Nursing Student...Need Advice

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I'm in my first semester of a BSN program. So far, I have four As and a B. I am not being challenged by my classes, and feel like I'm not as into it as the other students. This may be that they are married to their textbooks, and I get good grades by simply thinking through questions. I'm a little bored to be honest. I am thinking I may want to switch majors, but have invested a lot of resources into nursing school already. I know many think nursing school is very difficult, and I in no way discrediting your beliefs. Anyone have advice?

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Hey there,

I felt that way in my 1st semester of nursing school too; I was not really "into" any of the courses I was taking (they were mostly introductory ones, lots of caring theory, etc.). Don't be discouraged if you're not eating it all up as much as others; you will probably be more excited by the hands on learning. I remember this "Development of Self" class I had - I hated it, didn't even buy the book for that class but everyone else was doing all the readings, just loving the stuff - I could not stand it and felt like, hey, am I missing out on something here? But by second year the courses got a great deal more challenging (microbiology, pathophysiology, nutrition, etc.) and I began to see the diseases I was learning about unfold in my clinical practice. From then on it all got challenging & interesting for me. My advice would be to hang in there, it gets a lot more challenging & interesting as time goes on. I didn't care much for 1st year either - I am finishing my last semester now (of the 4 year program) and I just love it. I have done placement in ICU and am currently in ER... it's really cool stuff and I'm glad I stuck it out. Best of luck to you! :)

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arent those pre reqs to nursing classes but not the nursing classes itself...?

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Which classes are you referring to? Patho, micro & nutrition? I am from Canada so our programs are probably structured differently.

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If you're really sure that nursing is what you want to do, stick it out. It's just the first semester and things may change a lot in the near future. If they don't, you might just chalk it up to being smart and not having to make yourself as crazy as other people need to in order to pull through. Nothing wrong with that.

If you just feel like you have too much time on your hands, you might check into doing some volunteer work in a hospital or hospice. That would give you an opportunity to spend some time in the clinical area and work on people skills in addition to your academics. Pls note...I am not implying you NEED work on your people skills, just stating that this could be great for any one of us.

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Specializes in Urgent Care NP, Emergency Nursing, Camp Nursing.

Assuming you're in the actual nursing program and not doing prereqs - wait a term. You'll be in med-surg and they'll start dumping info on you faster than you can absorb it, which will never be fast enough. As best I can tell, this will continue until you graduate.

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Thanks everyone. I am in the actual nursing classes (pathopharm, theory, assessment, etc.). I guess I should wait until next semester to really decide. I appreciate your advice.

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Not a problem, best of luck to you!

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