Most challenging moments in Nursing school

Nursing Students General Students

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I start January 7th :) an just want to hear first hand some challenges or difficulties experienced in Nursing school from those who are currently in to those who've graduated.. Ready, set, GO! Lol

I am a great book student, but the hardest thing for me has been applying the knowledge from class and bringing it all together in clinical. You have to think about so many different things thouroughly, it seems like all at once. Grn Tea said it wonderfully about needing every piece of information, you can't just forget it when the test is over with because you will need it throughout you nursing career.

**Replies:

@cassie_future_RN: Thanks!! Will do!! :)

@GGirll22: thanks!! :) I want to join the board as well! How was it with school? We're you able to stay focused easily?

@msteeleart: yeah I've heard about that medsurge, I'll have to prepare myself lol thanks!! :)

@anneuhbanana: ahhhhhh! That's my biggest fear! I'm such a social person but I'm actually

ready to not have a life at this point lol so sacrifices shall be made lol :) thanks for the heads up!

All of this advice is priceless!! Many thanks to all who participated. It really helps those of us anticipating nursing school.

I agree thanks so much!! An for those reading, keep it coming if something hasn't already been mentioned! Lol this is MUCH appreciated! :)

For me the hardest part of nursing school was sacrificing family time. I'm set to graduate May 2012 and I can't count how many family gatherings I have missed. I'm lucky my son still recognizes me:). Yes, the check offs are tough and so are the exams but I love nursing and at the end of the day I would do it again.Good luck!

Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. So, its hard to boil it down for you. However, nursing school will definitely be a challenge. I found my hardest obstacles were time management and keeping up with all the reading, not to mention retaining the information I was reading.

Having a plan before you get in too deep is essential for success. I'm giving you the top 10 tips that I learned. You may already know about these, but just in case:

1) Prepare your friends and family for the fact that you will not be available a majority of the time. Don't be afraid to say "no" to people. (This can be especially hard if you are married or have children.)

2) When studying, take a 5-10 minute break every hour or so.

3) Schedule some personal time to unwind. (A soak in the tub, playing card games with the family, vegging out watching your favorite TV show, whatever relaxes you.)

4) Try to find time to excercise, even if it is just taking a walk around the classroom building on breaks.

5) Get plenty of sleep.

6) Get organized. Have a place to store all of your books, paperwork, study aides, etc.

7) Get all your supplies, scrubs, materials ready the night before you'll need them.

8) Keep an up-to-date calendar: test dates, project due dates, clinicals, etc. You're going to have a lot to keep on top of.

9) Try to figure out your "style" of learning. (Visual, auditory, hands-on, or combination) Your school should have a learning resource office that can help you with this. Otherwise, you can find some resources online.

10) Don't procrastinate! Doing a little each day is better then trying to do a lot at the last minute.

Good luck in your new adventure. You can do it!!

Specializes in Forensic Psych.

My toughest moments have been the times I haven't been able to be there for my kids the way I used to be. I missed my oldest's Veteran's Day concert earlier this year and it was the first special event I've had to skip. I also missed Muffins with Mom this year and my daughter was devastated. I feel like I can just power through all the NS challenges and succeed if I try hard enough, but there's nothing I can do about the chaos my family feels without a stay at home mom. We're surviving, though.

On a similar vein, I've also had to wrap my head around struggling in an educational area for the first time. I cannot study my way to being an awesome nurse. I'm not the most observant of people and I've always been a little socially awkward. I can usually cover it in social situations, but nursing isn't a social situation. I feel very...I don't know. Exposed? I'm really having to dig deep and books can only get me so far!

Specializes in Oncology/hematology.

Not knowing the answer and feeling like I let my clinical instructor down!

I am a complete know it all, and I now do not. I also have someone teaching me who really wants me to retain every word she says and I just can't. I have never experienced this before and it was hard to come to grips with.

My most single challenging time was studying all weekend for a test then that day I started working on a care plan and finishing up a paper ...I ultimately stayed up for 48 hours straight, got three hours of sleep, then went to clinical (which I really don't recommend clinical is where you could really harm a patient if you don't have complete focus, but I didn't have a choice that time)... I was the last one to get assigned a patient to do my care plan on (everyone else in my clinical group got theirs the day I toured the ICU) ...my paper was on a developmental center so I could only do the first part of my paper ahead of time and the rest I couldn't do until I actually went there (just happen to be the same week I got my assigned patient) To top it off this was the week before finals so I then study for my non-cumulative final for the next four days.:banghead:

The most challenging over all is family and friends that don't understand the time and energy nursing school takes from you... as the other have said the true friends will be there at the end

Some tips:

1)study groups are great but should be more than two but less than five...two people may not know something that the third or forth person may know but it gets difficult to keep focus in a large group.

2)Get any assignments you can done ahead of time (I do some on my breaks) On the other hand, give yourself some down time every once in awhile (I had a nursing instructor tell me to take care of others you have to take care of yourself first) You can get burned out easily if you don't.

3)Not everything you learn in lab will be done in real life (you have to be flexible in situations, patients are variable, not everything will go as smoothly as it does in lab)

4)Breath in and out before check offs and don't stress out. You'll do fine as long as you studied (my hand was shaking so bad during my first check off the instructor helped hold my hand so I could get a blood pressure :blackeye: lol) My partner was a medical assistant and failed her blood pressure check offs because of her nerves.

5)Your not going to get A's on everything and it's not the end of the world...you can still be a good nurse if you get some B's ;)passing the course it what really counts

My life has changed so much and you see the world so differently...It has been the hardest, most wonderful thing I've ever done ...If you want it bad enough you can do it...In the end, to be successful you have to sacrifice some things and have good time management...It has all paid off...I'll be done this April!

Best of luck to you! :up:

Hardest thing it trying to put all of the different information from differs classes together to correlate with one patient. For example, you will have to use all the skills to do a focused health assessment from that class, but then put in all of the patho from your patho class to explain why the person will have those signs and symptoms. Then you will have to take all of the basic adult skills together to combine a patients medications and labs. It just takes time and practice but once everything starts to click you will love it.

Specializes in Operating Room.

The most challenging and still is...is the mere fact that I cannot have as much free time as I would like...bottom line if you care about your grades you are going to spend countless hours studying...and of course dealing with the fact that you will have professors that don't actually teach you but you end up teaching yourself...another factor that I don't like about nursing school that will always present a challenge until the end of mankind is the backbiting, gossip, and snarky nature of some of the nursing school students

My best advice is to stay focused on your studies...find a trusting group of people who value their grades and understanding the material as much as you do...stay clear of drama and you will be just fine

Also make time for yourself...anytime I found that I could have a weekend to myself and not study I took it...take your breaks and get plenty of rest...just go somewhere and zone out because you are going to need it...nursing school will leave you feeling drained and restless...and seeing as though I am in an accelerated program I look forward to every break we have (and that isn't saying much)

I find that the most difficult thing is to please the professors. It seems more like a popularity contest than anything else. Some professors have the desire to actually help you rise up in the profession and some just want to crush your will. Play the game like its supposed to be played.

The tests, studying, clinicals.....blah, blah, blah!

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