Nursing School

[CRAYSN]

I am a nursing student, currently ending my second semester of a 2 year ADN program. I am seeking to find out what others experiences have been like in various nursing programs.

Here is a little background for you:

First semester in the program i am attending was very unorganized, in my opinion. It seemed to be the general consnesus among my classmates as well. Each week new assignments would be added to our calendar, there were two instructors and they were never on the same page. For example: during skill practice lab, you may ask one of the instructors about the correct way to do a specific step, and during skill check off, the other instructor may be watching you and fails you because he/she says it was incorrect. This happened on NUMEROUS occasions.

Now in second semester, there is more organization, however, i feel lack of support from the instructors. It is always a feeling of, "figure it out yourself," and ,"you should have already known this."

Prime example: NG tube insertion was our last skill to check off on. Our med surg instructor selected another fellow instructor to help with the skilling off, to speed things up a bit. Our main ins. showed us the incorrect way to hook the double lumen tube up to suction, the helper failed nearly 5 students as a result.

I feel i am a good student. Do i do everything I should and always time manage as i should? No, but who is 100 percent of the time on their "A" game? I have had an off semester, my confidence this semester has reached a new low.

I failed the NG skill because i completely forgot to hook it up to suction. I had ran the skill several times, watched the demo video over and over, and it just completely left my mind. I dont know how or why it happened. I felt foolish. My instructor came to me and smugly asked, "did you even practice during lab?" Of course i did. She saw me, and even answered questions for me, while i had my hand on the dummies nose securing my tube.

I have an overwhelming sense of doom hahah. I cant shake this lack of confidence. On top of that, i feel i am always in a fog and lack energy. Its almost as if i feel my brain can not hold on to the information as it comes in. I am forgetting simple things instantly, and at my age, this shouldnt be an issue.

I need advice, and seek to learn others nursing school experiences?

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

Our school had chosen lab assistants that taught only in the lab and performed the check offs. They also video taped students so they could go back and review the session and if there was a debate about whether they did this or that. They should have skill check off sheets for you guys to do so you know what will fail you and how much points each task is.

My NP school didn't video tape us and it was slightly frustrating. I wish they had video taped us because I said stuff and the person said I didn't during my skill check off. However, I do feel they had gotten bigger than they expected for our class.