SO STRESSED OUT... I don't know if i can handle this pressure.

RadfordSN · Mar 26, 2009

Sounds familiar. It is ridiculously tough.

I guess what they say is true, if you can survive nursing school you can survive anything.

It's challenging, maybe unnecessarily so, but think about how much better graduation is going to feel.

Take it one day at a time, that's all you can do. Best of luck.

AugustRain · Mar 26, 2009

I'm not sure how far you are into your clinicals, but I know how overwhelming it can be to get the hang of things. The good news is, it does get easier and you will actually start to learn something. It's been my experience that if you don't know something about a med or disease during clinical, it's preferable to admit that you don't know it and that you'll look it up and get back to them.

It's been helpful for me to make med sheets or cards the night before and jot notes on how it relates to the pt's labs & pathophys (ie. why is the pt getting this particular drug? when would i hold it?). I keep them in my pocket and refer as needed. None of my professors have ever given me a hard time about it, they'd rather I verify the correct information instead of putting a pt's safety at risk. I also find that just knowing I have a reference makes me feel more prepared and confident, and I don't often have to use it.

Try to give yourself a break and remember that you're there to learn - people expect you to be prepared and to try to think things through, but no one expects you to know everything. Also, try to get some sleep (it really does help). Good luck tomorrow!

tencat · Mar 26, 2009

Well, I feel for you as I've been there, but you really do need to know what those 50 medications are all about and what they are for, lab results and what they mean, etc. even when you are out in the 'real' world. Your patients will depend on you to know for their health and safety. The work you put in now will pay off later when you have your own patients to manage.

As you go along in clinicals, you'll find the patterns...many medications are pretty standard to many specialties, and many labs are routine on many floors. Get familiar with the normal values of the basics ie: White cell counts, Hemoglobin and hematocrit, BUN, creatinine, potassium levels, PT/INR, blood gasses, liver panels. Then familiarize yourself with basic meds and indications for use: pain meds (opiates and NSAIDS), nausea and vomiting meds (phenergan, zofran, etc.), blood pressure meds (ACE inhibitors, Beta blockers), antibiotics. If you can at least recognize that med XYZ is an ACE inhibitor, for example, then you have saved yourself a lot of time. After a while you can concentrate of the 'weird' meds you'll run into from time to time and breeze through the ones you've seen before, and planning for clincial will become much smoother.

When you work as a nurse, it's ok to have a drug book handy (I always cary the latest Davis with me), and it's ok to look up values, and most of all if you don't know something, don't be afraid to ask someone who does.