PeriOp course - I'm terrified

ShariDCST · May 23, 2008

so today is my last day at my current job. in a few weeks i'll be starting a periop course that involves studying and passing tests and didactics. i'm terrified.
now, i understand that i have taken tests to get my rn license and that obviously with a few years of experience, i'm not a total idiot. the or though, as much as i want to be there, excited me and scares me at the same time. it's a totally new place and so much unlike any other nursing i've done up until now.
i'm ready to give it my all but all i can do is worry about "what if i fail the tests" "what if they don't think i can cut it". i'll have moved us over a 1000 miles and it'll be my fault that we're financially in the red.
any hints to get through this trying time?

first - let me offer congratulations on taking on a new world! :yeah:it's a big step to take, but if you've been doing your old job for any length of time at all, i'm sure you remember the first day you walked in and how it felt to be brand new. didn't you learn something new every minute of those first days - and then something new about every day? learning never stops - it just increases in pace and content sometimes. how about your first day of nursing school? did you have any of those same thoughts - "what if i fail my tests?" - "what if my instructors don't think i can cut it?" i bet you did - that is very common when taking on the unknown and there's a lot at stake. i had a lot of those same thoughts when i left my full time (going nowhere) job 16 years ago and took on surgical tech school full time - with a husband, kids, a mortgage, and a whole lot at stake. there's a certain sense of urgency that tends to spur you on when you don't think it's going very well. you do make it. you do get through it - and you've got your rn to prove that point to begin with.

there has to be a very good reason that going to the or appeals to you - i can't imagine that they would hire you for training if you didn't show some kind of sincere enthusiasm for it. it must be appealing to you personally, or i doubt you would have undertaken such an endeavor. it's scary - and there's a lot at stake - but to give it your best, the first thing i'd suggest is that you take a deeeeep breath and relax just a little! everything important and worth doing comes with a price - the higher the benefit, sometimes the higher the price. but nothing worthwhile comes without effort, so expect that you will put forth your best effort to make this work. no, it may not be easy - but i bet you the farm it'll be worth every minute! stop and take stock of everything you've been through so far, and how well you've done, and give yourself credit for all those things you've been successful doing. if you've had roadblocks, stumbling blocks, potholes and other obstacles to get through, around, over or under - and haven't we all at some point? - then what did you learn from it? take that and run with it.

set yourself up with a reasonable schedule, and plenty of time to study and review what you learn each day. remember not to leave all the studying to one "cram session" :nono: that's generally a recipe for disaster, and you're just setting yourself up for failure that way. take it as it comes to you, and do your very best. there's no more you could ask of yourself than that.

best wishes on your new endeavors :up: and remember - relax!! :yeah: