I'm in my first semester of my BSN, not sure if I can do it.

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I'm in my first semester of my BSN program actually it has been a little over a month since it started. At first I was very overwhelmed with homework and reading but I adjusted to having a heavy load after a few weeks. Sometimes it is still hard for me to find the time to get all the reading done but I try my best. Lately I have been feeling like I am not retaining the information that I should be from just reading, and I feel so lost like I will never get the hang of being in nursing school. It makes me scared because I feel like there is so much to learn before I become a nurse and how will I ever remember it all? I am basically starting at the bottom, I have no prior nursing experience; so I'm just wondering if anyone else felt this way in their program? Is it normal to feel intimidated? Sometimes I think it wouldn't have been as bad if I would have just went to get my ADN first at the community college. Sometimes I feel like we learn things that are irrelevant to nursing instead of learning the essential skills we will need to be nurses. I know this is turning into a vent but I am just wondering if anyone else has felt this way? Do you become more confident as a nurse the further you get in school? Any advice is welcomed. Thank you. :confused:

i'll be starting school in a couple months for my BSN as a second degree/career. it's also an accelerated program so it only lasts 18 months (since i already have a degree/all my cores) and i've never worked in the medical field at ALL. i sort of anticipated feeling the way you do right now so i took a CNA class so i could get some hands on experience with patients. i'm SOOO glad i did. i got a job before i even finished the course and although it sucks having a degree and working for crap pay - i'm surrounded by people/nurses who understand (and will understand) what i'm going through and can help me. the hospital i'm at has wonderful resources for students who are employs. maybe getting a job as a CNA (even part time) will help so you can get on the floor and get some hands on experience to go along with the book work - and be surrounded by knowledgable people.

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If your teacher relies on powerpoint presentations for lecture use that as main studyguide/source while using textbooks too deeper reinforce those topics that correspond with lecture. To further supplement your understanding, pick up suanders nclex review book and match up and review topics in class with sections in sunders.

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Specializes in LTC.

The best advice I got was in my first semester from my clinical instructor. Which was, "Don't read the entire reading assignment." Use your reading assignments to supplement your lectures. If you get outlines or powerpoints of lectures use your textbook to highlight that information before the lecture. Use your textbook to expand on what you are taught in class.

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Hello! I did not do a BSN program, but an accelerated ADN program. It was so hard, every single day, and I wanted to quit, SO, SO many times! Trust me your feelings are not unjust and you are not alone! I can't even tell you how many times I cried and wanted to say I wasn't smart enough and couldn't do it but, I DID! and you will, too!

Seriously, take it ONE class, test, day, HOUR at a time! Relax and know you're smart enough. You will eventually get into a groove and figure it all out. I was not top of my class by any means and tried my hardest just to stay passing! You will cry, scream, get bad grades, want to quit but STICK IT OUT! I'm in a tough place being a new grad in my first job but I still try and think back on school and realized that I made it through that and worked so hard and I can do this.

You CAN DO THIS! You got into nursing school for a reason and you can handle it. They wouldn't have taken you if they didn't believe you could. Please trust that you are absolutely positively not the only one thinking and feeling how you are, I think there's probably more thinking and feeling like you than not.

Feel free to msg me or anything and I can try to help at least talk you off the ledge! I needed lots of people to do that while I was in school! And someone who understands and doesn't know you, I can be semi-judgement free.

Good luck, you got this!

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I always get my husband and explain what I'm learning to him. If I can't explain it to him without looking at the book, then I don't understand it myself. When I get lost, I will look at the book and fill in what I don't know. I'm not in nursing school yet, but I get alot of angry classmates who freak out about their grades and ask how I did it. but when I ask them to explain, for instance, blood flow through the body, they just look at me. Goofy acronyms help too lol.

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Ditto to what everyone else said - just about everyone feels like that.

I would say at least finish the first semester, and start the second. The second semester in most programs starts to really tie up all the loose ends. I am a super senior, and I still feel like that. However its amazing when you get in a situation - emergancy, nervous talking to a doctor, etc. - that all of a sudden its like I do a word vomit and all the right stuff comes out ;) So although it may seem like you aren't absorbing the information... give it time.

The second semester, for me, also made a lot of the information more concrete by repeating it over and over again. I still am repeatedly looking up disease processes, but each time I look them up, the more I'm like, "Yeah I know that... I know that... THATS what I was wondering..."

If you have no previous experience - do yourself a favor and this summer, go shadow someone or better yet, get a job as a CNA if you can. Working as a CNA has given me a totally different aspect of nursing and I am so glad I have done it. Entering into the program I hadn't worked as one... second time I did and it helped immensly. I already had experience with vitals, passing meds, blood glucose, insulin injections and handling emergancy situations.

Good luck - keep your chin up.

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I'm in my first semester of my BSN program actually it has been a little over a month since it started. At first I was very overwhelmed with homework and reading but I adjusted to having a heavy load after a few weeks. Sometimes it is still hard for me to find the time to get all the reading done but I try my best. Lately I have been feeling like I am not retaining the information that I should be from just reading, and I feel so lost like I will never get the hang of being in nursing school. It makes me scared because I feel like there is so much to learn before I become a nurse and how will I ever remember it all? I am basically starting at the bottom, I have no prior nursing experience; so I'm just wondering if anyone else felt this way in their program? Is it normal to feel intimidated? Sometimes I think it wouldn't have been as bad if I would have just went to get my ADN first at the community college. Sometimes I feel like we learn things that are irrelevant to nursing instead of learning the essential skills we will need to be nurses. I know this is turning into a vent but I am just wondering if anyone else has felt this way? Do you become more confident as a nurse the further you get in school? Any advice is welcomed. Thank you. :confused:

You are expressing the thoughts EVERY new nursing student has ever had. We have ALL been there, been through it, and came through it. If I could ONLY tell you about 2nd year MS and the calls I made to my mother ...

You WILL get through it, you 'DID' adjust to the heavy load, and you can do it again.

No nursing student EVER had prior NURSING experience unlesss they were LPN's but they are not in your class.

Believe me, there were times I thought I should should just give it up and go to Bryman, or Chaplan as they call it today, because I was too stupid to EVER get this stuff!

You WILL survive. And get A's and B's this semester. And then you will relax, and flourish, and grow, and yes, have FUN!

If you were not incredible, you would not have gotten the place in your class.

Please send us a big shout out when you graduate with honors; we like to think we helped in some small way!

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I started my bsn program same as you with no expeiriance. Dont worry the first is the hardest. The rest is still tough but doable. I just felt like i was hurtaling through some great nursing information vortex. Then all of a sudden i'm finding out i have passed my nclex. You will retain more than you think. Dont let it frighten you and cheat you out of your bsn. It is a competative job market and that bsn helps you out because hospitals want magnet status.

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I feel the exact same way although I just started my second semester of a BSN program. I am a "non traditional" (weekend/evening) student so I also work full-time. Last semester was much easier to me than this semester. We are doing pharmacology and pathopysiology and there is alot of material. My patho professor did tell us the hardest part is the language and she is correct. Sometimes I don't know how I am going to keep up and feel overwhelmed but I know that most of my classmates feel the same way. I have invested way too much time and money at this point so failure is not an option for me. You are not alone and sometimes it is comforting to know that others are feeling exaclty the way you are feeling. Good Luck - it does get better!!!

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Specializes in Postpartum, L&D, Mother-Baby.

GUESS WHAT?! What you are feeling is absolutely NORMAL!!!!!! A majority of us went through the same thing. Not a whole bunch of nursing students feel 100% confident. It will get better with time and you won't feel as overwhelmed as you do now. Be sure and make friends with fellow students so you guys can bounce ideas off of one another on how to make things a little smoother in school...besides, you need friends to hang out with; why not make friends with the people you will be spending the next 1-3 years with almost every day (depending on how long your program is)!!!!:redpinkhe:twocents:

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i am a senior BSN student and i know exactally how you feel. i felt the same way, and often still do, but i have come to realize that you need to just let some things run thier course. every semester i remember having a nursing class that seemed totally irrelevant and felt like i was wasting my time and money, but as i spend more time in clinical over the years everything seems to come full circle. i find myslef thinking in a certain way or doing something therapeutic without even knowing it. you gather bits and pieces thoughout the program and eventually they fit together. as far as the amount of knowledge we need to know - your right. it is impossible to remember ALL of it. it is important to continuously keep your nose in a book; however the most important topics will be reinforced throughout the program. it is also very helpful to make some good friends in your class that you can share a box of tissues with - there will be crying at times, heh. nursing is not one of those professions that just anyone can do - within the year you wil know if you were meant to be a nurse, and if you are, you will have no problem handeling it ;)

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