Nursing Student Doubts

[branthebrat0789]

Hi everyone,

I decided to take a few minutes to write on here today due to the day that I had. I Hope I can get some honest and positive advice. I am in my 3rd semester of Nursing school on a pediatrics rotation. Today was very stressful to the point I got sick. My day started with a 2 year old having to go to the OR my instructor had to me we have to hurry and get her prepped for the OR this part was so fast paced and I was very rushed to the point I could not focus. Why do we as nurses have to hurry in preparation for the OR? General question? Also when my patient got back I felt lile I was charting constantly and struggling to do this in between care. If I was in the room with the patient I was getting told you need to do your hourly IV assessment! Or if I was charting I was told to check on my patient. ...I just felt like I couldnt keep up.....I feel by now I should be getting good at this but yet it was my 2nd day on the pediatric floor....Im so nervous still to this day every clinical because Im always told I missed something charting or I didn't do this right. I feel like my experiences have been so negative unless it is me portraying constructive criticism diffently. We got in trouble this morning because we were asked about the pain scales and couldnt name them all when we literally just learned them like 3 days ago. ...Nursing school makes me feel very dumb someday s and I question could I do this? I dont understand how it is possible to take on 4 to 6 patients when I am having trouble with 1? Will this eventually come? I have a difficult time with charting stuff quickly and I dont know why? I think its because I question things so much. When I talk to my peers they say they feel the exact same way? Nursing people or nursing students is this feeling normal? Is it normal to be as stressed and overwhelmed? I feel like there is sooooo much knowledge to know in such a short time frame and when I dont know it it really takes a toll on me and makes me question maybe this isnt for me....Everyday there is something I dont know how to do but I learn it....do i just have to accept that I will not know everything by the time I am done? This is killin me There is so much to know about a new patient and now we get our assignment in the mornings so I cant even look over my chart for the patient until the morning of....Im literally scared amd questioning my abilities.....Please help with advice in the right direction.

[trudeyRN]

I feel like I'm in the same place. I know you are looking for people who have longer perspective who can tell you this is normal and you will get there. I will start my third semester this fall, so I don't have a work history to base this on. I too think if one patient is this hard, how will I ever handle 4, 6 (or whatever the ratio happens to be)? And charting, it is unnerving. Smart to know it has implications beyond just typing and checking off boxes. I look forward to the day when I can do that with less hesitancy.

I get the impression this is very normal. Feeling dumb becomes the norm, even the grading system (much different from the prereq grades, right?) seems stacked against us feeling smart. The purpose of that (as near as I can tell) is as much as you do know and as hard as you work, there is always more you could know. We will get to a place where we aren't doubting our every move, but if you read through the threads, people are considered a "new nurse" for a long time. And every time you change jobs, you are "new" (read: have the chance to feel dumb again).

It doesn't mean you aren't where you are supposed to be (as in academically or as a choice of career). What it means to me is there is always a lot more you can know. I think the trick is to get comfortable with not knowing everything and realizing you are learning more than you think.

Experience will help, but there is always the chance to learn more.

I would be more worried about you if you said you never felt dumb and had all the answers :)

[RachRN11]

Yes, what you're feeling is normal. YOU are normal!

Nursing school is rough..really, really rough. I'm pretty sure I wanted to switch my major every semester because nursing school stressed me out too much. But hey, I made it and YOU WILL TOO!

Honestly, the best answer I can give is that you will feel more comfortable the more experience you get. I would be willing to bet that if you look back on this post come the end of the semester or your clinical rotation you will feel 10x better about things.

It's good to have a little stress, it shows that you care and you want to do a good job. However, be kind to yourself. You are still learning. You're still a student. You don't know everything (heck, no nurse knows everything!) and if there's a time to make a mistake, it's while you're in school (although you will continue to make mistakes after school...that's life). The instructor points things out that are "wrong" in your charting to help you learn, that's their job. Even if you were the best student and hardly made a mistake, I bet your instructor would still tell you that something needs fixed. If you are really worried, ask your instructor how you're doing and if they feel like you're staying on track.

Don't give up. Just keep on keepin' on and be kind to yourself. Give yourself the chance and opportunity to learn and grow not only into a nursing career but as a human being. It's okay to be stressed, it's normal to be anxious. You are fine and you will continue to be fine and one day you will be on the other side of this and be giving other stressed out/anxious students advice and encouragement!

[branthebrat0789]

Thanks so much for the encouragement and relation of feelings! It helps to know I am not feeling alone in the battle