Is nursing right for me?

It's common to have doubts. If by junior year, or even in your second sophomore semester, that you are still uncomfortable touching people, then I would recommend you practicing outside of school. Are you uncomfortable touching yourself?

For some people it will always be somewhat uncomfortable to touch people, especially in the way that we have to at times. Today I had to lift skin folds off a young woman so that I could inspect LAP sites. It was fairly difficult because of her age, the location, the fact her mother was in the room, and the fact that it must have been embarrassing for her because of her weight. I felt a little uncomfortable but in no way did I show it. I kept it professional and provided the patient and mother with information about skin care and what to watch out for.

I do think it does get better after school though. during nursing school most of us are under a tremendous amount of stress so even simple things cause us distress. After school it felt like a big weight was removed from my shoulders and I really felt comfortable. I think you should stay the course and work on your skills. Trust in yourself, work on your confidence.

Just like with your continued exposure to talking to people and making small talk with strangers, the more you touch people, the less weird it will feel. One clinical day all I did was clean pts (we had a lot of total care on the med-surg floor that day) so now I'm like, "Eh, whatever" and I don't mind having to really dig in there and get at people. It's one of those things you just have to do and do and do and it'll get better. Good luck!