im so terrified!

tpayne87 · Oct 3, 2012

I have the same doubts and fears, when I look at the nurses on my floor and they are running giving this pill out or hooking some patient up to some IV. It just scares me like, this is what I want to do, but aiam scared to death if I mess up.. I think with all the schooling and training we will get when getting placed into nursing school and all that we will know well and above what we need to do and dont forget once you get hired on a floor. Your suppose to get like 3 months of training before working there. So dont be afraid hun. I completely understand where your coming at. Especially having 3 kids, and totally being the support in the household.

thats so awesome · Oct 3, 2012

I can relate! I sometimes wonder how I will be able to do what the nurses do! Honestly, I feel that I am overwhelmed because as I'm working hard doing what I'm supposed to do, I am watching the nurses and trying to figure out what the heck they are doing for future reference and it just overwhelms me.

oblina · Oct 3, 2012

I am currently a Nurse Associate at an outpatient wound center, but have worked as a CNA for five years now. I have never wanted to be a CNA/PCT as a long term career choice, and don't want to stop at my AA. But I am a firm believer that if you are going to be overseeing and delegating to other staff members, you should know what their job entails.

I always encourage anyone who is in the health profession to go for it, whatever they want just go for it...there are plenty of options, and time is going to pass no matter what. I worked with someone in her forties who was holding herself back because she would be fifty before she got her RN,...but she was going to be fifty EITHER WAY! You don't know if you don't try...

As far as your anxiety goes, I don't think anyone should take the responsibility of caring for someone else's well being lightly...and if you do I honestly don't think nursing is for you! At this point you SHOULD feel this way. Let this motivate you, I'm sure it is what motivated the other nurses you see to achieve the level of competency in their skills that they have now.

I'm sure you have also grown in your profession. I know when I first started, I, for the life of me, had such difficulty with changing incontinence products on people who were confined to a bed. But only with time and experience do we become more confident and able in our skills.

It's okay, you will be in school doing clinicals for a while....and then you will be a nurse in orientation. Everyone has to start somewhere. And no one knows everything. The important thing is admitting this and knowing when to ask for help.

The math and science and skills are things that we learn as we become nurses.....but you will have the upper hand in clinicals because of your experience. There are a lot of people that enter nursing school with little to no clinical experience, and that's okay too, everyone has to learn some time.

Remember how things go,...other people make them look easy,....then you try to learn it and it seems difficult,...but then you get the hang of it and one day someone will be looking at you while you make it look easy. :nurse:

CheesePotato, BSN, RN · Oct 5, 2012

Of becoming a nurse. It has been one of my dreams to become one, I love working at my hospital being a PCT. And I dont want to go work at a nursing home again but becoming a nurse and being afraid I'll mess up is not what I want to do!
All of the nurses on my unit are backing me up in my road to becoming a nurse. But that 4-5 years of school scares me too.

Yeah, school can be a right demon, but don't let the number of years put you off. What's that terribly lame saying? Rome wasn't built in a day? Or was it, Don't shove legos up your nose?

I have 2 kids under 4, and i dont have the funds or pleasure of being home with them because I work or go to school so much.

Three very critical points to be made here:

1) Are those two lil' munchkins in your avatar the kidlets you are referencing? Because if so, may I just say you are blessed with two ridiculously adorable babies. Just sayin'.

2) Have you checked with your HR department about tuition reimbursement programs? Many hospitals offer them and that may help with the money situation. Also, once you find the school you wish to attend, talk to the financial aid department. There are opportunities out there, but you must start talking and collecting data in order to form a better idea of what you face and decide upon feasibility.

3) Did I mention the cute kidlets? I mean, seriously, how is that level of adorable possible?!

And what if I forget a medications side affects, or what if I cant remember to do something?! To have another persons life in my hands scares me.

Whoa whoa whoa!!! Hold the phone--you are way ahead of yourself. Like, light-years ahead of yourself. To begin with, I can promise you that you will forget a medication side effect probably more than one time. We all have. Even doctors do it. You will forget to do something. Again...we all have. You are human--stop demanding perfection.

There is no such thing as a perfect nurse and no one should strive to be one. To be a good nurse, one must be a thinking nurse. What that means is you use your resources--remember that drug concern? You consult pharmacy via a phone call or look up the drug in the reference guide. Remember that task you fretted over? Delegate, ask questions, etc.

And no one expects this right away. Why do you think nursing school takes four years? ::quirks eyebrow:: Follow me? Don't sweat the small stuff. It will come.

I want to work in cardio or L&D one day and the only way I can get there is by becoming a nurse with a BSN! My hospital is no longer hiring ADNs even if you already work there. They just let go of all the LPNs, they have to be gone by the end of the year! I cant afford to go to school for 5 years, my family depends mainly on my job, but I dont see myself doing PCT work for the amount of time its going to take me to finish school. And idk what to do. I need advice from you ladies, because im drowning in my own thoughts and what ifs here....

It may help to research opportunities in the area and look in strange places. I worked as a sleep tech in a sleep lab while I went to school and yes, I worked full time and went to school full time. I was a zombie, madder than hell, but I clawed my way through it. Plus the pay was decent.

Check out surgical tech programs in the area and check the pay scale for surgical techs at the hospital (plus talk to the OR manager or HR to see about opportunities in the department). Keep your eyes open for such alternative methods of monetary opportunity.

If right now being a PCT is okay for you and your family, it wouldn't hurt to consider sticking with it while you go to nursing school. Why? Because school is going to be stressful enough and having a job in which you are comfortable and competent will mean one less stressor in your life during that period. Just something to think about.

I wish you the best of luck.