What are you most freaked out about learning in nursing school? What makes you the most nervous? I am worried about taking blood. My hands tend to shake a little, even when I am not nervous, but really bad when I am nervous. I plan to take beta-blockers in nursing school so poor patients don't have to see shakes the clown coming at them with a needle.
I have been really trying to desensitize myself to the idea of sticking a needle into someone's vein. I look at people's arms a lot and visualize calmly and gently finding a vein, making the stick, etc. I know that seems strange, but just trying to gear up for it.
For all of you experienced students - do you usually get free time in the labs to just practice and practice on the models?? Do you practice blood draws on your fellow students?
All you students hang in there! My family died laughing when when I went into nursning school. I was scared of needles, scared of all procedures, fainted(really) when I saw blood, and cried every time I saw something sad, which of course was every day! But most of all I was scared of Doctors!!! Oh my gosh, did I have have to grow a backbone. Nursing school and the life experienc I got in nursing was the best thing that ever happened to me. If I can overcome the fear, anyone can!
I guess I have 2 real fears. My first one is failing out- because I am very hard on myself grade-wise. The second one is being treated like dirt- I expect it to be extremely hard and taxing...but I have always had a hard time with critisism that came across as just plain rude. Give me harsh critisism anyday...expecially when I deserve it...but treating me like a piece of dirt- that's another story-..ooo I am hoping beyond hope I don't have to encounter too much of it.
I have been in college for a while taking all of the prereqs., but this August I am starting my 1st semester of clinical for the ADN program. I really don't have a problem with blood, needles, or anything of the sort. Infact, when I was in A&PII, we had many disections that we needed to do and I was the one in the group who had no problem with it. However, I do have a slight fear of bedsores. I have been told they are one of the worst wounds we will see in nursing and the smell will knock you over!
My other fear has to do with being too busy that I will never be able to sit and play with my 2 young sons. I have a wonderful husband, who is willing to help in anyway he can. There is no way I could do this without him.
Which leads me to my greatest fear,..... that I will not be able to do clinical b/c of so many other responsibilities in my life. Besides clinical fulltime, I work part-time and have my family to care for. I do plan to cut my hours back to 2 days a week, though. Hopefully that will help. I know it will work out somehow. :)
Practice IM on an orange; it is a close simulation. The only thing I fear about nursing school is that I am finally going to yell back at a rude instructror. I've come way too close this week. If one more RN tells me I am stupid, incompetent, ill prepared I might be changing majors!!!!!
OMG there is NO way I could do that. OK Ok maybe but ONLY if I was intoxicated ( joke).
I have sooo many scars from being burned as a child...I would bawl my way throught it. Not to mention 1 billion stretch marks from pregnancy and UGH UGH...Im overweight too.
Check out this thread This is what I fear most! I doubt this will happen in my program though...I sure hope not anyway!
I didn't even need to look at the thread and I knew the one you were talking about. Yeh, that is pretty scary!!! Like I said on that thread, Not Me!! My husband would have a fit :angryfire .
getting sick over things like snot or tons of poop,
not being up to these challenges,
failing myself and my family,
messing up something so badly that someone is harmed or killed,
being made a fool of in clinicals,
how i'll react when someone dies in front of me,
of getting into this and finding out i hate it...
nothing much, ya know...just a few little things!
cara
cara, i totally agree!!!! you know, i don't get sick over poop...unless it is a cdiff patent, then i kind of gag.....blood and needles, i'm ok with...but sputum? ugh. i had a pt yesterday with really bad mucositis who was constantly making awful noise to try to get all the sputum to his mouth so he could suction; i hate sputum suctions. blech. :smackingf just the sound of it, and the sound of vomiting...not necessarily the vomit that i don't like, but hearing someone hurl makes me want to!
i've gotten to be witness to a lot of cool stuff, at work, clinicals, and externship....picc lines being put in, chest tubes being placed, open heart on a 3 week old during a clinical peds rotation, etc....so i've learned that blood and needles don't bother me. the
i'm afraid i'm goign to ivpb wrong...you know, hang a pb to a .9 that can only be piggybacked with a d5w, etc.....for some reason, even though i'm getting more confortable with the imed machine, that machine freaks me out. how easily someone can hang the incorrect antibiotic, etc.....
that will come with time...but the imed still freaks me out!
and i'm afraid, not necessarily that i'm going to fail out of school, but that i'm not going to clinically be a good nurse, and won't "make it", and feel like the biggest failure to my friends and family, and myself.
I am awaiting the first day of class for my ADN program. I am 40 years old and have a 4 year old little boy. I have been a stay at home mom since he was born (except for taking all my prereqs). I have been having trouble sleeping as I so worried about starting school. Of course, the guilt of my son having to spend more time at preschool, is the main source. Also, what if I am unable to perform my duties? When I was taking all my prereqs, nursing was the goal that I knew I wanted to achieve. I have so much to offer and have an ability to comfort people, so nursing was the perfect choice. Now since I have gotten my acceptance letter and have been waiting for the program to begin, I am so FREAKED out!!! I am unsure if I will be able to give my son what he needs, if I will be able to pass all my nursing classes and if I will be able to give my patients what they need...maybe I need to stop worrying about giving everyone everything and things will fall into place. If anyone out there can give some encouragement, I would gratefully appreciate it!! Thanks...
I am awaiting the first day of class for my ADN program. I am 40 years old and have a 4 year old little boy. I have been a stay at home mom since he was born (except for taking all my prereqs). I have been having trouble sleeping as I so worried about starting school. Of course, the guilt of my son having to spend more time at preschool, is the main source. Also, what if I am unable to perform my duties? When I was taking all my prereqs, nursing was the goal that I knew I wanted to achieve. I have so much to offer and have an ability to comfort people, so nursing was the perfect choice. Now since I have gotten my acceptance letter and have been waiting for the program to begin, I am so FREAKED out!!! I am unsure if I will be able to give my son what he needs, if I will be able to pass all my nursing classes and if I will be able to give my patients what they need...maybe I need to stop worrying about giving everyone everything and things will fall into place. If anyone out there can give some encouragement, I would gratefully appreciate it!! Thanks...
I felt like you were talking about me, when I was reading your post. I have 2 young sons. One is 5y/o and the other is 2y/o. I have been a stay at home mom ever since my first son was born. Granted, I would work part time here or there, but only 2 or 3 days out of the week. I am very fortuante to have a loving supportive husband, however, he works so much to support the family that I feel like I am alone half the time. I have been in college part time for the past several years taking all of my prereqs. I found out in April that I was accepted to start clinical this fall. Of course I am overwelmed with excitement, but I am also very nervous and worried about my family. I am trying to spend as much time as possible with my husband and sons before August 22nd gets here. As the instructor said at our info session," when in clinical, nursing is your life!!".
I don't have any helpful suggestions, except to let you know you are not alone. Just spend as much time with your little boy as you can. Try to prepare him for when clinical starts, so that it isn't a shock to him. As for yourself, hang in there and know that in the end, it will be well worth the sacrifice!! (at least, that is what I am told). If you need to talk send me a PM.
I felt like you were talking about me, when I was reading your post. I have 2 young sons. One is 5y/o and the other is 2y/o. I have been a stay at home mom ever since my first son was born. Granted, I would work part time here or there, but only 2 or 3 days out of the week. I am very fortuante to have a loving supportive husband, however, he works so much to support the family that I feel like I am alone half the time. I have been in college part time for the past several years taking all of my prereqs. I found out in April that I was accepted to start clinical this fall. Of course I am overwelmed with excitement, but I am also very nervous and worried about my family. I am trying to spend as much time as possible with my husband and sons before August 22nd gets here. As the instructor said at our info session," when in clinical, nursing is your life!!".
I don't have any helpful suggestions, except to let you know you are not alone. Just spend as much time with your little boy as you can. Try to prepare him for when clinical starts, so that it isn't a shock to him. As for yourself, hang in there and know that in the end, it will be well worth the sacrifice!! (at least, that is what I am told). If you need to talk send me a PM.
Good Luck,
Jennifer
Jennifer:
I am not sure how to PM you. Hopefully this will reach you. It seems that we should try to keep in touch as we will be experiencing the exact same thing. I start in August, too. Perhaps we could be long time email buddies..let me know...
I am awaiting the first day of class for my ADN program. I am 40 years old and have a 4 year old little boy. I have been a stay at home mom since he was born (except for taking all my prereqs). I have been having trouble sleeping as I so worried about starting school. Of course, the guilt of my son having to spend more time at preschool, is the main source. Also, what if I am unable to perform my duties? When I was taking all my prereqs, nursing was the goal that I knew I wanted to achieve. I have so much to offer and have an ability to comfort people, so nursing was the perfect choice. Now since I have gotten my acceptance letter and have been waiting for the program to begin, I am so FREAKED out!!! I am unsure if I will be able to give my son what he needs, if I will be able to pass all my nursing classes and if I will be able to give my patients what they need...maybe I need to stop worrying about giving everyone everything and things will fall into place. If anyone out there can give some encouragement, I would gratefully appreciate it!! Thanks...
Your son will thrive at preschool because he is at an age where he will be enjoying spending time with other kids! This is NOT to mean that he does not enjoy time w/ you, but that at 4 y/o, he really needs the excitement and group activities. Please don't worry about him or feel guilty. You are making a decision that will have way better repercussions in the long run.
I felt freaky too, when I was waiting to start last September and I am prone to insomnia when I get too excited. My answer...well, meditation, relaxation CD's, counting very slowly back from 100, taking a deep breath on each 'ten-number' (90, 80, 70 etc), and when all else fails...benadryl 25 mg a half hour before I want to fall asleep almost always does it if I can tell I will be too wound up to sleep. You need to have at least 6 hours left to sleep tho, if you don't want to be foggy.
Remember that you are bringing all your life experiences to nursing and you have a lot to offer. You will be able to perform your duties and I bet you find that it is very rewarding too. I was a kind-of SAHM for a bit, working on weekends. I started to work a few hours a day when my daughter was 4; I worked at home doing data entry and sent my daughter to preschool for a few hours a day, five days a week. When she hit kindergarten I started working 4 hours a day. It made me feel worried at first that I wasn't totally there---espeically when she was in preschool. But it also made me feel good because I re-connected w/ myself. And she made all sorts of new friends and got to do fun stuff so it wasn't so bad. She loved it, actually! I felt like I was a better mother because I spent time for myself (working) and then I felt better able to give my other time to her. It hasn't changed much over the years. I work longer hours and go to school too but it makes me feel more present when I am there, if that makes sense. So the guilt is not there. Hopefully that will happen for you too, so thtat you will feel better about attending school.
fear of bedsores. I have been told they are one of the worst wounds we will see in nursing and the smell will knock you over! 
25 mg a half hour before I want to fall asleep almost always does it if I can tell I will be too wound up to sleep. You need to have at least 6 hours left to sleep tho, if you don't want to be foggy.
joyful nurse
26 Posts
All you students hang in there! My family died laughing when when I went into nursning school. I was scared of needles, scared of all procedures, fainted(really) when I saw blood, and cried every time I saw something sad, which of course was every day! But most of all I was scared of Doctors!!! Oh my gosh, did I have have to grow a backbone. Nursing school and the life experienc I got in nursing was the best thing that ever happened to me. If I can overcome the fear, anyone can!