Just WHAT is so hard about nursing?

danigirl58 · Mar 31, 2006

for me, i found that nursing school got harder and harder each year that i went through (i did a 4 year bsn plus one year of pre req's). since i have 2 children, one of which i had during my first year of my program .... can you say dumb :)... i was unable to work. i had minimum 16 hrs of clinical time a week and 14-20 hrs of class work per week so you can see it would be really hard to work. add in the fact that in my third year the instructors warned students that if they had a job that it was best that they went on a leave or quit there jobs because they wouldn't make it through the year.

ultimately i think that you can have your life, and you can have a nursing student life but when something goes terribly wrong in either of them that it has a horrible affect on the other part of your life.

nurse4theplanet, RN · Mar 31, 2006

I heard how hard nursing school was before I started, while I was taking pre-req's and making straight A's. Needless to say, I thought it was a bunch of bull and didn't heed the warning.

I about killed myself (not literally) in my first semester trying to take on nursing and a full course load of various electives, work, and striving for a 4.0.

It didn't take me long to realize that it just requires you to slooooooowwww down and focus on prioritizing.

The hardest part is the initial adjustment. Learn to manage stress and don't sweat the small stuff.

Now that I have found my groove, know the appropriate time to allot to studying, and am comfortable with a B...I find it easier and much more enjoyable. I can even juggle school, social life, and work without any sweat and tears.

So I guess what I am trying to say is don't get all worked up about it now, it will be hard to adjust to the demand on your time at first, but relax it will get easier the longer you stick with it.

veggiegarden · Apr 1, 2006

I've found it challenging, but the biggest factor, hands down, is the time constraints for finishing paperwork, coordinating group projects and studying the material. And I have no children nor do I work (though the accelerated BSN program I am in does not allow one to work). I find nursing school very stressful, others don't. GL! :)

Justhere, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2006

We had several students come into the nursing school with 4.0 grade points, and we are already LPN's, we graduate in May. Well we had awards the other day and one of the awards was for the A student. Well we HAVEN'T HAD ONE ALL YEAR. So it went to the highest B.

crb613, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2006

I agree w/others that have said it is really not that hard....but time & mgmt is the problem. You are given huge amounts of info to learn/understand in a short time. For me pre-reqs were a lot harder...I had been out of school for a long time & I had to get back into the swing of things.....once I did that I was fine. A&P & college algebra...now that was hard!

S.N. Visit, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2006

I was a straight A prereq student, now I'm a straight B nursing student. My study habits have not changed, just material , teaching methods and work load.

lesleyjo · Apr 1, 2006

Don't listen to the horror stories about nursing school. A&P is very important in nursing school. It is tough and it is demanding. The best thing to remember is not to memorize anything. Learn the material and be able to apply it to a real life situation. That is the most important part of the program. If all you do is memorize the info it will be difficult to pass the tests. The questions can be worded differently and many questions may have more than one answer. The point is for you to be able to pick out the best answer, this is where most students can screw up.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2006

For me the most difficult part was the work load and the time it took. I worked full time and was fatigued the entire time.

I primarily made A's, and found nursing not too difficult if I took the time to learn everything thoroughly. But it was by no means "easy".

NurseSomeday · Apr 2, 2006

I am a first semester student in an ADN program. The material is very easy to master so far. The difficulty arises from the amount of info they expect you to understand and apply very quickly. We are doing care plans in clinical, checking off on skills such as catherization (1 new skill each week), and reading hundreds of lecture pages (not to mention, studying for the lecture test). I only have 5 weeks left and am doing great. The pressure of trying to juggle all the new info, do all the reading and demonstrate the skill at the same time is the real challenge. I had a 4.0 on my prereq's and (so far) I have an A in all my classes. I started the semester without working and that allowed me to figure out how to juggle everything that was thrown my way. I decided I have things under control and I'm applying for positions at local hospitals and plan to work thru the remainder of the program.

charlies · Apr 3, 2006

Seems like it has been said enough, but how about one more time?

The material is not too hard, trying to get all the reading and assignments done on time is. It is all about time management (for me). :stone:

land64shark · Apr 3, 2006

I also believe the material is not hard, it's just the amount of it is soooooo much! As for time management, how much time management can you control when you are assigned something one day and it's due the next day?

16 school days until summer!!!