Nursing Students: good/bad moments

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2003

Best: Getting a really good evaluation from my prof at the end of the semester... it said something along the lines of "you're a natural, and you're going to be a great nurse"

Worst: sometimes feeling insecure, like i'm NOT going to be a great nurse, because it is my first day on the unit and I don't know where anything is. Oh, and today I accidently mistook a doctor for a nurse, whoops!

Robin61970 · Jan 17, 2003

I just started 10 days ago and we are all so unsure of ourselves.....they are throwing so much info at us....we are all terrified. When I have a good moment I'll let you know!

subec · Jan 17, 2003

Best: Having a patient tell me that I treated her better than any of the other staff at the hospital.

Worst: Freezing up during my ER rotation when the physician asked if any of us wanted to help with chest compressions. I felt like the biggest fool.

Ortho_RN · Jan 17, 2003

Best: Have a nursing instructor with a reputation for being mean pull me aside and tell me that my paperwork is great and not to bother doing anymore :) And that me and a classmate were the Sunshine of our clinical group... :)

Worst: Just feeling uncomfortable about doing things I have never done before, especially on a patient... But the biggest is the TESTS.. They are horribly overstressful..

NurseShell · Jan 17, 2003

BEST: Earning the highest evaluation score in our group and being told that "great things will be expected" from me in the future. Hearing from a patient at the end of the day "you can't leave! Who'll take care of me?!?!" And from the RN I was assigned to that day "Thank you so much! When do you come here again?"

WORST: Messing up on a skills test (evaluated by a student that is farther in the program) and being "failed" only to find out that what I was "failed" for is NOT necessarily how the skill is done in the "real world! By the way, I cried all the way home after failing!

CountrifiedRN · Jan 17, 2003

Best: Educating the young parents of a newly diagnosed 2 y/o diabetic, and having them tell me that no one else had explained things in a way that they could understand, and they felt less anxious about administering her insulin. It felt good to know I made a difference in someones life.

Worst: Being late on my first day of summer clinicals because my alarm didn't go off! Woke up and looked at my clock at the exact time I was supposed to be at clinicals. Talk about adrenaline rush!

brenzgrove · Jan 17, 2003

best part? During my last clinical rotation having the teacher tell me that she was listening at the door of my patient's room while i was health teaching. she said that she has never heard another student, let alone many experienced nurses have such easy, professional interaction with a patient. she also commented that the health teaching was excellent and that this is where i should focus my career. The other best? After having left the program due to various problems, i found my way back into the dreaded cardio module. The instructor was quite beastly, through the grace of God i passed the clinical, and was one of 5 girls in our group of 10 to pass the exam (yay for me). I've had a lot of patients tell me that my SC and IM injections are completely painless. that always makes me feel good.

Worst? (theres been sooo many) Well, failing a clinical over a careplan (the teacher really had it out for me... she felt i didn't "have what it takes") my stupidity was in not appealing the grade.

I once (very early on) made a careless mistake of accidentally replacing the lipid container and IV solution on the wrong sides of the patient's pump (therefore the wrong speeds of infusion) I realized after a couple minutes and had someone help me straighten it out. At my midterm evaluation my teacher had told me how all the staff nurses were appalled by my mistake and wouldn't stop talking about it. (funny i never heard a peep, but it really made me feel like i was a complete moron)

SusanRN2004, RN · Jan 18, 2003

I am just going to copy what I wrote in my nursing diary about today for those who are interested...what a week!

Today was the first day of the hospital clinical and most of us had the same shell-shocked expressions as the first day of the nursing home clinical. I awoke at 5:30 this morning wanting to quit. It did not help that this was the third day back and we were already overloaded with hours of lecture and clinical and Oper. Room orientation. The mind can only hold so much. As I was driving in at 6:30, the temp outside had a wind chill of below 0. That only added to the reasons I did not want to be doing this....I told God he had better give me a sign if this is what I was supposed to be doing because I sure could not remember why I wanted to! I felt overwhelmed by the amount of information we need to know and I felt I had no compassion left for my imagined patients to be....everything seemed overwhelming. As I rounded the corner the almost full moon came into view. It was beautiful on this cold but clear morning. Suddenly my perspective changed a little and my concerns looked a little smaller compared to the vastness of the sky.

It seemed a little calmer at the hospital than the day before. At least we had a room to gather in where we could be out of the way of the staff. Yesterday during orientation I felt we (the students) were like a giant flock of white birds blocking the hallways as we toured and fumbled around. The staff would have to work their way through our group and we would almost bump into each other as we tried to move over for them to pass. I ended the day more tired than I ever remember being, but a little more optimistic. My patient was a little old man and my first contact with him was to feed him breakfast. The compassion I thought was gone overwhelmed me so much during the time I fed him breakfast that it was hard to fight back the tears. I guess God answered my prayers...I know as hard as school is, this is where I am supposed to be.

:nurse:

RNIAM, BSN, RN · Jan 18, 2003

SusanRN2004

That is so true and very beautiful. You will make a great nurse.

SusanRN2004, RN · Jan 18, 2003

Originally posted by rhona1
SusanRN2004
That is so true and very beautiful. You will make a great nurse.

Thanks Rhona, how are things going for you? I think most of our class questions our decision to enter nursing. I hope things get better after this first shock wears off.....I can be confident one hour and want to quit the next. :eek:

RNIAM, BSN, RN · Jan 19, 2003

I am actually still off school until Tues next week. It is going to be a crazy semester as I have A&P 2 and micro as well as my nursing class to contend with. Keep me posted on what's going on with you. To be honest when classes start up you won't see me on the bb's much. I just won't have time for it for awhile. I check in once or if I am really lucky twice a week. Good luck anyways.