Last semester and freaking out!

[blueyes505]

I need some help. I am in my final semester in school, I graduate in May and right now I am in the middle of my practicum. I am kinda freaking out a bit; let me give you some background. I am doing my practicum on a trauma critical care floor, I am a tech there now and I will be working on the IMC side upon graduation. I also am in the scholars program which means they are paying my last semester of school and in return I have to work on the unit for one year. I have only done about 5 shifts of my practicum and I am starting to think I made a mistake. I get nervous every time before I go in, sometimes I even start to worry about it days in advance. At the most I only have 2 patients and I feel like I can barely handle that, I don't know what I am going to do when I am on the IMC side and have to care for 3-4 patients. I feel like I don't know how to do anything and when my preceptor asks me questions I just go blank. I am an extremely shy person and I get super nervous and worry all shift about giving report and talking to doctors. I am in the room all shift with the patients and I still feel like I know nothing about them. Nursing is all I have ever wanted to do, maybe critical care just isn't for me, but I am locked in for a year and no one is really hiring. I know this unit is a great place to start off in but I am just scared.

I don't really know what this post is meant to accomplish but I needed to vent. I am absolutely petrified about actually being a nurse and doing everything alone. I try to talk to my family and my boyfriend and they just say its nerves and it will get better with time.

[E.R. Rookie]

I feel the opposite I just want to be left alone. If its something I dont understand, I will ask for help.

Sounds like your just dealing with nerves hun, remember you are NEW! A novice, dont be so hard on yourself.

[llg, PhD, RN]

If being brave were easy ... then everyone would be heroes.

Yes. Life can be hard sometimes. Sometimes we are all nervous about something. We can't always be confident and comfortable. The failures of the world give up at those times and stop trying. The people who succeed are the ones who simply go forward each day -- not because they aren't scared, but in spite of the fact that they are scared.

Which kind of person do you want to be? Which kind of person are you?

Identify your options ... and then go with the one that seems the best one to you. That's all any of us can do.

[mmmc2]

Darling, you are not alone. I only have one day left in my senior practicum and the past several days I have felt like a total idiot when I am with my preceptor. I am doing my rotation in a VERY busy 32 bed ER and I absolutely love it and look forward to each day, but I do simple things wrong and it makes me feel stupid like making a bloody mess when drawing labs, or not bleeding a line right, or something else that I know how to do, but for some reason I don't do it. Because of this I actually started to doubt whether I wanted to work in the emergency room.

What I have realized today is that when I am doing things on my own, I like to talk to the patients and then I just do things more naturally-it just comes to me. When I'm with my preceptor, I can't be as chatty so I guess I get a little anxious. She doesn't really talk to the patients much, but I love to and it sucks totally because I look stupid because I forget to do something. Or she'll ask me about a med I should know, and I can't find the answer to what she is asking even though I know it.

I know I'm going to be a great nurse in due time and I guess I just to need to give myself a break, and so do you. But I just wanted to tell you that I totally feel your pain. You are not alone.

[blueyes505]

Thank you all for your support. I really appreciate it :)