Slow and clumsy...Can I pass nursing school?

[nsm1639]

Hello, I'm a second degree student and I eventually want to be an FNP. I have been accepted into a pricey accelerated bsn program but having second thoughts. I already know that the academic side of it will be grueling, but what I am actually more concerned about are the labs and clinicals. I've always had a problem with my motor skills for as long as I can remember. I'm also very uncoordinated. I looked it up and I think I may have dyspraxia or something. I'm clumsy and very slow with any task that uses my body, like tying shoelaces or cutting a slice of cake without making a mess. Some tasks are flat-out impossible for me even you give me all day to do it. I also have a weak grasp and struggle with things like opening a bottle of wine with a wine-opener. I basically feel like a kid when it comes to these. (And many times, kids are better at it than I am!) I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that I have very small hands. I just confirmed last week that they're smaller than the hands of my 10-year-old niece. Due to this, I always avoided jobs that required me to use my motor skills. I cannot imagine myself wrapping up sandwiches under a time constraint, let alone making them. My past jobs include typing in front of a desk in an office or tutoring kids. But I'm not going to be able to avoid a certain task just because I'm not comfortable with it once I'm in nursing school, right? I just had my TB test done a few weeks ago and as I saw the medical assistant effortlessly injecting the needle into my arm, I couldn't help but think to myself "How am I going to become a nurse or even a nurse practitioner, when I struggle with a simple task that even a medical assistant can do so easily?" I know they say that it takes practice, but I think this is just a completely different problem for me.

I also feel like I have poor judgment skills and lack common sense a lot of the times. I heard of a student that failed a clinical because the nurse told her to go get a syringe for insulin injection and she accidentally grabbed one for a regular subcutaneous injection. (I guess she didn't know the difference at that time) When she came back, the nurse looked at it, and failed her on the spot without a warning! Maybe the nurse just happened to be the wicked witch from the west, but anywho, that sounds like a VERY possible scenario to me...

Like I said, my goal is to work as an FNP at a primary care clinic where I see patients 1 on 1, so I probably wouldn't have to be as "quick" as staff RN in a hospital, but I don't know if I would be able to pass nursing school let alone work as an RN before becoming an NP. What should I do? Should I look into a different career?

[Extra Pickles]

WOW, JUST WOW.

THIS IS GOING TO BE THE LAST POST REGARDING THIS THREAD.

Again with the shouting? But ok, you did say this was the last time :)

* She has a bachelors degree and she has been accepted into an accelerated nursing program. IF she's accomplished this much I am certain she can get through the program.

You are certain, are you? Because of your understanding of what the next couple of years entail, because you do the work yourself? No. But there are those of us who DO know what lies ahead (not second-hand, actually DO this work) and recognize where the pitfalls are or may be. It is why those of us with a clue have expressed concern about this career path.

Motor skills? Blah Blah Blah

Repetition is the mother of all skills. If you do something enough times over a given period of time, you will eventually learn it and it becomes an unconscious act. END OF STORY.

Really? And you know based on the OP's statement that she takes considerable time to tie her shoes or make a sandwich that she will be able to pass each clinical assignment in the time period allotted? You know that she will have the opportunity to take considerably longer to everything she needs to do within a specified time, even though most students are moving as fast as they can WITHOUT deficits? You don't, "End of story".

Please stop acting like nursing is ROCKET SCIENCE, because it isn't. It seems like you are a nurse and you want to "hype" your job and make it seem like its the holy grail of major accomplishments.

To be frank, its not easy, but not exactly hard either!

Says the person who has yet to have his very first day as a nursing student. Hopefully you won't be one of those new students who come to the message board freaking out about how he got awesome grades in pre-requisites but is getting dropped from the nursing program. But it happens. A lot. NO, I am not "hyping" anything, I'm laying out a very realistic view of why her physical /motor issues may be a real problem for her, and should be considered carefully. LOL at the "rocket science" comment, of course it isn't but then again you are speaking as though YOU have a clue what she will be facing, and it's evident you do not.

She's gone this far in life , so I completely ENCOURAGE HER to take the NEXT STEP in her Journey.

As do I, as do others. But she askedabout all this, YOU did not. SHE wanted to know what we thought, so we are telling her. You certainly can disagree about her odds from your position of vast experience, but there are others of us who take a different view, from OUR positions (of yes, experience).

FYI* Regarding my case. I applied to more than ONE SCHOOL. If you would have completely read my post on a different thread, which you snooped around to find. You would have realized I have applied to a number of schools but was requesting more information about a certain program.

When I find someone who posts their first one or two or three messages in an abrasive, shouting, immature or even nasty manner, I look at other posts to see if it is only one thread or one topic or if it's a pattern of behavior. Good to know, don't you think? It isn't snooping LOL as you put it all out there and it's so easy to see by merely clicking your name. It's not "rocket science" :)

As for the rest, I don't care if you applied to one nursing school or ten. Totally irrelevant. What I SAID was that although you are posting as though you know exactly what the OP will face (because you write as if you know something about it) I found that you haven't spent a single day in such a program and therefore do NOT know what you are talking about.

If you care to learn something, know this: motor skills matter. Ability to complete simple tasks in a short time frame matters. Ability to react quickly, think something through quickly, perform more complicated skills requiring more motor dexterity DOES matter. Those of us who do this daily (and make it look easy to those who don't) are accustomed to it, but remember that in nursing school it was often extremely challenging.

You are hung up on the book part of things, which makes sense because it's ALL you have done to date. Studying from the books, which is what the OP has done to get her Bachelor degree as well. No one doubts that. BUT this thread is NOT about whether or not she has the academic chops to complete a nursing program (she of course has THAT). It's about the clinical components, so YES I can confidently state that what she has presented here portrays a daunting future as far as nursing is concerned. Possible? Surely. Probable? No.

Good luck to you.

[jin]

Hi, its been 3 years since this post and I'm curious about what happened. We have the same situation regarding the poor judgment and clumsiness but I just graduated senior high and took a gap year, so currently self-studying. Do you really guys think nursing is not for us? I have no dreams whatsoever, but I know that what I want to do for the rest of my life is to help people. So I chose nursing. I'm just so confused and so downhearted because nursing requires more than knowledge...it just so happens that I'm indecisive and very clumsy and way too sensitive...what should I do guys, can't consult my family and friends, because they always say it's because I have low self-esteem etc. Which I think its true hays, send help,,,