RN School is tough !!

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello Everyone. Now I am 6 weeks into RN classes. I am forced to be succesful at: clinicals, lecture and labs. The other students are all nervous, like me, and it's tense. Often I feel sad myself because no one is smiling enough. Labs are tough and they expect us to know how to give an injection on the first or second try. People are so nervous I don't know if they would let me do them. The lectures are hard, followed by bigger and bigger waves of required reading from super-thick books. It's like an airport because everyone has those portable bookbags on wheels things. The meds are killer. There are so many meds and so much to know about meds, its overwhelming. Clinicals are two days a week at adult care facility which is not as acute as med-surg cna work I do. No one knows me, and I get lonely and feel lonely for the people who live there. My first PT died, and my second didn't want any visitors after a few hours. Trying to watch all the videos are hard...did i mention that. Instruction videos on Lab skills....there is about 5-6 hours worth of video Lab. Grasping the concept of nursing diagnosis and planning and relating it to a medical diagnosis...these are huge concepts my brain is stretching wide and hard for. And the tests so far are all tricky theory questions which forces you to have to read all the text and remember it for specifics.

My nutrition has dimished because my exercise has went out the window. I'm lucky to have time to exercise once a week, compared to the 5 times a week before I started nursing school. I don't have enough time to cook for myself, and I don't have the desire to take the time to eat right. I still have a 24 hour a week job at the hospital, but you can't study on a med-surg floor as a cna. Work is the most relaxed time because everyone there is supportive of me so much. If only they knew how tough going to nursing school is. :-) I have no more free time for myself...some days are very long.

RN school is no walk in the park, and it downright changes your life.

(Send me an angel, right now!)

Howdy Mario. Go ahead and get yourself an NCLEX-PN for this year. I am not sure what your curriculum is teaching you this quarter, but if your program is anything like mine, then it will be of great help in winter as a study guide for your classes. It is neat. It is in outline form and is short and sweet, however it may not present all of the material necessary. For me, it also got me used to the type of questions that we were to be tested on. I read my N-CLEX for all subject material and test myself before a test. If I miss any, I know what I need to restudy.

Honestly, though...I graduate in June and will be ready to join the workforce...and I have to say that I haven't really worried too much about taking the exam. Like some other posters have said, focus on the present with the goal of learning and understanding the concepts. Enjoy school...I absolutely love it. Good luck, once again.

:) I can remember those days well. They were less than a year ago away. I found that one must take one day at a time. It is almost like the 12 step programs. You can get through what you need to. The study and work load is trying but remember to take a little time for yourself and SO's. Good luck on your classes and just think the ends justify the means. NC_ED_RN

Nursing school is SUPPOSED to be tough. Hang in there. 'If caring was all it took, anyone could be a nurse.'

But we who have been nurses for a time know it is a demanding profession requiring independent thought and critical thinking skills. It takes intelligent and compassionate individuals. One alone won't work...gotta be both there. :)

Hang in Mario...we were ALL there once upon a time. ;)

Originally posted by chinaway

Hi, Mario

Is that so hard?

I am intending to join a nursing course, your words frighten me.

Anyhow, the god will pay you back as you has been working so hard.

God bless you.

chinaway.

I make a big deal about it being hard, but it is certainly worthwhile and you can do it. Are you really in the people's republic of china? I would like to live in china because it sounds exciting, and Mao Tzse Tung is a person I agree with after I read things he wrote. I'm sorry. Mao bless you :-) :kiss 6948345 141597727 159010092

You have a wonderful support system here:D

Having lived though it, as a high school drop out, going back in my 20's as a wife and mom of 3, started nursing classes the day after my premie son came home.

I've learned if you want ANYTHING.... you can do it!!!

Will you do it making A's???.... If you have A's and have only memorized... will the info be in there later?...

If you study concept and have an understanding of the how and why and can apply it but only grade a C is that really so bad? Maybe short term A's are the bomb with all that acamemic pressure.... but in the real world understanding how and why is what matters.

your drugs,,,,, all those ending with ils... lisinopril, captopril... ace inhibitors

learn the classes, how they act and apply it from there.....

If you are a time planner freak (like me)... pencil in YOU time and stick to it ... If you aren't healthy, how can you learn.... your physical and mental health is now and throughout your RN career must be the priority..

I kept the school catalog of required courses and CELEBRATED each end of semester placing a thick black line through each course I completed. I had to focus semester to semester, don't look at only six weeks in.... look at HALF way through a WHOLE semester..... I still have that catalog today,(8 years later) it's crumpled and worn from pulling it out so many times and looking at how far I'd come... and how closer I was getting.

we're rooting for ya!!!

Nursing school has made a time planner phreak out of me too nimbex :-(

Specializes in critical care, med/surg.

Hey, I know where you are coming from!!! I am also in a RN program now, but my school has a ladder program(you become an LPN in the first year), so we have all been used to the stuff that goes on because we've been doing it for the past year:D !!! The best advice that I have for you is to take some time out for yourself...if you don't you'll have a hard time making it work. There are a few of us that meet after class for 2-3hours to review content, and before tests, we meet at 6:45 am (our med-surg class is at 8:30) for breakfast and test review, and it really helps..............keep your head up........everyone gets discouraged but it's worth it in the long run.

I found that nursing school was a lot easier to handle if I could distance myself from nursing from time to time. Many of us worked in nursing while in nursing school. That may or may not be a good thing, the pay and experience are usually pretty good, but you just never get away from nursing. I was raising 2 wonder little daughters at the time I was in school, and even though my husband was and is wonderful, they still needed me. so when you are away from school, with family or friends, focus on the time you have to be with them, school is important, but it is not the most important thing in you life every minute of every day.

The best thing I ever did and my most valuable piece of advice is to never stop reading for pleasure while you are in school, even just a few minutes a day. It helps you keep you balance

I too am a student working on my RN. I am a LPN who finally went back to school. LPN school was a breeze, but RN school is rough. Thank The Lord, I got most of my prerequisites and RN classes out of the way before I started the program. I am still taking 16 credits this semester and at least 12 next semester, then GRADUATION!!!!! and I work full time. I haven't had a life for 3 years, but I will reap the rewards when I am done. I just heard about a hospital near here that starts RN's at a good starting salary. I can handle that. That is incentive to get through school. I can finally work only 1 job and it will be doing something I choose instead of being so limited as I am being a LPN, and not getting paid well for my knowledge. At my last job, we hired a RN for a lot more money than I was getting, then I had to teach her how to write care plans and do the MDS', make up the schedule, documentation on wound care, infection control log etc.... Not fair. Hang in ther. It doesn't get easier, but time gets shorter. :) :rolleyes:

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