Seriously Considering Quitting

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Hi Everyone,

I am in my second semester of nursing school and I am seriously thinking about throwing in the towel.

This semester our instructors expect us to be able to handle two patients, doing total care. I still have only had one patient at a time so far, and I am bewildered with that just one. By the time we finish meeting with our instructor and getting report, I have 30 min to get in my assessment, do vitals, do ADLs, and then document everything. I am feeling like I can barely handle one patient, let alone two.

I keep telling myself I will get better with experience, and I keep reminding myself why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place, but I still find myself so stressed before, during, and after clinicals that I can't eat or sleep. It's starting to really impact my studying as well.

I would really appreciate any advice on anything (time management, prep sheets, how to assess quickly, how to document, seriously I mean anything).

Thank you all very much :)

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Specializes in Public Health.

i havent started NS yet but as a CNA i always wondered why they start student nurses with only one or three patients because real life is much more difficult...i digress...just keep in mind when you're out in the workforce you wont be required to do all those things....RNs typically dont do ANY adl's and your charting and assessments can wait. JMO

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Specializes in ER.

Why do you only have half an hour? Aren't y'all there all day? Prioritize assessment (vitals are part of this), then med passes if you're doing them, then ADL's (I assume you mean helping pt to bathe or toilet?), then charting (although if possible do this while you're doing the rest). You will get faster, don't worry.

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Why do you only have half an hour? Aren't y'all there all day? Prioritize assessment (vitals are part of this), then med passes if you're doing them, then ADL's (I assume you mean helping pt to bathe or toilet?), then charting (although if possible do this while you're doing the rest). You will get faster, don't worry.

Our assessments have to be done and charted by 0900. By the time all of us finish going over our pt's background and our priorities with the instructor, it's 0830. I've been practicing my head to toe assessments, but I just feel overwhelmed and then I get anxious when I think about taking on two pts.

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That seems odd. When you have two patients, I usually do my vitals and assessment on one, bring their meds, then move on to the next. Usually I'll chart vitals and pain right away, then document a more detailed assessment later. ADL's can wait. Your clinical seems pretty strict.

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Our assessments have to be done and charted by 0900. By the time all of us finish going over our pt's background and our priorities with the instructor, it's 0830. I've been practicing my head to toe assessments, but I just feel overwhelmed and then I get anxious when I think about taking on two pts.

Hi jackometer,

Please keep in mind that this is not how things operate in the working world. Nurses do not have to be grilled until 0830 then complete assessments by 0900. Are you passing your theory and clinicals? There will always be an element of fear in nursing school that is quite unlike any stress most nursing students have felt in their academic life. If you are indeed passing your theory and clinicals, please hang in there. Accept that there is a huge gulf between being a student and a nurse, clinicals will always be a little scary BUT have hope that you can survive and thrive in the real world.:yeah:

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i havent started NS yet but as a CNA i always wondered why they start student nurses with only one or three patients because real life is much more difficult...i digress...just keep in mind when you're out in the workforce you wont be required to do all those things....RNs typically dont do ANY adl's and your charting and assessments can wait. JMO

Students have to start somewhere. It would be unreasonable to expect a student to start with three patients right away, just as it would be unreasonable to hand you three total care patients on your first clinical day as a student CNA. The goal is to progress students to a full load by the end of nursing school.

Charting can wait but assessments are top priority. There is very little you can do prudently without first taking a look at your patient, whether it is give food, get out of bed, give meds or call the doctor.

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It will get much better very quickly! After a couple weeks of having multiple patients, you start to get used to it. Plus, you're basically halfway through with nursing school...everyone sing: "woa-oh, we're halfway there!"

Even as a nursing student though, I wouldn't ever let an assessment "wait". If you don't assess as soon as you take report, how do you know report was correct, how do you know when your patient is going south, how do you know they're even alive? If nothing else, go in the room and just give them a quick once-over before waiting around for the instructor. Once you take report, you take responsibility.

If you're worried, you're on the right foot. If you weren't worried, you'd probably be forgetting something. Keep your head up!

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Specializes in Public Health.

whoa whoa....wolves need to back off...:p

i just meant that normally you dont only have 30 minutes to do that stuff. Assessments and charting must be done obviously but in the real world nobody is gonna be clocking you. I know you must start somewhere but i can only imagine how hard it must be if you start working and have 15-30 patients after only ever having 3 patients at the most.

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Wolves? Do i smell that bad? Darn 24-hour deodorant must have quit last night! :D

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Specializes in Public Health.

lol no worries I've smelt and dealt with worse haha

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I know you must start somewhere but i can only imagine how hard it must be if you start working and have 15-30 patients after only ever having 3 patients at the most.

There's a huge difference between work load and nurse-patient ratios in acute care and long term care.

In LTC, nurses do not assess and perform procedures on each and every patient on a daily basis. They have chronic health conditions but have no illnesses that are expected to decline suddenly like the patients in acute care do. Depending on your state and facility, nurses in acute care have 5 to 8 patients in medical-surgical units, 3-4 in step-down and 1 or 2 in intensive care. The skills student nurses learn in their progression towards full load of acutely ill patients are also apply to caring for 15-30 stable patients in a LTC facility.

Bottom line is the number of patients do not fully reflect the nature of the work load. The acuity and setting matter too.

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