snakes251

Thank you everyone for the comments. You have all pretty much confirmed what I knew, but didn't want to admit. How should I word this? My motivations for nursing, while noble, weren't entirely thought out. I chose it because originally I thought about PT, then for some reason, I started looking at being a physician assistant Seeing how there were more prerequisites for P.A. school, I opted for nursing, because I could eventually work on being a nurse practitioner. That was my great strategy. Now that I've seen the reality of things, I realize these maybe I did the right thing for the wrong reason. You are right--I need to take a step back, soul search, and decide from there. I've got the time now! :) One final note: when my instructor called me into her office and notified me I didn't pass the course, I felt sad and disappointed, sure. But more than that, I felt relieved. That's telling me something right there.

I was/am a nursing student, and found out earlier this week I did not pass one of my courses. As a result, I cannot progress further in my program, and my university has me on this conditional status where I cannot retake courses in the program. So at the end of the semester, I will not be able to continue there. I've also been having some difficulty in my clinical rotations. It's accelerated, so the pacing goes pretty fast. We'll learn about one thing (i.e. JP dressing, PCA machines) one day and then be expected to apply it the next day. With all the testing we're doing, it's hard for me to retain a lot of this, since I'll literally have a test before that class or after. So my mind will be focused on that. I've been prepared for clinicals, but not as much as the preceptors want. They're pretty hyper-specific about meds and other procedures. For instance, in doing a history with her about one patient who was on prednisone, I was asked what it was (corticosteroid), what's it for (decrease inflammation post-op), what are side effects (immunosuppression), and so forth. She wanted to know what specific manifestation of immunosuppression, and I had to look it up (oral candida). So I keep getting dinged for these minor oversights. I notice I'm also a little gun-shy around patients. I'm uncomfortable assessing them, and I keep missing things in terms of their assessment. It's either because I haven't seen it before, or can't associate what I've read with what I'm seeing. I'm really trying, but the one thing I miss is always something important or even critical. I really messed up last week, and couldn't identify a PCA for morphine. Once the instructor pointed it out, I made the connection instantly, associating this back to what I'd read. But on the spot, I couldn't come up with an answer. The PCA wasn't in his chart, since he was pre-op the day before--that's the only info I had to go on, at the time. I'm also having difficulty prioritizing. I'm trying, but I'm just not GETTING all the info thrown at me. Welcome to nursing, as they say. Because of this, I was placed on a learning contract, because I'm obviously one of those "special needs" students now. But with this latest course failure, it seems to be a moot point. I failed that course for similar reasons. I just wonder if I lack certain abilities to be a successful nurse. I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I've missed some key elements that could mean the life or death of a patient. To be honest, I've never done well in environments where there's multiple demands thrown at you at once. One reason I only lasted as a waiter one month. In any case, I'm going to have to transfer to another nursing school. That much is certain. I just wonder if, based on this, if I should continue with nursing, or seek out another program where I can focus on one patient at a time, such as physical therapy or counseling. Thoughts, please.