Scared about nursing

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi. Im just wondering if anyone else was scared/nervous about becoming a nurse? I really really want to , I love helping people, always have and I would really love to become a psychiatric nurse but I am just so nervous that I will screw up. Any suggestions on how to overcome these "jitters"

Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

Welll, I can certainly tell you it's perfectly normal to be nervous. I started school last year and put it off for soooo many years cos I was too nervous...what if, what if....

Once you get going with it and get into the routine you will certainly build confidence in your skills. If it's always what you've wanted, you certainly should give it a go....then how will you ever know you're going to make a most wonderful nurse! And the instructors will be along with you every step of the way in the beginning. Good luck...you can do it! :)

I am so glad I am not the only one who is stress about up coming school. :uhoh21: When I found out I got in I was so excited. But as the start of the program approaches I feel more and more stressed out. I am afraid that I won't know what the teacher is talking about in class while every one else does. Or that I might injury a patient. All kinds of thing s run through my head on a daily basis. No one understands why I am so stressed out. So ya I am in the same boat as you. :imbar

I think almost everyone is scared to start nursing. I am starting my second semester of clinical rotation this fall and last semester when it was our first day at clinical I seriously thought I was going to vomit. Our whole group pretty much felt like that. Yes, it is stressful and you feel like you don't know what you're doing, but by the end of the semester I loved the high I got coming home from my clinical days. All the work you've done in prereq's and its like all the sudden you know why you've been working so hard. Even the mundane tasks of Nursing I like bed baths, bedpan duty etc. and you can already see how a caring presence makes a difference.

Go for it!!!

I think that being nervous is perfectly normal! I certainly hope so, since I've felt nervously queasy for the past month and I don't start my ADN program until Aug 23... :chair:

Amy

Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

I cant wait to go back to school 8/24. Will be in my 2nd yr of 3-yr program. Funny when I look back at myself this time last year I was nervous and writing the same thing on this website about how nervous I was starting school. You'll be OK! :)

You'll be OK! :)

Suzy,

It's nice to hear reassurance from more experienced students! I don't know about everyone else, but I think a big part of my anxiety stems from the fact that I've known I was admitted since May 17 and the wait is KILLING me. My mind has had wayyyy too much time to think of every possible negative scenario. :D If I were in school already I don't think I'd have time to get myself worked up. ;) Anyone else feel this way?

Amy

Specializes in Med-Surg.

I think we're all scared! Actually, that's why this site is so great, just knowing that so many people feel the same way I do has really alleviated a lot of my anxiety (I'm sure it will come back raging tho as we get closer to my start date, but for now: I Feel Good!)

Re feeling unsure if you can handle nursing: I just remind myself of times in the past when I felt the same way -- when I started CNA class or when I started A & P or when I started Chem or when I started a new job or when I had a baby... you get the idea -- and everything ended up being fine. You're a lot more capable than your fears give you credit for!

We'll all just take a deep breath (knowing that even tho no one else in our class looks as terrified as we feel, we know that they really are!), dive in, and take it one day at a time!

i'm about to start my second and final year of nursing school, and i'm still scared. i just finished my rotation in icu and er, and it made me feel better by talking to my preceptors and finding out that they, too, were just as nervous in school and just starting out. i feel better and better about it as my classes and clinicals go by, but i think each and every person comes into his or her own in time. just trust in yourself.

Have you read "I Always Faint When I See a Syringe: Nurse Student Tales", it is a funny book about nursing students.

The title came from a case where there was a real good nursing student except she always faint since she was a little girl when she see a syringe. It was touching as the instructor worked with her until she get pass the fear.

-Dan

Specializes in Emergency Dept, M/S.

I am totally excited, and totally petrified to start nursing. Mostly, I'm afraid of failing at school, or if I pass, making huge errors. But I keep trying to remind myself that thousands and thousands of people actually DO this, and do it well. So I should be able to also.

But nervous - OH YES!!!

I can totally understand how you feel. I know that I so excited :D to finally be starting & terrified at the same time :chair:.

I think that one thing we all need to keep in mind is this is a learning process. We are not supposed to know everything right away & we also are not expected to never make a mistake. We're gonna mess up & we're gonna learn from those mistakes. I'm sure it will be difficult & frustrating at times, but in the end we will learn to become skilled at what we do.

Now If I can only remember this advice to calm my own jitters.

~Alison

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