Just started clinicals but wondering if this is for me?

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Okay so long story short I have always loved nursing, but now that I am actually here doing it it is making me question if I made the right choice. I have no previous nursing experience whatsoever, I am having a hard time getting in the groove of things in clinicals. Everytime I leave in the morning for clinicals I am trying to find a way to get out of it. I am truly trying to push myself through this class, but these negative thoughts won't leave my mind.

My clinical instructor is great, but my skills.....not so much, actually they are non existent. I just want to know if it is normal to feel like this (like I don't know anything, and not very confident) or if I should find a new profession and stop wasting my time in nursing school.....any insight would help!! Thank you!

****EDITED TO ADD: My clinical instructor told me that she can tell I am "shell shocked" but when she tells me to go complete a task "I can do it with no problem". Which i guess is a good sign but sha can also tell I am kind of lost in the sauce.

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Specializes in Dialysis.
Okay so long story short I have always loved nursing, but now that I am actually here doing it it is making me question if I made the right choice. I have no previous nursing experience whatsoever, I am having a hard time getting in the groove of things in clinicals. Everytime I leave in the morning for clinicals I am trying to find a way to get out of it. I am truly trying to push myself through this class, but these negative thoughts won't leave my mind.

My clinical instructor is great, but my skills.....not so much, actually they are non existent. I just want to know if it is normal to feel like this (like I don't know anything, and not very confident) or if I should find a new profession and stop wasting my time in nursing school.....any insight would help!! Thank you!

How did you know you loved nursing if you have no experience? Try sticking it out, as your skills get better, your confidence will grow. Good luck!

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Yes, your skills are non- existent. That's what you are there for , to learn them.

Fundamental clinicals felt like halloween to me, dressed up like a nurse, with NO clue what I was doing. Count on your fellow students for support, talking with them will help you get through it.

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Family who are nurses, and it has always been interesting to me.

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thank you for the analogy because it is very true!

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I can't remember what I had for dinner last night, but I will never forget my nursing instructor saying to me, "You don't seem to know what you're about?"

I was so lost and clueless, an instructor asked me what the Dr's orders were...I'm thinking..."What are Dr's orders?" I didn't know how a patient got admitted, I had no clue about Dr's orders, charts, etc. In class a teacher said, "Some cultures think a hospital is where you go to die." I thought, "Whaaaaaaat, I think that, it isn't true?" I was soooooo scared I didn't want to touch a patient!

So I hope you keep it up. You may find a lot of your classmates feel the same way...but maybe not to your (or my) degree. I became so distraught I voluntarily dropped out my 3rd semester. Got a horrible job in a bank and was fired from that! I guess the gods were telling me to go back to nursing? The program kindly took me back to repeat the 3rd semester and things started to make a little more sense.

It only took a few years of floor nursing (kind of a joke) to feel like I "knew what I was about." And after a few years on the job I was nominated for employee of the year. I love nursing.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing, Pediatrics.
How did you know you loved nursing if you have no experience? Try sticking it out, as your skills get better, your confidence will grow. Good luck!

That's what I was going to ask, lol.

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