Scared I'm one of those students.

I'm a semester away from graduation, and this is really the first semester that I've felt like everything has come together. Fundamentals really does feel disjointed between class and clinical; it's once you get more in depth in med-surg that I think you start to see the big picture and piece it all together. Congrats on your A's so far - keep up the hard work and before you know it, it'll all fall together into the big picture :)

It will all come together for you. One other thing to remember, you will not remember all of the content by the time you secure your first nursing position. That is why hospitals have longer orientation times for new grads. My comment should not suggest that you don’t need to commit the material to memory. All I am saying is that there will be times when you begin working as a nurse when you say to yourself, “I remember hearing about this medication in my Pharm class, but I cannot remember what it is for.” Hospitals provide a lot of resources for nurses.

Fundamentals is just that…the basics. When you begin taking your Med/Surg courses, it will begin to come together. You will begin making the connections between medications, labs, expected assessment findings, and the patient’s pathologies. Take a deep breath; pat yourself on the back for doing an outstanding job thus far, and welcome the next step of your academic nursing career.

You're not the first person to feel that way. You're in 1st semester. Nobody expects you to be able fly immediately after being hatched. There's a whole process you must go through before you're even ready to flap your wings! As time, more education, and clinical experience is gained, you'll start putting things together that just don't seem all that well connected now. They're not supposed to be! Once you graduate, it'll take some more time to further solidify what you know and have learned and start connecting more and more dots.

I've been through that process too... just not in nursing. As a result, I know where I really am at in the whole process. In school, I've just reached the point where I'm standing on the side of the nest, looking out, and working on moving the wings around. (Gotta build some strength and ROM... AKA knowledge!) From here, I can see where I need to go and how to get there, but I'm also aware that I'm not quite ready for it yet. Just a couple years ago, I was just hatched, all I could see was the mama bird (instructors) and the nest walls...

Yes, I'm using a bird's nest analogy, but it's pretty apt. You're just starting out and you've got a ways to go. Your instructors know where you are in the process, what you should be learning and doing. They're building the foundation for you to be able to work through problems, but doing it takes time, and every step along the way builds upon it.

One day, you'll just have your own "light bulb" moment and everything will just come together for you. This happens because your mind has been filled with enough information that you've processed and all the fundamental dots just suddenly connect and you just understand what you didn't before. You can't schedule that moment. It's very individual for everyone. I've had some mini "eureka!" moments throughout my time in school, but I suspect that the big bulb will turn on right around the middle of next semester, based on past experience and knowing what's coming up.

I felt the same way my first semester. I can really relate. I currently have a few weeks left in my second semester and I can tell you, things get better. That is not to say that it is easy or that I am never nervous or that I don't have A LOT left to learn. But just these past few weeks, I am starting to understand more how it all goes together. It is happening slowly, but just enough so that I have some hope for myself, lol. At the end of last semester, I was quite worried about how this semester would go. But I've done okay and I'm learning and growing. *deep breath* Give your self time. Be patient with yourself. Each semester will bring you more knowledge and a little more confidence, even if you can't imagine it now. I say this as a student just one semester ahead of you who is generally a worrier and not as self-confident as I'd like to be. It really does get better. Good luck and write again about this toward the end of your second semester. I'll be curious to know how you feel then.

Keep steppin'

Just chill out. Apparently you get it so chill. After 10 years as a nurse you'll look back at all the anxiety and laugh. Youll be fine. On your way to becoming a great nurse.

I feel the same way. It is so much to learn and I wonder where in the world I will store all this information for the long term! But I just think back to where I was when I first walked in that classroom/hospital clinical. That was only 2.5 months ago! Clueless then, still feeling clueless now, but I know it will get better.