Scared Student

[acbamy55]

Hi everyone,

I need a little bit of advice here. I am a second year nursing student in a bachelor's program. I have always been a successful student and I'm never afraid of a little (or a lot) of hard work. I am a nurturing person with good leadership skills and a passion for helping others, and I always thought I'd make a good nurse.

Fast forward two years into my degree, and I am holding on for dear life. To sum it all up, here's a list of what's going for me, and what isn't (aka why I may not be a great nurse).

The good:

- I am very hardworking

- I am compassionate and caring

- I love health and am interested in science

- I like the thought of being able to help people as a part of my job

- I like the salary, job security, possible benefits, and future advancement of nursing

The bad:

- I hate charting and care plans. Everything about it!

- I am horrible with critical thinking. I am a very black or white person, so I struggle with this.

- I am deeply affected by stress and negative situations. I do not handle severely sick people or death well at all. I am very sensitive.

- I have a hard time physically being on my feet for more than an 8 hour shift.

- I tend to freeze and panic in lab and clinical situations, even if there is nothing "bad" happening. Could be as simple as inserting a catheter or giving a bed bath to a grumpy pt. I have a tendency to be very nervous and anxious, more so than my other inexperienced peers.

- There are a lot of aspects about nursing that frighten me, from being forced to work holidays while my family is having fun without me to being put on a floor that I hate because I lack experience. The long hours and mandatory overtime make me shy away from the job, as well as the horrible things that could happen, like mixing up meds and harming a pt or forgetting something else important.

As you can see, I'm pretty scared to become a nurse. I cry pretty much nightly, and I would like to think I'm usually a tough person. I've never been this depressed in my life until I started nursing school.

Any advice? Should I tough it out and pray it gets better, or switch to something I feel more confident and passionate about? Life is too short to do something you dread, right?

Thanks everyone!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to general nursing student

[KThurmond]

Maybe medical assisting would be a better career choice for you. What made you choose nursing?

[acbamy55]

I chose nursing because I love helping people. Whenever I have a sick friend or family member, they always come to me for advice. I have the "personality of a nurse" (as some have told me), but certain aspects of the job don't really appeal to me. I'm on the fence between sticking with it and hopefully finding a specific area I can tolerate or even enjoy, or switching gears completely and finding something else in healthcare that is a little different.

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

I chose nursing because I love helping people. Whenever I have a sick friend or family member, they always come to me for advice. I have the "personality of a nurse" (as some have told me), but certain aspects of the job don't really appeal to me. I'm on the fence between sticking with it and hopefully finding a specific area I can tolerate or even enjoy, or switching gears completely and finding something else in healthcare that is a little different.

To get the plum jobs with the plum hours, you usually have to have bedside experience. Nursing isn't just hand holding and caring. Its charting and dealing with people. See a career counselor, as you may want to consider a different career

[KThurmond]

I didn't mean that in a bad way. Like above ^, it takes experience to get to choose jobs. You can do medical assisting, social worker, all kinds of things. My career services counselor goes over options for everybody in learning support. Gordon has a health promotion degree that looked interesting. Maybe check out those kind of options. There are many ways to help people.

But it's your choice. Only you know what you will be happy doing

[StudentAxel]

Stick it out. Their are TONS of different paths you can go down in Nursing!

[Frankie.L]

Yup I completely agree with you. Acbamy55 please see a career counselor ASAP! Getting replies over here will simply confuse you further. Seek help from a professional and not from randoms on the internet ;p

[acbamy55]

Thanks everyone! I do agree with what everyone has said, but I also agree that I should really see a career counselor. My university is a little hard to seek help at, but I can search for the right person. I have such a hard time making decisions, especially about huge things like a future career, so seeking professional help is probably best. Thanks again!

[FutureNurse001]

Nursing has a lot of options, but even if you do get a nursing degree you don't necessarily have to get a job as a nurse. I know a nurse that does home care, maybe you could look into that as a possibility, it is a lot slower paced and one-on-one.