Need serious feedback: having pre-Nursing anxiety...anyone else experience this??

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Nov 6, 2008

I am not a psychiatrist, but it seems to me you are suffering from some sort of anxiety. Why would changing your mind about your goals mean that "something is wrong with you"? I recommend you talk to a healthcare professional, like a counselor or psychologist, and get to the root of your anxiety before planning your future. BTW, there are a lot of ways to practice nursing besides ICU.

DA314 · Nov 6, 2008

Calbrunette - I hear ya! I'm starting nursing school in Jan. and terrified. I'm currently in a CNA class, and we have clinicals Sat. (in 2 days! yikes!) and I'm increbidly nervous about it. What if someone has a fall? or worse, dies? I use to look forward to it, but now, I'm more freaking out that I'll be caring for real people, not the dummies we use in class.

But I'm also excited to know that I will influence lives. Maybe as a CNA I won't be saving them, but I'll be able to brighten someone's day, make sure they are well taken care of. That has to be the best feeling in the world.

So when I start getting anxiety about becoming a nurse, I just try to remember all the good reasons that led me to this path.

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2008

The further you get in nursing school the more you realize how much school does NOT prepare you for real world nursing.

I too exp the same thing, I was a CNA through out school--and very confident and eager in my limited skills. By the time last semester came along I was sick thinking "Ok I only have a few weeks of school left how on earth do they think I am ready"

Then you pass your boards and get those two all important initials behind your name and all of a sudden your the one responsible???

Yikes I remember my 1st week as an RN and the rounding doc had a folder in his hand and asked "who has this pt?" I turned around and realized "Oh crap I do"

Anyone that comes out of nursing school appearing totaly confident is either A) a great actor or B) someone who is going to screw up big time.

Know your not alone....know you already have a head start againt your class mates cause of the job your in now. Know that by being able to acknowledge these feelings you are actually way ahead of the game.

Best of luck!!

nurse_mo1986 · Nov 6, 2008

Anyone that comes out of nursing school appearing totaly confident is either A) a great actor or B) someone who is going to screw up big time.

Actually i disagree with the above posts. I wetn thru nursing school with flying colors. Clinicals never bothered me either. I like learning interesting and new things. And yeah, i've made my share of mistakes, after all, i'm human. But i'm good at my job, and i like what i do. If i was having that much anxiety over it, i'd quit nursing and do something else. And I also went from nursing school to a ICU, been there ever since, and I love it.

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Nov 6, 2008

Actually i disagree with the above posts. I wetn thru nursing school with flying colors. Clinicals never bothered me either. I like learning interesting and new things. And yeah, i've made my share of mistakes, after all, i'm human. But i'm good at my job, and i like what i do. If i was having that much anxiety over it, i'd quit nursing and do something else. And I also went from nursing school to a ICU, been there ever since, and I love it.

I dont think she needs to quit cause she is having so much anxiety. I too felt like you in school. I had no problem with school or clinicals. But once you have the initials RN behind your name something does change, You realize just how much responsibility you have and you no matter how much you learned in school it is nothing like actually working. I learned more my 6mnths in my unit that i did in all my years of school.

It will be interesting to see if you feel the same way once you get your ASN.

Christen, ANP · Nov 6, 2008

Actually i disagree with the above posts. I wetn thru nursing school with flying colors. Clinicals never bothered me either. I like learning interesting and new things. And yeah, i've made my share of mistakes, after all, i'm human. But i'm good at my job, and i like what i do. If i was having that much anxiety over it, i'd quit nursing and do something else. And I also went from nursing school to a ICU, been there ever since, and I love it.

That's how I felt when I got out of school as well. I started as a PCT about a year before graduation and knew pretty much what I was getting myself into.

One thing that I'm wondering...how long have you worked in the ICUs? I'm wondering if you're getting burned out from where you're working. It's not easy dealing with the sickest of the sick day in and day out - maybe you need a change of scenary.

There are plenty of other units out there to try your hand at and now's the best time to do so because it's pretty easy to go from unit to unit as a tech vs when you're a nurse (though it's still pretty easy). Perhaps the coolest thing about our career is that if you need a change for whatever reason, there's always a similar-yet-different job out there for ya.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Nov 6, 2008

My first day of clinicals in nursing school, all we had to do was assess the patient's communication skills and educational needs/preferences. If memory serves, we didn't even do vitals. Pretty cake, but my palms were sweating, my mouth was dry, and I couldn't remember anything we had discussed in class. This after five years of talking to patients every day at work, including conversations that seemed well above my pay-grade. I mean, I had a long talk with one patient about how her kids would manage when she was gone, because (she said) her prognosis was not good. Much harder than, "Do you read and write? Is English your first language?"

Anxiety was a real problem for me in school. Not so much in lecture or the written tests, but I was terrified of messing up in clinicals. So, of course, I did mess up in clinicals from time to time, at least at times in part because I was so scared. My first year or so of nursing practice was both easier and harder for not having an instructor "breathing down my neck," (not that my instructors were really overbearing--I'm speaking of how I felt, rather than how it really was.)

So I'm pretty much with racing mom, here. In fact, my coworkers all said it was the nurses who weren't scared that scared them. No doubt some of that was being charitable when it looked--with good cause--like I didn't know whether to pee myself or cry. Still, there's ample reason to have significant anxiety. Work hard, learn all you can in school. It won't be all you need, but it will be enough to get you started. And realize, in school and beyond school, that you aren't on your own. You can talk to your instructors about your fears. Most will know just how you feel. And the same will likely be true of most of your future co-workers. If you work hard and really listen to those who have something to teach you, you'll probably still feel like giving up from time to time. But, eventually, the stuff that scares you now will seem routine, and you'll be able to be scared by even more serious problems you don't even know about, today.

It's fun to be a nurse. (Actually, in a weird, sick way, that isn't even sarcastic.)

Calbrunette · Nov 7, 2008

Thanks for the replies. You all make some good points. However it appears that you all were able to get through school...I haven't even started and I'm feeling all this. I'm not above speaking to a counselor but just hope I can explain what I'm feeling clearly.

To the person that suggested a change of environment: I thought of that. I thought maybe I was too saturated with all things medical. But more than anything I think it's my own fears about my health that is at the root of all this. How do the rest of you look at so much sickeness every day and not start to worry about what could possibly happen to you?

**CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN** · Nov 7, 2008

I don't start nursing school until the end of March. I realized I wanted to go into nursing after watching my grandmother die. I think the idea of being dependable, or helpful is important. I think of how I'd like my loved ones to be cared for, and believe that I can be compassionate. The patients are people before they are a disease. We are all going to die, regardless of our profession, no sense in worrying about it.

geekgolightly, BSN, RN · Nov 7, 2008

I would think it strange if you didn't have some anxiety. You have been in ICU in a different capacity and are now realizing that you will be responsible for the patient's life once you complete nursing school and that thought can certainly cause anxiety. I think the realization of the change in responsibility has more to do with you wanting to vomit when the patient vomits, rather than being burned out. Know this; you will be good at what you do. You question yourself and search for answers. You will do the same for your patients and that is what it takes to be an excellent nurse.