I'm two weeks into my 13-month ABSN program and I am wondering just WHAT the heck I've gotten myself into lol!! This is a second-degree for me, but I have never in all of my years of schooling been this blindsided by subject matter. It's a completely new way of thinking for me! I also have to admit, I do feel a bit disadvantaged because a good amount of my cohort has been involved in patient care/hospital/lab employment in some form or fashion. I haven't. I came directly from human resources and finance, to nursing. I know I shouldn't let that bother me, but it's kind of a bummer when it takes you multiple lab sessions to be able to hear a blood pressure correctly, and it takes others 5 mins.
I'm sure I'm not telling you all anything you haven't heard before, but holy crap, there's so much to know. I'm so afraid of forgetting to do something or to memorize something. We did the lab on medical asepsis/wound care today, and I reached over the kerlik tape after I opened it and saturated it, and was instantly upset with myself. Sterile field crossed! I'm used to getting everything right on the FIRST try and I'm realizing quickly that that simply does NOT happen in nursing. I've made more mistakes these past two weeks than I made in all of undergrad. I have to remember to breathe and to focus on myself and my progress alone. This is not a competition, nor a race. I'm sorry for rambling, but I really just needed to vent!
Oh, poor honey, I know what it's like to be in that negative mind trap! You have the key right there...focus on progress alone. It sounds to me like you recognize and learn from mistakes. Why not celebrate them? You made one, you learned from it, one less thing to stand in your way when it really counts. I want a nurse who's explored all her/his mistakes and found the way out and it sounds like that's YOU.
You can do it. Don't despair unless you keep making the same mistake over and over. (I know you won't.)
What you've gotten yourself into is an amazing, fulfilling career path. Keep on walking!
Yep, it's different. Those classmates you have that have CNA experience-- you'll catch up to them just fine, and quickly. That's a really minor part of nursing. The think-like-a-nurse part, that's where nursing really occurs. It's between your ears, not always at the end of your arms. When you're thinking like a nurse, you won't reach over the sterile field anymore. :)
We can help. When you have questions, do not hesitate to ask. Esme and I, and others here, love to help students learn to think like nurses. You can do this. (You're already ahead of the game on literacy :) )
GrnTea, thank you, thank you! I'll be starting nursing school this fall in a program with an excellent reputation... AND a point system with a large number of points given for CNA and EMT experience (which I don't have.) I attended orientation just this Wednesday and discovered that all but about seven of the fall cohort (including the wait-listers who attended) do have CNA and EMT experience. Without experience points, I just made the cutoff for the class. So I was intimidated.
Bless you for being a resource to help us learn to "think like a nurse" and encouraging us to believe that will compensate for our lack of hands-on experience.
And CareQueen, thanks for the topic. I look forward to hearing about your many successes in nursing school. Go, fellow career-changer, go!
Like many people said its the stuff that's between your ears that counts. The fact that you know you are having a hard time with it and working hard to fix the problems you do have, speaks both of your power to overcome and of maturity. It is normal to be frustrated when things don't come easy, but you channel the frustration into positive outcomes. You recognize the mistakes made and the challenges you have, that in and of itself is invaluable. How can you fix something or come up with a plan of action if you can't identify it?
As to being from a drastically different background; I've seen dance majors become nurses, so it doesn't phase me in the least to hear you made the switch. I have no doubt that you will catch on, if not quite as quickly at times as your classmates, but having taken longer and practiced more you will be confident in your abilities when you reach the same destination.
hello, just wanted to tell you i felt the same exact way when i started nursing school. a lot of people around me were either LVNs, CNAs or worked in the medical field. where as i, well... NO experience. I also felt blind sided with the material and overwhelmed. just know i struggled through nursing school and i felt like i had to put in 3x more effort then others in understanding the material. but know it will be worth it. just don't give up and keep pushing through! i made it through nursing school and you will too. also don't worry, you will get experience in clinicls and it will all start to click! just don't give up yet and realize the time will come soon enough. GOODLUCK with your journey.
Oh, my yes... Do not be put off because another student can put on gloves w/out contaminating themselves. Listen, in some ways the CNA/LVN/EMT thing can hold students back because they have a hard time transitioning to thinking like a nurse. In my years I have taught
1. A former Navy SEAL
2. Retired Highway patrolman
3. A grammar school teacher with a Master's degree in education
4. A waiter at Chile's
5. Beauticians
6. Masseuse
7. Investment Banker
8. Underwater Demolition Specialist
9. Two transgendered men (one who was an Air Force veteran)
10. Human resource people
11. Grocery store clerks
12. Small business owners
13. Flooring contractors
14. Retired miner (as in Gold mines... yep.)
15. Security guard at the VA
16. Public Relations specialists
17. Master chef desert maker (Oh, the cheese cakes he would bring in! We hated to let him graduate.)
18. Pharmaceutical reps
19. A Navy Corpsman who'd been in the battle for Faluja (the Navy was sending him to school for a BSN. He'll be a fabulous Navy Nurse.)
Gosh... I probably will think of a dozen more before I go to sleep tonight but that's what I can recall right now.
SeattleJess, I have similar thoughts from time to time. We may not be spring chickens, but we have already proven that we are capable of achieving our goals. We know how to adapt and persevere. Who knows, maybe in years to come, the spring chickens will find themselves in law school! :-)
This is really good news for someone who occasionally has thoughts that she is too old. (That would be me.)
Thank you!
:)
SeattleJess, I have similar thoughts from time to time. We may not be spring chickens, but we have already proven that we are capable of achieving our goals. We know how to adapt and persevere and pursue our dreams. Who knows, in years to come, the spring chickens we just met in orientation may find themselves in law school!
This is a second-degree for me, but I have never in all of my years of schooling been this blindsided by subject matter. It's a completely new way of thinking for me! I also have to admit, I do feel a bit disadvantaged because a good amount of my cohort has been involved in patient care/hospital/lab employment in some form or fashion. I haven't. I came directly from human resources and finance, to nursing. I know I shouldn't let that bother me, but it's kind of a bummer when it takes you multiple lab sessions to be able to hear a blood pressure correctly, and it takes others 5 mins.
I'm used to getting everything right on the FIRST try and I'm realizing quickly that that simply does NOT happen in nursing. I've made more mistakes these past two weeks than I made in all of undergrad. I have to remember to breathe and to focus on myself and my progress alone. This is not a competition, nor a race. I'm sorry for rambling, but I really just needed to vent!
SeattleJess
843 Posts
Oh, poor honey, I know what it's like to be in that negative mind trap! You have the key right there...focus on progress alone. It sounds to me like you recognize and learn from mistakes. Why not celebrate them? You made one, you learned from it, one less thing to stand in your way when it really counts. I want a nurse who's explored all her/his mistakes and found the way out and it sounds like that's YOU.
You can do it. Don't despair unless you keep making the same mistake over and over. (I know you won't.)
What you've gotten yourself into is an amazing, fulfilling career path. Keep on walking!