Care.

I would try talking to your instructors and see if you are able to run some extra time and skills through. Some instructors are excellent at helping you learn the skills differently, or may be able to help you get used to doing the procedure.

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You are a student. You are in school. Did somebody tell you that you'd ace everything the first time? That this would be a piece o' cake? And you believed it? If so, find that person and give him a bopp on the nose for fooling you so seriously.

Come on, now. Remember when you learned to drive? How you got crazy if your mom sitting next to you said anything, because you had to concentrate so much on the location of the controls, fumble to signal a left turn, where the other cars are around you, omigod did that light just change, look out, hit the brakes!!!! And now you can drive through city traffic singing your favorite song on the radio.

It's like that. If you don't practice, you won't be a better driver. Practice, and you will. Simple as that. Spend more time in the lab, practice with your partner and take turns teaching the tasks to each other; you'd be surprised how having to teach it to someone else makes it nestle into your brain better. You're not that unusual in this; that's why you're, like, in school. :)

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they kind of do offer lab hours, it's at a seperate center, and we rarely have an instructor there, or the supplies needed, it's not that helpful. I definitely need to just keep trying when I have the chance, it's just disheartening each time I fail at something.

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Thanks for the support, I just needed to hear it all haha. I have my final check-off Friday so I am going to start practicing as much as possible and hope for the best :)

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Practice! Take advantage of your clinical time and let the nurse that you're shadowing know that you want to do skills, skills, skills! A lot of my textbooks came with DVDs that show how skills are performed step-by-step. Do yours come with those? If so, watch them! :) Good luck.

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