I want 2 be a nurse, but I'm scared!!!

Nursing Students General Students

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I have 3 more pre-reqs & I will be applying to nursing school BUT I can't help but think "am I making the right decision"?? I really want to be a nurse but I'm soooo scared. I am taking anatomy I and have a A-B average BUT I'm already forgetting the material weeks after taking the tests! How in the world am I going to remember all the things that nurses need to remember on a daily basis? I just don't think I'm smart enough to remember all that stuff. I come from a business background & real estate...so all this health stuff is very new to me. I'm passing all my classes but when I really think about it, I feel that I don't even know the basics of health the way other people in my class know them. I feel that nurses should be "automatically" smart and I feel that I study very hard in order to make good grades. Anybody else in the same boat?? Any advise?

Thanks,

VERY STRESSED!!!

:banghead:

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Specializes in Emergency.

honestly. ur not alone. people forget micro, ap etc. nursing school the actual classes and clinicals are a whole other ball game. its a different type of learning style too. its not about define anatomy. its more like given this situation what would you do etc. so dont worry about you forgetting stuff honestly. you learning style will change in nursing school due to the different tactics you will face. dont worry. continue your dream.

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I agree with the pp, the learning style in NS is very different. Keep your A&P book for when you need a refresher, but don't stress about it if you can't remember all the muscles in the body. Also, you will be shocked at just how much you really did retain when the time comes. Hang in there and stay with your dream!

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Don't worry, I too have that same problem with retaining all the info from Micro and A&P. I was actually asking myself this same question and also sometimes question if I'm "smart enough to be a nurse", but I know I'm not the only one, and things come with time and experience.

Don't give up on your dreams! You'll do just fine. :)

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I understand where you are coming from.

I am NOT an academically smart person at all. In high school, they said I had a "learning disability" and could not learn math... I barely even graduated with a 1.6 gpa. So when I realized that nursing was my dream I became very worried about the classes, especially the math. Here is the deal though, I pushed through my pre-reqs and got mostly all A's with only 2 B+'s in A&P 1&2. My conselor asked me how I went from a 1.6 in high school to a 3.75 in college and I just told her "this is my passion and I am just pushing myself to do well.

It has been over a year since my last pre-req and I just got accepted into the fall nursing program and I hardly remember any of the information I learned but I don't think it matters because the stuff I need is going to be drilled into my head for 18 months during school. I don't think anyone can pick up a trade on their first try, it takes time but after a while it will become second nature and the information will be ingrained in you.

So I would say, don't worry about the smarts side of nursing because it can only get you so far. Smarts is NO substitute for PASSION in the field. True story, my mother knew a guy who flew through nursing school with straight A's but he didn't last long in the field because he did not have the passion for patient care and, to me, thats what a truley succesful nurse boils down to... someone who has the passion for the field. Yes, you need to focus and pay attention and learn in school but no one is going to be able to teach you how to love a patient and deal with the stress of the job because you have a desire to help people.

So I would reccommend you ask yourself a different question: "do you have a passion for nursing?"

-are you willing to wipe peoples backsides and clean up blood and vomit

-are you willing to be underpayed for the level of work and stress you have to deal with

-are you willing to not be fully appreciated for what you do

-are you willing to not pay mind to the hardships of the job because you have a love for the field which at it's heart has and always will be HELPING PEOPLE GET WELL... modern medicine has lost site of that

These are the things you need to consider. I used to work in a nursing home working with dementia patients; I wiped ass, cleaned body fluids, got attacked by patients with dementia, got screamed at, hurt my back lifting patients and had to deal with outrageous politics and drama from my co-workers.... but i LOVED it. It was the greatest job I ever had and our head nurse said if I could do that job and like it then I would be a great nurse and thats what started the dream in me. I can't say I like cleaning feces (who would?) but when I went through all those things and then had that one patient that may have had a better day because I loved them like they were my mother or father and I did not make them feel inferior, that sustained me... thats why I am going into nursing

Why are you going into nursing? If you have the passion then don't worry about the smarts, just get dedicated to succedding and you will do fine.

-Joseph

p.s. if you are maintaining a B/A average in A&P then that says alot about your ability to learn the material... most people can't hack it in that class.

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Specializes in SNU/SNF/MedSurg, SPCU Ortho/Neuro/Spine.

just chill down! we all forget stuff!!!

I can not remember stuff sometimes either! the amount of information is so great that it is hard to keep it all fresh!

but you just look at the book and you will remember it!

i am just finishing pharm and fundamentals now, and i can tell you... some of my ap is gone already, (stored on my brain file's cabinet lol)

just go with the flow, understand as muchas you can, dont try to memorize stuff, and the rest just comes!!!

people make such a big deal of everything...

my best advice is chill, enjoy ap it is fun.... and don't worry the hospital do no expect you to graduate knowing all that was on the book!!!

you will buid up your nursing skills, and it will become stronger as you go!!!

some will pressure you... but all i can tell is chill other wise you will be pulling your hair!!!!

i am not studying tonight, just working, and relaxing.... time for myself!!!

you know what? I had never been on the health field before, always though poop was horrible and all of those things...

and today i love clinicals! i deal with poop!!!

i am not afraid of talking with my patients, i dont studder any longer!!!

the more stressed i got, the worse was it to absorb information, and as a result i was studying too much and retaining not even half!

just chill and let it all sink in!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

As a nurse you will always come across stuff you don't know, me personally that is something I love about it cos it means I always learn. Don't be afraid to say you don't know, don't be afraid to ask and don't think once you qualify the study stops

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Specializes in NICU.

Don't let fear hold you from what you want. I'm scared too! But this is something that I want. I was afraid that I wouldn't retain the information well...especially since I got C's the first time in A&P and had to retake them. Now I'm getting A's, and as my advisor and my dad said, I'll know that stuff REALLY well now.

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I'm with you. I'm scared because this is such a change in my life. I am currently working in the financial side of the real estate world, a single mom who owns her house and when I start school, I'm not going to be working but living off loans! That alone scares me to death. Then, I hear so many stories about people failing and while I don't know the whole background regarding those stories, it scares me! Am I willing to give up my secure job for nursing and the answer is a whole-hearted YES! I remember being petrified that I couldn't complete my CNA class and I flew through it like I already knew the material, I even helped the other students in class and I made a REAL difference in the life of people who needed me most, my patients. I can't WAIT until I am accepted into actual nursing school (currently on a waitlist). Still, the change scares the **** out of me! But we can handle it if we really want it!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

What a minute, we are supposed to be remembering this stuff???? :stone

:p totally kidding, I forget a lot of the stuff as well, I worry often if I am smart enough and I just have to remember to kick myself in the rear and trust in myself and keep going. My job I used to have I was just thinking about it the other day, I couldn't even remember exactly what I did. I was looking at my resume and trying to put in all the stuff you did at said job and I literally sat there perplexed trying to remember all the different things. The funny thing is when I worked there I was good!!! I was efficient and thorough and always got my stuff done and was able to work on accounts for coworkers. Yet Today I can not remember what all the things I did were :p

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Specializes in Psych.

I'm nearly through my first semester of nursing school and I think you'll be okay. All the prereqs serve to give you a familiarity with the material. There will be some review in the textbooks and some teachers even go through and give a 5 or 10 minute rundown of the affected system. When I want to know more about how something works, I go to my MedSurg book, because it has plenty of detail. Please don't let this worry derail you.

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don't worry i had the same problem when i took anatomy in the first semester (( especially my mother language is arabic and when i took the anatomy in english it was very difficult for me )) and i was worried too much ... how i will remember it later, but when we take the clinical course and applied anatomy in the patient and i start remember it. and the information we took in the clinical i never forget it.

good luck:)

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