Is this an exaggeration?

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I keep hearing people talking about the unbearable stress, hypertension, and general distruction of their personal/family life. Can anyone out there say they have gone through/are going through school without all the side effects? I'm not suggesting it wasn't tough, but rather was wondering if anyone was able to cope without such drastic reactions? Heck, while I'm at it, was it easy for anyone?

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

I think there is a little truth to what another poster referenced to....the people who want A's, usually find it is a struggle to get one. I could have not stressed myself out as much if I hadn't been shooting for an A...I brought alot of it on, can't really blame it entirely on the program.

Me too! If I hadn't wanted those As so desperately, I could have saved myself allot of stress, worry, and struggle. But, I'm a perfectionist and I wanted those As!! :rolleyes:

I think that Nursing School is what you make it. I want to know that I know my stuff inside and out when I graduate. If you are content to just sail through with barely passing grades, it wouldn't be near as hard. But, to me, that would feel like I was graduating as an unsafe nurse because I might not know my stuff at a critical point. I mean, we're talking lives here, not computers or calculations, or something like that!

By the way, I beat one of my instructors career records! I got an 100% on a Physical Assessment exam, the first 100% this instructor has ever gotten! She's taught for years (15, I think she said). That was the class that I earned the first A- in 6 years! :rolleyes:

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This is a cool thread! My school is one big psychological bootcamp. For every hour I spend in class, I probably spend 2 on campus doing all videos, research and papers. The writing never ends. Home life is all reading most of the time. Add 4 hours commute, 4 days a week and working 4 hours a night, I sleep for 4 on a regular basis. The most difficult thing this semester was the weeks of preparation for our assessment practicum. We drew one system out of a fishbowl, so we had to know each and every assessment cold! I did excellent but the stress was unbelievable. I could really feel for the graduate students who were doing their practicum. They had 3 hours to complete a full blown assessment, including the complete 'Gorgon's functional health patterns' that we are doing on each of our clinical patients. It's an awsome overload, but worth the effort.

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My husband graduated from an ADN program at the same community college I'll be attending in January. The program is notoriously hard. However, my husband did not have any trouble whatsoever. He also didn't spend much time studying. He had a previous degree and is considered to be unusually intelligent. He's the type that can read something once and it will stick with him. He is also quick to pick up concepts. The most challenging part of the program was getting to use to the different teaching styles, because nursing is so very different than say, English or Math.

I'll give you some advice that I plan on following myself:

Stay out of the drama in nursing school. There are going to be students who will bring you down with their constant griping and complaining about how hard everything is, AVOID them. That sort of thing can get contagious really quick. I make it a point to show up for a test only a few minutes before it starts because there are always a group of students who will be spreading their doom and gloom about how horrible the test will be. This kinda psyches me out so I have learned to simply avoid these people. Inevitably there are going to be students who are going to fail out the program. My husband told me that the students who failed out are the same ones who didn't budget their time wisely or went into the program thinking that because they got all A's on their pre-reqs, it was going to be a breeze, more of the same. Not true. It's a different learning/teaching style.

Best Wishes,

Adri

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice, Home Health.

school was hard, and i was going though divorce at the time, but I LOVED school...

I guess it all depends on your homelife, if you have supportive family...some students struggle with a spouse who will sabatoge...very frequent in middle georgia...

linda

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Specializes in Hospice, Internal Medicine.

I just finished my first semester and didn't think the material was that hard (I finished with all A's). The hard part for me was all the time I have to invest. The clinical prep, care plans, studying, papers, memorizing for Pharm, etc. The first month was the hardest because I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't eating, my hair was falling out, and I wasn't sleeping. All of that has gone away but now I'm having odd intermittent chest pain and I find myself yelling at my son a lot more than I used to. I have an appt with my doc today and I think I will join the other 1/2 of my class that's on anti-anxiety meds... or I could follow Tom Cruise's advice and exercise and take vitamins :)

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Specializes in Assisted Living Nurse Manager.

I have one semester left in my nursing program. I am a distance education student, I work full-time and I have been working towards my associate degree in practical nursing. I have been going to school for 2 1/2 years which seems like forever at times. It has been alot of work. When I started my core nursing classes I often thought of quitting. I just could not imagine fitting any more information in this brain of mine:banghead: . I had the hardest time with the critical thinking. It takes alot of work to understand what critical thinking is all about. I went out and bought 3 different NCLEX study books. Doing this helped me tremendously. I now rely on not only my knowledge of the material but also the ABC's and Maslows Heirarchy to find my answer. It works wonders.

I personally did not suffer any of the symptoms that others have, but it has been stressful. My d/h is wonderful and has been there for me through this whole thing. I wish the best to anyone who is going through nursing school.

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I started nursing school in the fall. My Blood pressure went up and I developed an annoying tick in my eye. We were studying stress at the time, and the teacher handed us a flowchart about the effects of stress. It ended with either rest or death. I decided that rest was the best option. I got plenty of sleep, watched television, went out with my husband and friends, and ended up with a B. This is fine as I am still alive to tell the story. By the way, the tick disappeared and my blood pressure went back to normal.

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I agree with Puck Monkey the first month was the most stressful because I did not know what to expect. Although my personal life didn't take much of beating this past semester my mental health sure did. I had a clinical instructor that made me do my nursing process paper over on a patient that I had the second to last clinical--it wound up being 20 pages long and I did nothing but stress over that paper with finals right around the corner. Also skill testing scared me. I was the only person in my cliniacal group to give 4 injections--subcutaneous and IM-- in the hospital and not pass the IM injections skill test until the third try (If you fail it on the third try I think you have to go in front of the college nursing board and perform the skill in front of them and let them evaluate you--scary). All I can say is I stressed, I cried, I yelled at friends, family, and my boyfriend but I came out ok. I am actually looking foward to being hurled into next semester and engulfing myself in fluids and electrolytes.:barf01: Its an appropriate smiley!

Paxil here I come!!!

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I got almost strait B's and I was only moderately stressed out. If I was insistant that I only get A's then I probably would have ended up in a psych unit somewhere.

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Although I am the last person in the world that should comment on this (have just begun my pre-reqs), I find that having a really good friend in the same program helps so much. A good friend and I are going through this program together and it helps when you have questions or need to bounce something off one another. This could help you, I know it was a HUGE help for me.:)

Melody

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I just can't help myself. 1st semester care plans consisted of going to the hospital to gather info on your patient for the next day and staying up all night writing on the pathophysiology and countless NANDA dx. only to have the instructor take the paper and nonchalantly inform you that she misplaced it and "oh well, that's ok". If I put that much effort into something at least I wanted her to look at it. Thanks for letting me vent.

I'm now heading into my 3rd semester and am in need of a pep talk. My enthusiasm has gone down the drain. I know it's there somewhere, I just need to find it again.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.
school was hard, and i was going though divorce at the time, but I LOVED school...

I guess it all depends on your homelife, if you have supportive family...some students struggle with a spouse who will sabatoge...very frequent in middle georgia...

linda

one of our teachers always jokes that one of two things will happen to you in nursing school.....you will either start smoking or get divorced.

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