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Discussion

Lost nursing grad

I am a nursing graduate and I'm really embarrassed to say that after that so long awaited moment to finally receive that degree that cost me so much hard work, that I am lost and have come across a wall.

I guess this all began when after failing my second NCLEX exam. I have never in my life to this moment felt so insecure, incompetent and unreliable to carry out a responsibility this big. I was one of the brightest minds in my class, I was always a leader and apparently had a passion to whatever I did. But all of that is basically now just causing me stress and panic. And it's kind of sad. I wasn't like this. The nclex has literally broken me as a person.

Towards the end of my degree I found out about nursing informatics and I was greatly interested in following that path. I was fascinated by combining technology and healthcare and the concept of ingenuity if offered to the field.

I have also noticed upon graduation that I have changed a lot as a person (I started college when I was 15 in PR and finished by 21) and Its been a year since my last nclex attempt. I signed up for a nclex review on Kaplan but in all honesty, the anxiety just thinking about taking that exam again is overwhelming to the extent that I am becoming physically ill.

I want to pursue my masters in informatics, and for some reason, it's the only part of nursing that still strikes up great interest in me. But I'm scared. I just don't know what to do to make that a reality. I still love the concept of nursing and the impact it has on people but now im just tired and confused. I'm just looking for some advice from a person other than a family member who just sees dollar signs when the word nursing comes up.

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    Don't give up on the NCLEX just yet. If you want to parlay your education into the informatics arena, having that RN is going to be essential — nurses are of great value when they can provide that RN perspective. Granted, you could also transition into a non-nursing healthcare informatics direction/non clinical masters program, but that would really be a waste of your undergrad efforts as well as your clinical education. Nursing informatics positions may require nursing experience, but not always. It really varies.

    I can tell that you have a lot of anxiety about the NCLEX. Have you considered a live course or an in-person tutor? I get the feeling that you are looking for another route that will eliminate the need to take the NCLEX again, but this isn't quite it. I wish you the best!

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    DELETE this - Edit bug that wouldn't allow me to add spaces.....................

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    For now you have to set aside your passion for informatics and focus your attention on passing NCLEX. You can't do any of it until you pass that examination. Yes its sorta stupid, to base competency off of a single, multiple choice test created by other humans - but that's the way it is. You have proven you can learn by completeing a program, then you can learn how to take the test.

    As the above user pointed out, what sort of prepartory work have you done for the NCLEX? When I graduated in 2009, the big ones were HSEI, ATI and Kaplan. Have you done any of that prep work?

    The only reason you are not passing that test is because of errors in your thought/reasoning process, which can be changed and learned. It's not easy, but it's doable. It's also your own thoughts that are causing you such distress and anxiety. Focusing on the past and what happened that you can't change is NEVER productive and most often it is anxiety/stress producing. There are so many things in life that are conitnual processes of maintainance that you must work on every single day. That is the only way to live. You need to sit your ass down every day and focus on what lies ahead - focus on what you need to do to pass, mainly preperatory work and get help from others that have passed - that is a primary way of changing your thoughts about the test and your results will change.

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