Should I quit nursing school

[MilwaukeeRNstu]

i'm becoming really unhappy and extremely anxious in nursing school (rn) and i'm unsure what to do.

monday we have our last performance test on 2 skills and if we don't do them perfectly we're pretty much out and have to take the class again next semester. every week before we have these performance tests i can't eat, sleep and all i keep thinking about is how i want to quit.

so far, nursing school has not been fun or something i look forward to, more like complete dread. i put so much into actually getting accepted into the program and almost 2 years of pre reqs, and now i want to quit. most all of the nurses who teach or who work on my clinical sites are completely rude and seem really unhappy. i'm really thinking i made a bad decision by choosing nursing.

does it get better? i have 3 more semesters to go and i'm already sick, and i mean physically sick from this. my grades are good when it comes to taking written exams but i lack confidence in my clinical skills and i absolutely hate being critiqued and watched when i'm doing anything clinical (med pass, dressing changes, ect) i shake so bad and dread it when i know it's coming.

i keep thinking, is it really worth all this stress and misery?

[anangelsmommy, ADN, BSN, RN]

I laughed when I read your email because I was there a year ago! Dont give up because someone else has something to prove! A bunch of us were just joking about how we were practically throwing up getting tested on HANDWASHING!!! And I used to be a microbiologist that worked in a sterile facility!! I mean I certainly KNOW about clean technique but there were certain steps to follow with someone watching me every step of the way and I couldnt imagine trying to explain to people that I got thrown out of nursing school for failing HANDWASHING! I do think that if you talk to some nurses or do some job shadowing or just do something to help remind you what it is that got you into wanting to be a nurse in the first place, maybe that will help you not only to stay focused but perhaps if you could practice the skills at home and come up with a routine so that you can focus on something so you can relax and do the same thing when you test, you might not panic so much. I know now I am in my second year lpn to rn and I even still get nervous, even with things I have done but if I am being watched it freaks me out, I was drawing up IV meds and my instructor noticed my hands were shaking - course i am hypoglycemic too and I didnt want to mention cause I dont want to seem weak and I was overdue to eat and I just dont want to share certain things _ i always have a snack in my pocket and usually duck in the linen room but I didnt have time so she noticed me shaking....I wasnt sure how much was nerves, I hate being watched...funny thing is that I have done it before too but it is different being watched. And I want to seem confident but there I was hands a shaking!!

as far as the nastiness, it is funny I hear so much of that...it almost seems as though some nurses get burned out and go into teaching. I know that it is kind of like boot camp but for us it seemed like that more because of the amount of information you had to learn and the time you had to learn it in and take boards etc and you had to be up early and all the work you had to do and it was difficult and most of us had families and little kids and it was really tough.

Try to remember what got you interested in nursing, if there was someone, perhaps you can post a picture somewhere or talk to them more often....I have lots of nurse friends so they sympathize with me and I have a very special reason why I got into nursing, and I have his picture posted right where I can see him whenever I am studying.

Good Luck

angels mommy

[N02ADN]

Hey,

I totally fell ya. I was in your same position last semester. I took this semester off and feel sooooo much beter. Maybe you should take a semester off and really think about if nursing is for you, if it is..then think about what feild you really want to work in when you finish. I did that and realized it was the school i was going to, not nursing in general, and cant wait to go back. if its not for you then dont sweat it. Do what makes you happy, not miserable