MachThree

"hmm - I am really bothered by the OP's assumption that nursing school may actually be a barrier to actual practice" I think I probably chose my words poorly. I only meant that nursing school must be completed before one can become a nurse, not that it is in any way unnecessary. I would say that in my own career, even though my profession does not necessarily require a degree, I did indeed earn a relevant degree. And I would say that I definetly learned some fundamental things in school, but after many years of experience, I feel that the knowledge I most need to do my job I did not learn in school - rather I gained it from actual work, and that knowledge that I gained complimented and built upon what I learned in school. I probably wouldn't have been able to be successful in my industry if I didn't learn many things in my degree program, because I wouldn't have had the background knowledge to learn what I've learned and apply it. On the other hand, I can assure you that when I left school, while I certainly had a good understanding of many concepts, I in no way understood every single nuance of the cirriculum, there were certainly some areas where I was weaker than others, and my grades were decent but not stellar. But I did learn what I needed to to be successful, despite that. So my post was meant to ask you all for your insights in terms of how similar the nursing profession is in those regards. Didn't mean to offend, only to verify assumptions that I knew I was making without necessarily having the best basis for doing so.

Hi All, I'm new here. I wanted to ask a quick question on behalf of a friend of mine, who is currently finishing up her second to last semester of nursing school. She's a smart woman, who got mostly A's with one or two B's on her nursing school pre-requisities. And she puts in the effort - when she describes to me what she does every day, I don't see how she (or anyone else) could possibly spend more time studying and practicing. Unfortunately, whereas during the beginning of nursing school, most of her exams she was scoring in the A-/B+ range, her grades have steadily declined to the B-/C+ range. At the same time, her frusteration levels have been going up - she just isn't getting a corelation between her effort and academic success. Every time she gets results from an exam and they're less than what she hoped for, she says to me "I guess I'm just not cut out to be a nurse". Not being a nurse, I've tried to give her the best advice I can, which is this - I have to think (or at least hope) that nursing school is a barrier to entering the nursing profession, but that once overcome, the "real" knowledge is going to come from on-the-job experience. That several years down the road after she graduates, the grades she received in nursing school will have little bearing on how good of a nurse she is, just so long as she tries her best and her grades are enough to graduate. I'm of course trying to encourage her to do her very best and to get the best grades she can in nursing school - I'm not encouraging her to just try and just skate by. I'm just trying to help her not to get too discouraged or to despair too much, to tell her that yes, she really can do this, even if she's not getting A's all the time. But I think both she and I would probably feel a lot better if any of you who are actual practicing nurses could tell us that there is really something to the advice I'm giving her, that I'm not just talking nonsense, if indeed that was the case. So I'd really appreciate hearing feedback on this from some of you. Thanks very much for any help!