First I'd like to mention I'll be starting the nursing program at Ivy Tech in January so any experiences from there would be a great help.
Anyways, my girlfriend's aunt is a RN and she said I'd do fine as long as I know my stuff. I've looked on these message boards for experiences on people's nursing school experiences and the only thing I'm finding (and in quite an abundance) is horror stories of people doubting themselves or bad experiences in clinicals. I'm assuming that's because those who get by okay don't come here to vent or tell their stories?
Id just like to get as many responses as possible how your experience was in nursing school. In no way am I expecting an easy time...I know I'll be spending most of my free time studying, but assuming there's a passion to succeed, willingness to devote the necessary time to study, and maintaining a positive attitude, should I expect things to go fairly well?
When I went through nursing school, a lot of things were occurring in my personal life, to the point that school was the least stressful part of my life. Clinicals are an opportunity to put your knowledge into practice. At the same time, you will be working under a seasoned nurse who is juggling a hefty patient load and has dozens of tasks to check off her list, all while keeping her patients safe and you out of trouble. Remember that you are a guest and your nurse is doing your school a favor by letting you tag along. Try to be pleasant and helpful, but don't get in your nurse's way. If she tells you to do or not do something, it's probably for a good reason. If you are unsure of something, ask questions! Prepare and behave nicely and you shouldn't have any issue doing well.
I have also read many horror stories on here. Nursing school is not easy, especially if you've never been in medical field. It all depends on the school you're attending as previously mentioned and most importantly on your instructors. I had some wonderful instructors most of my program, but for my psych I had one of the most absolutely terrifying/panic attack inducing instructors who actually got fired after our class complained about her. We all prayed to pass the class so we didn't have to ever face her again. She literally made the class and clinical hell when it didn't have to be. But I have to say that even with a terrible instructor we all managed to get through by focusing our energy on studying and learning the best we could despite all the odds against us. I think having a good group of classmates is very important for support. Family and outside friends don't really have a clue of what nursing school is unless they've been through it or are in some sort of medical field. Best of luck to you!!
You definitely have to work and study in nursing school, but I had plenty of balance and time for normal things in nursing school. I made A's and a couple of B's and had a balanced life. It depends on the person, the school, the teacher, etc.
Remember people who are doing well in nursing school, aren't as likely to go on a message board and post about their wonderful achievements as much as someone who needs help/advice and/or needs to talk about a bad experience. So maybe Allnurses represents about 5% of nursing students? (I have no idea about that percent but it helps put things into perspective!)
Nursing school is difficult because it's a lot of information in a short amount of time that carries over into each nursing course, and some of THAT nursing info had carried over from A&P, statistics, micro, chemistry, etc. And then your exams are not THAT info. Your exams are based on information you can look up in your textbooks, google, and notes, but your exams are questions that require critical thinking. So you might be in Pediatrics class and learned about intussusception. Then you have a question asking you that will sound like this: if you have 10 apples, and a child was dx'd with intussusception, how much fluid is required PO when the IV is infusing at 100ml/hr and or should you see the child with FTT first and delegate an unlicensed assistive personnel for this? Or you might never have been taught about intussusception, but you have questions about it on your peds exam. Doing NCLEX style questions whether you know the foundation material or not will HELP you to know how to answer critical thinking questions, so that's how I think students entering a nursing program should prepare.
My experience is almost over and it has been very good. I did work hard and sacrificed a lot of free time, but it helped me in the end. Good luck!
Nursing school was rough for me, but doable. I graduated in May. One of the most important things, in my opinion, was staying organized. I had a planner where I wrote down all my exams and the chapters they were over, and I would give myself a reminder 2 weeks and 1 week before the exam so I knew it was coming. Having a planner helped me tremendously, it was like having an extra limb and I would've been so lost without it.
The tests in nursing school were tough. The questions are different - not just memorization. They are critical thinking questions. I would take a look at NCLEX style questions and get familiar with their format. That will help you with your exams and with the NCLEX after graduation.
My favorite part of nursing school were the clinicals. Try to be as involved as possible. You get out what you put in. Help the CNA's with their tasks, help pass trays, look up and give meds, do your assessments thoroughly, do dressing changes, ask questions - these are all nursing tasks and clinicals helped me tie together what I learned in school with real patients. Nursing is a team effort and nursing is 24 hours a day. Instructors notice students who are eager to learn, and a good attitude will go a long way. However, nursing school didn't teach me how to truly be a nurse...that comes when you're a nurse.
I am half way through my first semester of nursing school, and I would say it isn't as bad as the horror stories. My instructor is really nice, even though he looked kind of frazzled our first day of patient care. Probably purple don't come on this forum to rave about how decent their instructors are. More often than not I'm my worst enemy, psyching myself out for things that really aren't that bad. I woke up 3 different times the first night before clinical, when all it was was meeting the instructor and being shown around the unit do we could find our equipment the next time. The second time we got thrown right into patient assessments, bed bathing, diaper changing and specialized feeding our patients. I have never worked in this field or done any if that for a family member, so it was a little overwhelming and very slow going. I starting asking myself if I was really really sure? My back hurt from all the log rolling an obese and immobile patient. But the next week when I came back, everything seemed so much smoother and easier even though it was the same thing, same patient ! Just because I had done it once! So anyways, there are ups and downs. The school work can also seem very hard until it clicks. The tests are a different style than usual college tests, and take getting used to. I've always been a straight A student, but I'm getting a B in nursing, which kind of sucks, but I'm dealing. Don't be too afraid. It takes a lot of time and mental, physical and emotional energy but naps, coffee, and just keep going. There are some sweet moments too, like when my patient slipped her hand into mine as I was walking her to the dining hall.
I think it depends on your situation and your program as well. For me, personally, I've always struggled academically. I have ADHD and several learning disabilities that make it harder, but I've still managed to get by with a few bumps. I spend alot of time studying, but again thats more of my disabilities/ADHD. The more I progress, the better I get at studying.
My program told us the first day "look to your left and right. Most of you will be gone by the end of the program. We care about our pass rates." 17 out of 100 people passed our first med surg exam.
Clinicals can be a bit stressful, but I've so far had amazing clinical experiences, even on the tough days.
I enjoy it, and just take it one day at a time. I work 2 jobs and still manage to hang out with family and friends (albeit I'm usually carting my books around!)
Nursing school has definitely been tougher than the rest of my academic career, but it also isn't as difficult as some have told me (just my opinion). There are people in my cohort who live, breathe, and eat nursing school - those are the type that told me how insanely difficult it would be. Some of them do really well, and others barely pass, but they all seem to have a lot of anxiety and have trouble controlling it... that is just my observation though. My advice is to try and find what works for you as soon as possible. I spend a decent amount of time reading the material and studying, but I know if that's all I do I will be miserable and fail. I make time to go to the gym, take the dog out for long walks, and cook good dinners for my girlfriend and myself (she doing 3rd year rotations for med school and has no life). It's all about balance, man. You've got to find your own. Also, some of your instructors will probably get on your last nerves. It happens. In that situation I keep my mouth shut (mostly, until I'm venting over a beer or two with my friends in the program) and just do what I have to do.
My only complaint is that I can't go backpacking every weekend now like I did in prereqs haha
I've always been a straight-A student as well, and it took until finals week of my first semester to get over that. It sucks, but I just remind myself that it's actually hard and it will all be okay.
don't be nervous, it may all be scary and your teachers are there to support you. they know you know nothing so they will step in and let you know what you are doing wrong. thats there job but some people take the teacher correcting them as being picked on. Im finishing up my second semester and it has been fun scary, boring, fast, slow, and anything else you can think of but the experience is amazing. don't get caught up in comparing yourself to other class mates that seem like they are perfect. take care of your pt. if you want to get ahead right now before school start, learn the normal and abnormal vital sign ranges for BP, RESPIRATIONS, O2 SAT
, AND HR. that way you will be quick to recognize when something is going wrong with the vitals. Also learn what those vitals represent
3rd semester student here (out of 4 semesters).... 1st semester is definitely the easiest, so get on top of your time management routine then. I was one of those "omg nursing school isn't that bad" people when I was in 1st and 2nd semester but now it's gotten pretty tough. First year you're just learning the basics and looking back on it, it was definitely a much easier time than 2nd year where it's putting everything together and not having stuff spoon fed to you anymore. The clinical workload is more intense, there's less prep time on the unit, and on the academic side there are more research papers, more tests, more busy work... just more everything. It's doable, but I wouldn't approach it with the attitude of "oh it's going to be pretty easy," because it's not. And I wouldn't base my expectations for how nursing school is going to go off of how your first semester goes!
I think it depends on your situation and your program as well. For me, personally, I've always struggled academically. I have ADHD and several learning disabilities that make it harder, but I've still managed to get by with a few bumps. I spend alot of time studying, but again thats more of my disabilities/ADHD. The more I progress, the better I get at studying.
My program told us the first day "look to your left and right. Most of you will be gone by the end of the program. We care about our pass rates." 17 out of 100 people passed our first med surg exam.
Clinicals can be a bit stressful, but I've so far had amazing clinical experiences, even on the tough days.
I enjoy it, and just take it one day at a time. I work 2 jobs and still manage to hang out with family and friends (albeit I'm usually carting my books around!)
What program did you attend where the administration told a class of 100 students that most of you wont pass? What kind of BS is that?
What was the passing rate on the first MedSurg exam where less than 20% of students in a class of 100 passed? Those numbers are horrendous. I can see if there are 30-40 students and 80% fail but 100 students and 17 pass thats terrible. PA schools and Med schools dont have these types of attrition rates I wonder why reading some of the stories on allnurses this is completely the opposite in the nursing field.
You always hear on pre-health forums how nursing is the easiest of the PA/Med/Pharm but from the stories i have read that is the furthest from the truth which again doesnt make sense since those aforementioned fields have a much higher degree of difficulty just to matriculate in the first place
Froggybelly
88 Posts
When I went through nursing school, a lot of things were occurring in my personal life, to the point that school was the least stressful part of my life. Clinicals are an opportunity to put your knowledge into practice. At the same time, you will be working under a seasoned nurse who is juggling a hefty patient load and has dozens of tasks to check off her list, all while keeping her patients safe and you out of trouble. Remember that you are a guest and your nurse is doing your school a favor by letting you tag along. Try to be pleasant and helpful, but don't get in your nurse's way. If she tells you to do or not do something, it's probably for a good reason. If you are unsure of something, ask questions! Prepare and behave nicely and you shouldn't have any issue doing well.