In need of confidence or what?

avaloncar, BSN, RN · May 25, 2013

Hi. I think you will need to look within and figure out where you are lacking confidence. Imagine yourself when you walk into a patient's room. How do you handle yourself? How do you handle speaking the nurses on the unit, your classmates? Are you assertive and confident in the information you know and still confident with things you don't know? You should take incompetent out of your vocabulary, because I do not think that is what your professor meant. And lack of confidence doesn't mean incompetence. Confidence is something we all have to work on. Do you work in a hospital as a CNA or anything? I worked as a CNA for years prior to nursing school, so maybe that is where I developed my confidence and thick skin. Not to say I am not nervous anymore or still not shy at times, I just learn to have a poker face. And I am not confident to the point where I am a know it all, I just developed a sort of "can do" attitude.

Hope I helped...

eyesopen_mouthshut, CNA · May 25, 2013

I can only dish from my point of view, but here goes!

Whenever I was worried that I was not understanding a concept (nursing or otherwise), would make it a point to call someone I knew understood it. I would say, I'm having an issue with X, and they would say, explain what X is. Example, they would ask me "what is the physiology of the cardiovascular system? Explain it to me like you're trying to explain it to a 4th grader". I found that by practicing the Socratic method helped me be more confident.

Already understand things, but second guessing yourself clinical-wise? With the nurse you're shadowing or your instructor present, tell them what you're doing step by step. Example "I am going to do a physical assessment of Mr. Smith. I am going to start at X and end at Y... etc" I found doing this with an attitude of "I am!" Rather than an attitude of "I am...?" really helped me get more confident. You're teachers have faith in you, you need to find it in yourself.

"There is a real danger here, but fear is a feeling we choose to feel."

Good luck OP! :-)

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · May 25, 2013

I agree 100% with kscaggs. Great post, BTW!

I also think that she's dropping the hint that you know what you're doing, so show it.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 27, 2013

Hello all
During my midterm evaluations, my clinical instructor, told me that I'm conscientious (that's good) and believes I will be a good nurse (yay!), but that I need to be more confident .

Dear, if she said the first two things, she's telling you that you have what it takes to develop the third, and that she's not worried about your abilities. She's seen a lot of new nurses and students and knows what she's talking about. Take heart from that. Seriously. Lots of students will never hear anything like that from their faculty, who are spending their weekends off biting their cuticles and wondering if their unconscientious students will kill anyone in Tuesday clinicals. :)

See, made you laugh, didn't I?

This is where the "fake it 'til you make it" thing comes in. This does take practice, like any other skill. Nobody will know you are nervous if you have a nice relaxed smile on your face, move calmly, and remember that you are doing it well. And one day, lo and behold, you will discover that ... you are.

eternalbride · Dec 28, 2013

Hello all

I came back to see this as this is still an area im still working on. I need to keep these words in mind. Thanks again!

wanderlust99 · Dec 28, 2013

You can find your confidence, trust me! My 2nd semester instructor said on my eval that I "lack confidence". I remember crying over that for days and took it as such a personal insult. I was so dramatic at that age lol. Finally things clicked for me in my 3rd semester when the toughest instructor that everyone was terrified of took a liking to me. It helped me so much. She just didn't intimidate me and I really liked her. I think having someone like her believe in me helped me so much. I hope you can find someone like that!