By all means, don't feel alone in this! I too thought many of my peers were so confident as that is what they give off in clinicals, then a student asked me a question that I thought to myself - she isn't really asking me that, it is scary she is this far along and doesn't know what that means, but guess what, she really had no clue! I am starting to feel that a lot of my peers in class are as you said "faking it" in clinicals. I am in 3rd semester now and was on ICU the other day and made to feel like I had no right to have a uniform on by the staff nurse I was with. During our postconference I told my clinical instructor what specific questions she was asking me about the meds, guess what? My CI told me this nurse is in a NP program at the moment and the types of questions she was asking me, while good questions, no where near what is expected of me to be able to answer. That made me feel much better. I think that if any nursing student tells you that they don't suffer from moments of self doubt, they are lying to themselves. I am applying for an externship for over my summer break between 3rd and 4th semester. My goal is to listen to as many hearts and lungs as possible and then have the nurse listen also and tell me if she agrees with what I think I heard. I work as a tech and get patient care exposure often, but still feel lacking many days in my "nurse" skills. Hope this helps you to know there are lots of us out there who are still able to admit "we're learning!" . Good luck!
~Erica
