Starting in August - scared and nervous!!

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I am a second career student starting a Associates Degree RN program next month and all of a sudden, I am petrified. I only have 5 semesters of 2-day-a-week clinicals to get through, but I'm so nervous. I'm quitting my teaching job so that I am not so overwhelmed, and I'm panicking that maybe I'm not making the right career move. Nurses in our area make more per hour than teachers, but I'm also burnt out on teaching, so it's a combination of reasons for the change.

My father is a retired family doctor, still made house calls till he retired. But I never ever considered medicine until recently, probably to take a different path. But I've always loved medical stuff, love hospitals, don't mind blood.

I've been working on pre-requisites for about 5 years now and finally have everything done. I was sooo excited until 3 am last night when everything hit at once...

But what if I'm not good at drawing blood?

Do I REALLY want to work on holidays, every other weekend, and evenings -- something my teaching career didn't require?

What if I make a mistake and someone gets hurt?

What if I catch some awful disease and hubby (who is lukewarm on the whole thing anyway) freaks out?

What if I try to help someone out of bed and hurt my back really bad?

Am I really going to be comfortable helping someone go to the bathroom?

It's funny --- as a teacher, I can say with 100% certainty that if I knew I'd be only working with kids during nursing school, I'd be fine. But there's something about knowing that I'll be working with ADULTS that is very intimidating.

I know, some of these thoughts are stupid and rambling, but I figured if anyone could share something that would either make me feel better or cause me to rethink my decision, it'd be the awesome people on this board!

Thanks!!

your comment about your husband sound like mine.

i’m not in the program yet, but i worry he won’t be supportive of the time i will be spending at school and studying while at home. a few times he has made a comment about me working in a hospital setting and possibly getting sick with something (since i am prone to colds and viruses) and questioning me on if this is the best choice. i too am making a career change, like you, i have been working on my pre reqs slowly over time, but it is getting close to application time and i am catch myself thinking of putting it off for another few bsn classes before jumping in.

i wish you all the luck - my plan is postive thoughts and focus, with that i should pull through and gain success!

your comment about your husband sound like mine.

i'm not in the program yet, but i worry he won't be supportive of the time i will be spending at school and studying while at home. a few times he has made a comment about me working in a hospital setting and possibly getting sick with something (since i am prone to colds and viruses) and questioning me on if this is the best choice.

omg - that's kinda what i'm getting!!

it's a "well, if that's what you really want to do". he's totally worried about me bringing home something that my daughter would catch, or me catching something. he hates hospitals (whereas i love them), hates blood (doesn't bother me) and hates school, so he cannot understand at all why i would even dream of going back to school to do something so horrendous as work with sick people!!

so i've got a lot of guilt about the whole thing in addition to overthinking!!

the comments are right on track, though, and my thinking has been much more positive!! thanks all.

exactly! my hubby has the mentality that i’m "safe" where i am now in a good job. but things change all of the time and i keep telling him that. he is like well you can just keeping moving up in your company, but i’m at the point where i have reached the end of my ladder so to speak and i doubt i will get a promotion to any higher management in the future, and i know for sure i am topped out on my pay scale, so the only thing in my future is more work with the same pay. even if i focused on business management, it would not make a difference in my position here. i want to be prepared for the chances that in 7 years if we lose our contract with the county we are located in i will have work. he doesn’t get it.

he is so freaked out about the germs, and me getting sick or getting our little ones sick, the idea of me working in a hospital is going to be very hard for him to overcome.

the school part has me very on edge. my first 2 semesters he was excellent, i was pregnant and then he was home at night with the baby with no complaints, then he had to work across the state so he lived on the other coast for near 2 years and only came home on the weekends. i relied a lot on friends to help me with my kids when i had class and stayed up late studying so he sort of forgot i was still in school i suppose. now he is home and i am only taking 2 classes this summer, but i signed up for 3 in the fall and i am dreading his reaction to be being in class 4 nights a week - i can only imagine what his reaction to the program schedule will be! he dreaded his school schedule (1 night a week) and when he had to study for major final exam it was the only focus, it irritates me sometimes his lack of commitment to my commitments!

where are you starting your program at? are you going into an asn program or a bsn? i say i feel like i’m pushing it off in fear, but i’m close to being able to apply at either. that is my goal, finish up my science classes (i’m only just now getting the last of my basic pre reqs done, bio, a & p and micro) and pairing them each up with a co- requisite for my bsn (spanish, world history, and one more math class.)

I'm pretty lucky in terms of what I have left to take. I've been working on prereqs part time for about 5 years, and the local community college in Virginia where I'm going accepted all of my previous college courses from my bachelors in Education. So I only have clinicals to wrap up. I'll have one full day of class, then the clinical that goes along with it. So 2 days a week, for 5 semesters. That's why I figured I'd be a fool not to do it, and at least make a go of it. Like someone said, I'll know once I get into the clinicals if it's for me or not.

Good luck with you husband. Sounds like you're juggling a lot. I only have one child and at least my husband's not traveling. Best wishes!!

you are lucky! that’s great - the program i am looking into will be 5 days a week sometimes 6 for 2 years, with my pre reqs done i will have a little wiggle room and time off for the summer (or room to repeat classes if needed)

congrats, to you on your journey, i bet you will do great with it!

I am also in the same boat as you. I am a second career student starting an accelerated BSN program next month and it really hit me about 2 weeks ago. I have the same concerns as you and depending on the day, my feeling range from being excited and ready to start to the thought of "what the hell am I doing"? I am also quitting my job to focus on school. One thing that scares me is that I have a REALLY good job right now with excellent pay (I am actually taking a pay cut to go into nursing) and benefits. My husband and I have managed to save quit a bit as we knew I was going to quit to focus on school but sometimes I wonder if I am really making the right decision or if I should put off school another year to make sure we have the finances covered. I have always been interested in medicine and after my last heart surgery (I have had 3 total so far) decided nursing was for me. I know deep down everything will work out but it is nerve wracking. I think once it all gets here and we start things will get better. Good luck and keep us updated on your progress. :)

I asked myself all those questions and more but I convinced myself that its just like parenting or teaching children. You could run every possible worst case scenario thru your head millions of times but the best teacher is experience. You learn as you go, take 1 day at a time. Talking to people who've gone before you is a great way to prepare and learn from other's mistakes.

The most wonderful thing about becoming a nurse is there are so many different types of nurses. Take a deep breath and explore the doors that obtaining your license will open. You taught and know that not all teachers work in elementary school; some teach at the college level and have a course load of a class or two a semester/quarter. It is your choice whether you want to work in acute care, days or nights, rotating weekends or accept a job that will provide you with an 8-5 nursing job and weekends free.

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