Scared to Graduate!

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Why would I be scared to graduate? I think its because I don't feel competent. In a few weeks time I will be graduating as a Div 2 nurse (Enrolled nurse) with medication endorsement, but I really don't feel I know enough to be confident to go and practice what we've learned in a work situation. Yes, I know it takes time, and you keep learning as you go along, true, but still I feel (as do most of my class) that we're not graduating confident enough.

One of our teachers likes to use 'scare tactics' with us all the time, and sure as anything succeeds in putting fear into us all - no one in our class excluded (we a class with just below 20 students). For a lot of the time, our teachers muck us around, shuffle classes, teachers don't turn up or sessions get changed, classrooms get double-booked, or we're dumped with 'self-directed research' mostly on topics about which we know nothing or get no help with. They're so so unorganized (that's not an exaggeration it really really is true). We still have heaps of 'medications' to learn and don't think we're going to get past the final exam in a few weeks.

Its not that I'm a complainer or that I'm a no-good student - I mostly get high distinctions for our tests, assignments, and exams, even got 100% for a few exams. Does anyone else feel the same a few weeks before graduating? Most of our class doesn't want to go out there and start working, even though we're all very keen to be nurses and really loved the nursing environment when on placements. However, we feel that our teachers are leaving a lot of things to the very end and are now rushing us through a heap of very important (in our minds) subjects and topics. They've left it all too late to cram everything in the last few weeks - that's how it feels to us. Some are at the point of a nervous breakdown almost.

I guess it doesn't help that three out of our four main teachers aren't very supportive of their students and don't show a great interest in us as individual students learning to be nurses. An example would be that of my classmates was "crushed" on placement because both a teacher (the mean one) and a clinical nurse colleague tried to 'eat their young' (have you heard the saying 'Nurses eat their young'? - if they see a very promising student they squash them under their thumb real hard, one of our other teachers told us that what happens a lot out there although she said she doesn't agree with it or treat her students like that, and she really doesn't, because she's very helpful). They really tried to do in our classmate by accusing them of serious things that we know didn't happen because we were there. Anyway, enough complaining about that, overall we've had a lot of negatives lately and I guess we're probably just feeling down about it all - right at the end. Regardless of how stressed teachers must be (and I can understand their stress somewhat), that doesn't mean they have to 'eat their young' otherwise, why be a nursing teacher? Go lousy teachers another job!

Any suggestions and encouragement would be greatly appreciated. I want to hear about other's experiences with these sort of things too. Surely it can't just be us.... Like I said, we're scarred stiff to go and give medications or look after complex-care patients. We're at the end of our course in a few weeks and haven't covered topics like venepuncture, nasogastric tubes, catheterization, PEG feeds, ECG's, and a lot of other complex care nursing conditions, medications, etc etc. How come? Are all these usually left until six weeks before graduating? When will we get time to practice these, we only have two more weeks placement! And that's meant to focus on medication administration.... Also we've been given an assignment about a patient who's clinically dead anyway, and well-and-truly unstable - Div 2's aren't meant to care for unstable patients, are they??? The patient in the essay scenario is virtually dead and has a heap of complex things happening which we haven't even covered in our classes yet!

Please give suggestions if you can!!!

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Why would I be scared to graduate? I think its because I don't feel competent. In a few weeks time I will be graduating as a Div 2 nurse (Enrolled nurse) with medication endorsement, but I really don't feel I know enough to be confident to go and practice what we've learned in a work situation. Yes, I know it takes time, and you keep learning as you go along, true, but still I feel (as do most of my class) that we're not graduating confident enough.

One of our teachers likes to use 'scare tactics' with us all the time, and sure as anything succeeds in putting fear into us all - no one in our class excluded (we a class with just below 20 students). For a lot of the time, our teachers muck us around, shuffle classes, teachers don't turn up or sessions get changed, classrooms get double-booked, or we're dumped with 'self-directed research' mostly on topics about which we know nothing or get no help with. They're so so unorganized (that's not an exaggeration it really really is true). We still have heaps of 'medications' to learn and don't think we're going to get past the final exam in a few weeks.

Its not that I'm a complainer or that I'm a no-good student - I mostly get high distinctions for our tests, assignments, and exams, even got 100% for a few exams. Does anyone else feel the same a few weeks before graduating? Most of our class doesn't want to go out there and start working, even though we're all very keen to be nurses and really loved the nursing environment when on placements. However, we feel that our teachers are leaving a lot of things to the very end and are now rushing us through a heap of very important (in our minds) subjects and topics. They've left it all too late to cram everything in the last few weeks - that's how it feels to us. Some are at the point of a nervous breakdown almost.

I guess it doesn't help that three out of our four main teachers aren't very supportive of their students and don't show a great interest in us as individual students learning to be nurses. An example would be that of my classmates was "crushed" on placement because both a teacher (the mean one) and a clinical nurse colleague tried to 'eat their young' (have you heard the saying 'Nurses eat their young'? - if they see a very promising student they squash them under their thumb real hard, one of our other teachers told us that what happens a lot out there although she said she doesn't agree with it or treat her students like that, and she really doesn't, because she's very helpful). They really tried to do in our classmate by accusing them of serious things that we know didn't happen because we were there. Anyway, enough complaining about that, overall we've had a lot of negatives lately and I guess we're probably just feeling down about it all - right at the end. Regardless of how stressed teachers must be (and I can understand their stress somewhat), that doesn't mean they have to 'eat their young' otherwise, why be a nursing teacher? Go lousy teachers another job!

Any suggestions and encouragement would be greatly appreciated. I want to hear about other's experiences with these sort of things too. Surely it can't just be us.... Like I said, we're scarred stiff to go and give medications or look after complex-care patients. We're at the end of our course in a few weeks and haven't covered topics like venepuncture, nasogastric tubes, catheterization, PEG feeds, ECG's, and a lot of other complex care nursing conditions, medications, etc etc. How come? Are all these usually left until six weeks before graduating? When will we get time to practice these, we only have two more weeks placement! And that's meant to focus on medication administration.... Also we've been given an assignment about a patient who's clinically dead anyway, and well-and-truly unstable - Div 2's aren't meant to care for unstable patients, are they??? The patient in the essay scenario is virtually dead and has a heap of complex things happening which we haven't even covered in our classes yet!

Please give suggestions if you can!!!

It was like that when I graduated with my LPN, I felt like an idiot starting out and still do. It won't be fun for you but you learn as you go along. :cry:

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I felt ill prepared before we started preceptorship. That 3 weeks doing 12 hour shifts in a hospital assigned to a nurse really brought it all together. By the end I felt sooooo much more confident with the skills and med administration. Can't wait to get into a job. I ask about orientation during the interview process. My top choice has a 3 week general classroom, then 6-8 week unit specific with some classroom. That should make me much more comfortable with the job!

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Wow, wish here they did something like that - sounds great! I reckon it would make us all a lot more confident as newies on the job... Guess with time, it'll all come together, but the future still looks scary when you're still a student when you know you could have got better teachers than you are stuck with! Not too sure if or not I'll use any of them as references when I finally do go for a job in a few months time.... Anyway, we'll have to put up with all the stress a bit longer I suppose :cry:

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Specializes in Allergy and Immunology.

I know exactly what you mean, I just went to my pinning yesterday! And I was telling my husband afterward, that I dont feel as confident as I thought I would either. I graduate tomorrow :eek:. I dont have a job lined up yet. I want to take my boards and get that out of the way. Im not in any rush. I guess feeling confident will come with time and after you pass the boards, b/c that means you do have what it takes. I just keep trying to remeber that this is how it feels when I start a new job and I feel like I have no idea what im doing. So I just have to tell my self I just spent two years training for this job, I can do this! So Congrats on making it thus far. We can do it!:yeah:

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

A lot will come with confidence once you start working and doing stuff. Hopefully your place of work will have some sort of new grad program. If you come across something that you don't know don't be afraid to ask for help or guidance. Even after nursing 20 years you will come across something new and challenging (that is why I love nursing, it is always moving )

Good luck

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I am 4 weeks from graduation and I feel the same way. I'm scared I dont know enough to be an effective nurse and that I may not know what to do in a particular situation. I have worked my rear off , just like you getting great grades and being at the top of my class. There are some skills I have only practiced in the lab and not in a clinical setting. It's overwhelming to realize that in a few short weeks my life as a nurse begins. All the "what if's" can drive you crazy if you let them. My best advice is to realize how far you have come, have confidence in yourself and your intelligence. Focus on what you do know, and take it as it comes. I have had conversations with my instructors about feeling this way and they tell me that it is a good sign, it means I care about being a good nurse and that they would be worried if I wasnt nervous. So I'm passing that on to you. Your not alone just about everyone I go to school with says they feel unprepared. I suppose after the fundamentals are learned the rest comes with experience. Good Luck:up:

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Thankyou all for your replies and encouragement. My dad says to just keep going and that I'll do fine, but being the one to graduate isn't so fun as you think when you start (I've come to realize that!). Anyway, as you say, keep going and think about the positives, not the scary side, keep updating your knowledge and skills and always ask questions, I suppose.... Thanks so much...

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