AMRC6713

I have to agree that you need to take responsibility for your actions and get it together if you want to be successful. Your instructors have valid reasons for failing you. This may not be the career path for you.

My comment is more to do with the associate degree and working full time. Is it a part time program? Because the commitment to a full time associate program is pretty serious. The people in my class who tried to work full time while attending school full time plus have children all failed out. I'm not saying it can't be done and putting you down--I'm saying don't be naive about the time commitment involved. Your friends and family take a back seat while in school and you'll need a lot of help. Its not going to be a smooth ride, it's pretty strenuous. Make sure you've got lots of help if this is a full time program!

1. Figure out a healthy menu for yourself--healthy grab n go snacks in particular. You'll end up at the vending machines more than you'd like or fast food snacks on the way to class. 2. Use your labs to make mistakes. Don't sit and hope not to get called to demonstrate to everyone else--get in there and do it, don't be afraid. 3. Don't be afraid! You're gonna make mistakes, you're gonna feel stupid. Hopefully more in lab than in clinicals. But it will happen--learn to accept criticism and be able to say "I don't know" without fear. You have to, this is people's lives we're talking about here. 4. Never pretend you know what you're doing. 5. If your clinical experience isn't teaching you much, speak with your instructor to get a better experience. This is your education, you're paying a lot of money to learn, be in charge of it because nobody else will be. 6. Read, read, READ. The reading is long, yes, but if you skip an assignment you're going skip others. And pretty soon you're not reading at all. Bad news. 7. Keep yourself up on what you've learned over breaks. YouTube has some great videos you can watch on patient care, IV set up, everything. 8. Take time for yourself--you've got to have some mental down time...maybe an hour or so at the end of every day to exercise, see your family/friends..,whatever. And for Christs sake SLEEP!! You need good sleep! 9. Realize NS will mostly take hostage of your life. You get your life back on winter break, spring break and summer break if you get one. 10. Enjoy it, hard as that may sound. Take the time to see how far you've come and to realize how important your new role is. I'm loving every second of NS but I'm not gonna lie--it's not easy at all. Well worth it though. Good luck!!

There is nothing wrong with being too slow with meds--there is less of a chance for a med error that way. That's not right, you need to talk to the program director about that. As a student, if it takes you an hour to get someone's meds together, that's better than administering the wrong med all together because you tried to speed it up. In time you'll gain speed.

Theyre saying you can't halve blue/green/pink etc hair, you're fine! :)

Most programs lose a lot of students right off the bat. We are going into our senior year and probably have half of the original class with us. Yikes! Don't panic. My best advice is if you think you're going to work, be mom/dad, and go to full time NS, you need to get that out of your head. Recruit help NOW--you will more or less be putting the rest of your life on the back burner. Unfortunately I had many classmates who thought they'd be able to do that and they're no longer in the program. NS is not easy, it's not like an accounting program or something. It demands your full attention and dedication. If you've got that out of the way, you have help at home and have secured yourself a nice per-diem job, great! It's going to be a big help. You'll now need to be super focused. You won't be seeing your friends much, your family won't see much if you, you'll be too busy reading. Keep up with the reading! Don't let any concepts go by without you understanding them. Get help in your schools mentor program if they have one. We have one and as freshman were able to get a senior nursing student mentor. Take advantage of the opportunities to learn provided to you. If they hold any open labs for you to practice skills, go to them. The lab is the place to screw up, not at clinicals. Don't be afraid to ask questions, don't be afraid to look stupid (get used to it, you'll be doing a lot of that) and don't underestimate the program...it will take over your life for the most part but if you keep up with your studies you'll do fine! Sounds scary! It IS scary in the first semester! Lol you'll be eating, sleeping a lot from exhaustion, and going to NS and that is very close to IT. It's a hell of a ride but if you love it, it will be worth it! Good luck!! Get plenty of sleep and the first week will be the most nerve wracking. Once you get into the swing of things you won't even realize you're doing it. :)

The anxiety/depression is likely the cause of the short term memory loss--it erases everything when you need it most. It's the same when you panic at an exam--the anxiety of the exam erases all the information you've retained. You need to see you've come this far--you are smart and you are tough. You're good at what you do or else you'd never have made it this far. Being close to graduation is anxiety inducing in itself--that's normal. You're about to be on your own...I think we think we will be out there on an island to practice nursing with no help but you'll have a guide to help you study for the boards and when you get hired somewhere you'll have at least 6 mos-1year of being precepted before you're on your own completely. Even when you are on your own completely, you'll never be without help. It'll take a year before you really "get it" but you'll have coworkers to bounce questions off. You'll never be alone when you're doubting yourself. It sounds like your depression/anxiety is interfering with daily life. Maybe you could seek help with a counselor or medications. I've had to do the same at points throughout my life and again this summer going into my senior year of NS. I will NOT jeopardize my nursing career over depression. You shouldn't either.

Definitely start skimming through the books but the nerves will be there until you get the hang of how your program works. :) And then at every exam the nerves come back. So maybe the best advice is to accept the presence of the nerves! Lol

Get a job in the field--I was in human services doing CNA/management work in group homes and also a surg tech for 4 years in a Boston teaching hospital with only a couple of the non nursing prerequisite classes done. Most work as CNAs--it'll give you GREAT experience and an edge over those who've never worked in the field. Serious advantages.

I agree, no. I did volunteer at a local community hospital and while it was nice exposure to the environment, I was allowed almost no patient contact. I could bring them a cup of ice chips or water but no more. It doesn't really give you any useable experience but does introduce you to the environment/people. However, once they got to know me they were all about me finding a CNA job with them. It just happened to be that none were open at the time. They saw that I was hard working and liked that--I was never without something to do. So it can be helpful to a degree but doesn't really translate to experience.

The difference between LPN and RN is one semester. Go right for RN at least, BSN is a better move as most facilities want either BSN or RN enrolled in BSN program. Get a CNA job in the mean time...

Let the company know what the surgeon said, my experience is that they'd rather have you there and get you assistance as needed than not there at all. But they can't do that for you if they don't know about it.

I think you are on a good track. Get a CNA job-- you'll have a better understanding of good patient care and the nurses will likely teach you a lot since you are a nursing student. Keep up with your reading. It's hard, at times we have over a hundred pages to read. Between readings, care plans, and other paperwork and projects to do its easy to get behind. It's a bit of a challenge but if you love what you're learning it'll be great! Organize your time. This will take away from friends and family big time. You'll need lots of support which you probably learned in dentistry. Good luck!