Senior Nursing Student Struggles

[j3ssa*mar!e]

Hello,

Im 23 and a senior nursing student. It's been a very.....VERY long ride. I have never had this many emotions, stresses, frustrations, insecurities, second-guessing of myself, angry feelings, hopeless feelings, physical hardships, feelings of stupiditity. The list goes on...lets just say that nursing school is getting the best of me. It has been physically and, more so, emotionally draining for me. I graduate in June, have 2 weeks left in this term, with two terms to go. I just hope, pray and wish i will walk across the stage...although at times I dont see that for myself. ANYWAY, my instructors, especially my clinical instructor this term has been extremely hard on me and has a bad attitude and negative way of addressing me while in clinical. this is very discouraging and shes been complaining about my skill level, says im behind where i should be and basiically says she feels that i dont have a clue what im doing. so this put me on probation for the first time. BTW, being probaiton doesnt "help" me it makes me even MORE stressed out. After the last down poor of negative things she told my advisor about me I decided I was done. it was last thurday. I had it set in my mind I was done and turining in my hospital badges on Monday morn before class. I did not study for the monday test or prepare for the next week. I was done. However, sunday night I found myself not being able to sleep...my cousin had given me her piece of mind the night before and was doing everything inside of her to convince me to not quit..i disagreed. My step-dad had been gone on a hunting trip and he has been my main support and encouragement, he believes in me and wants this so badly for me, he even has payed my car payemnt for the last year and a half because he believes in me. all i could think about all night was explaining my quitting to my dad. So i ended up attending class this week and decided not to quit. (I did better on my skills this week per my clinincal instructor...)

Recently we were given 2 patients to care for and when im in clinical I feel an overwhelming feeling of stress and disorganization. theres just too much to do in so little time. I feel like I cant do it, i feel like having a person's life on the line is not something i want to be responsible. it freaks me out quite frankly. I do love ppl and love helping them but i feel like hospital work is too choatic for me and would like to work in a more low key environment. I went into nursing knowing that there is an abundance of opportunities out there with a nursing degree and many different aspects of nursing to choose from. It seems as though I have to become an expert in the hospital first, this is where ill most likely be put for my practimun starting in April. I just dont know if i can do it..... i dont know. i guess im just wondering if other students or graduates have felt hopeless and have found ways to pull through it. I would love to hear your stories and your tips on getting through it.

[Somewherenear]

Hey,

nursing school is a long bumpy road... I'm sorry for your negative experiences with your instructor... an instructor's attitude can make or break a clinical rotation for a student.

As a third year student who has also had my fair share (and then some) of struggles in the clinical setting, some tips I have to offer you:

- practice, practice practice! Set aside an hour or two to go to the lab and practice whatever skills you weren't proficient in (as per instructor feedback). for example - packing dressings - spend an hour doing them, go over the steps you messed up with the lab coordinator and bam, the next time you're doing a dressing - you'll do it like it is nobody's business...

- IV meds - practice them - go over the steps in your head... practice things like the procedure - what math do you need to do, what side effects do you need ot watch for... simulate them in your head, or even go to lab to practice.

Another tip is to stay organized - stay on top of things... have a systematic way of caring for all of your patients. For example, you get on the shift at 7AM - instead of spending 45 minutes with 1 patient doing a bed bath and assessment or whatever... and then realizing it's nearly 8 and your other patient is snoozing away. Start at 7AM check on all of your patients, wake them up, introduce yourself, get a baseline set of vitals for your shift, get accuchecks as needed, and coordinate to do one bed bath before breakfast, and the bed bath for the second patient after breakfast... then by 10 AM you can go for your break, come back at 10:45ish, do your assessments on your patients, your charting, administer meds or do wound care as per permission from instructor...

I find that if you go to each patient and do the same thing for them... like vitals on all patients first, then breakfast, then bedbaths... it keeps you up to date... you won't have concerns like "oh sh!t it's nearly 9 and my patient who is a diabetic hasn't had her accucheck done"

third tip - carry a notepad with you... when you get report... jot down key points

fourth tip - sleep and rest,sleep and rest before clinical... eat a good meal beforehand.

fifth tip - unconditional positive regard for everyone - the nurses, your isntructor, your patients... throw away your personal feelings towards the person and really work at developing a therapeutic relationship. if your instructor chews you up for a slip up - admit to the slip up, offer ways you can improve, ask for her guidance on how should rectify the situation... and let her know that you will sincerly put in a positive effort to take what she said and apply it.

Wishing you the best of luck!

As for your question about feeling hopeless - oh God yes... haha, in first year alone, I wanted to quit b/c I couldn't handle the readings and papers... then in clinical, I had never experienced patient care, so I wanted to quit b/c I didn't know how to put an attends on a patient or how to make a bed with a patient still in it... I've wanted to quit and I've cried over things that I look back on now and laugh about... that's how life is... I sincerly hope my tips above can give you some positive insight on how to deal with clinical.... if you're having trouble with the theory and academic classes my best piece of advice for you on that is to just set a schedule and keep up witht eh readings and attend lectures... even if you dont have the time to study hours on attend, the readings and lectures will acclerate your learning process.

[j3ssa*mar!e]

Thanks so much for your tips, i really appreciate them!! :) One of my plans is to make a list of skills that i need to work on and go in the lab and practice them...even over xmas break...boo!

I wish i could fast forward my life 2 years and be a skilled nurse and have an organized routine and know what im doing all the time! but after reading your post i hope i can look back and laugh about the things i cried about too (crying is becoming way too frequent for me lately!).

Organization is the other main thing I am goingto focus on! thanks agian for all your tips!!

[TRR8021]

I know how you feel, OP. I'm a senior too and my clinical instructor has made me feel incompetent at times too! At first it bothered me a lot, but I took heed to her critique and just worked on the things she told me to work on. I think you'll do just fine. You've made it this far! :)

Somewherenear has some good tips too! I usually go in, do vitals and a quick assessment on everyone. We don't have to do a full head to toe, but I'll do vitals, listen to the lungs and belly, palpate the abdomen and quickly look at the IV site to make sure it hasn't infiltrated.

[Sanuk]

I can remember when they increased our load from one patient to two thinking "how can I possibly get all this done?" It's a normal anxiety to have when you are getting ready to graduate and be responsible for your own practice. Give it time, and definitely don't quit one semester away from graduation! Worst case scenario, you graduate, get licensed and don't like it. Like you said, there are other options with a nursing degree - you don't have to work in the hospital or even doing patient care. Best of luck to you. Don't let this instructor derail you.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

"... then by 10 am you can go for your break, come back at 10:45ish"

excuse me? a forty-five minute break? seriously?