reddragonfly

Thank you everyone. I guess I'm just going to have to embrace my apprehension for now and accept that this is normal. I appreciate your thoughts and opinions. Makes me feel much better!

I just finished the first semester of the ADN program I'm in. I have 3 more to go. My experience in clinicals this past semester left me wondering if I have what it takes to be a nurse. Some days were great, but others left me feeling like my critical thinking skills are lacking. I've never worked in the healthcare field and it's all new to me. I felt foolish when dealing with the CNA's and LVN's because they know way more than me and I'm in school to be an RN. And it didn't help that the majority of the nurses seem to not like the fact that you're there. I had one nurse who was great and she encouraged me to do things and helped me... that day I put in my first NG tube, gave a heparin injection and started a foley catheter. I left feeling like I could do this. But all of the other days I felt like I was a fish out of water. I was afriad of looking foolish and when I would ask questions some of the nurses acted annoyed and made me feel stupid... which makes me feel like I just don't have what it takes. How can I gain more confidence?! Am I the only one who feels this way in clinicals? Most of my classmates are already CNA's at least and have years of experience. I've been a secretary for years and am terrified of making a mistake and hurting someone. I'd like to be confident enough to take more initiative but I'm afraid the one thing I do would be contraindicated or something. :) Any advice on how to get past these apprehensive feelings?