In second year and don't feel skilled enough

[Wantobeanurse12]

I am currently in my second year of adult nursing and I feel like I am lacking the skill necessary for my level.

Before I enrolled on the course I didn't have any experience which of course doesn't help. My placements so far have included:

First Year...

9 weeks rehabilitation ward.

4 weeks learning disability and 5 weeks surgical (which was amazing but I didn't have enough time there).

I started second year off with community which was lovely due to the team I worked with but very limited in terms of skills. I am currently on a burns unit which is interesting but very quiet.

I just feel like I haven't had the opportunity to develop my essential clinical skills with regards to recognising the deteriorating patient etc and I really hope that it doesn't have a negative effect on my potential to become a competent nurse.

My question is I guess has anybody else felt the same during their training and if so has it effected their development as a qualified nurse?

I am from the UK! there doesn't seem to be an option for us :-)

[RN403, BSN, RN]

School cannot possibly teach you everything. I actually learned more in my first year out of school than I did in school. There is a lot of on the job learning that goes with nursing. Once you start working you will learn and develop the skills and critical thinking required to be a competent nurse. It just takes time and patience.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

Unfortunately, clinical experiences are sometimes just due to plain luck. In my 2nd year, I was in my Peds rotation. This was the semester where we are allowed to administer blood products and do IV push/piggyback meds. About half the class said they didn't get to do either throughout the entire semester. I, on the other hand, seemed to have patients week after week who needed these interventions, so I got a lot of experience with IV push & blood.

Fast-forward to our last semester: I had never once had to do trach care/suctioning other than in our skills lab, nor NG tubes. My first two weeks, I had a vent patient and then a vent pt who also had an NG tube. Needless to say, I was very nervous about providing care because it had been over a year since we learned the skills and I hadn't had the chance to demonstrate it on a REAL patient. I got through it, with my clinical instructor by my side. Then I find out that most of my clinical group had been doing lots of trach care & NG tubes. I was the only one who hadn't had the opportunity to do so.

It's really just luck-of-the-draw sometimes.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

To be perfectly honest, I'd be much more concerned if you announced that now that you're in your second year, you HAVE confidence in your newly-acquired skills! Those who feel the most confident (when they are too new, too inexperienced to know much of anything) are oftentimes the ones we (crusty old bats) have to run to bail out of a mess, preferably before the Confident Newbie kills someone

Don't worry, it'll come together. It takes PLENTY of time to gain confidence, and the amount of time you get while IN school to practice just doesn't add up to enough to have ANYONE feel truly confident (or at least, shouldn't IMHO).

Hang in there. The fact that you are concerned enough to ask tells me you'll do just fine :)

[windsurfer8, BSN, RN]

So who's responsibility is it for you to get the "skills" you feel you should have? YOU ARE. If you want different skills go work somewhere else or tie the initiative to learn what you want to learn. Pretty simple.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

So who's responsibility is it for you to get the "skills" you feel you should have? YOU ARE. If you want different skills go work somewhere else or tie the initiative to learn what you want to learn. Pretty simple.

The OP is still just a student, and concerned that she might not be up to the rest of her cohort as a student....reasonable question.

[KStudentNurse70]

I feel the same way sometimes, I'm also in my second year. I think it's just luck of the draw with patients and clinical rotation, we'll get there! School won't teach us everything, experience is the real teacher.

[rob4546, ADN, BSN, MSN]

I think that many if not all nursing students feel this same way as they near the end of their academic career. It is a big step and a big responsibility and the fact that you are thinking about it speaks volumes about the self reflection you have completed. Be weary but also trust in what you do know. You are beginning your clinical experience and in your first job this will be improved upon and slowly increase your confidence.

I was in your same position but after gaining clinical experience and confidence I am less apprehensive about what I need to accomplish. To put it simply, I know now what I don't know. I haven't started a foley catheter in over a year (since nursing school) but if I had to do this tomorrow I wouldn't stress. This is because the clinical understanding I now have will guide me through the process. But if I was asked to do something I haven't done before, I would seek additional education to learn the procedure. I am comfortable in saying professionally "I haven't done this, please help."