Still unsure if this is for me...

chinacatSN · Mar 20, 2011

First of all, know that almost ALL nursing students feel this way! I am about to start my leadership rotation as well, and I'm nervous about it.

We all have those OMG-I-have-no-idea-what-to-do moments. We all have brain farts.

In my program, we have 3 main clinical instructors (one for each site) and a couple specialty clinical instructors for OB and peds. One of the instructors for our med/surg site is also our instructor for the nursing class and the pharm class so it's essential to be on your A game when you have her. I had her for the first 3 weeks of last semester and I was rockin' it - knew all the answers, knew what was going on, did my careplans perfectly, etc. Then, I didn't have her again until the beginning of this semester. I had a very off week - I felt like an idiot and I even had to reference my drug cards when I never have before. I had a small identity crisis and thought that maybe I wasn't meant to be a nurse either. But then I realized that even with my off week, I was still more competent than most of the class and everyone gets a little burnt out from NS.

If you like what you do, then stick with it. Just because your preceptor isn't the best example doesn't mean you should quit. Maybe next time, you could pull her aside (privately) and ask her about the procedure? Don't accuse her of breaking technique, just ask her if she can explain it to you because you want to learn. And maybe you could have a chat with an instructor about what happened as well.

Obviously you've made it this far when many others haven't. If you weren't meant to be a nurse, you wouldn't care as much as you do and you'd have quit a long time ago. Even nurses who have worked in the field for 20 years don't have all the answers - especially when medical information changes all the time.

CuriousMe · Mar 20, 2011

Hi,
I'm a nursing student in my last semester.. and I'm still sometimes come across the feeling that nursing isn't my thing. When I do really well and know everything that is going on, I feel like YES! I can do this!
I recently just started my leadership rotation and I'm at a new hospital that I have never been to before, everything is new to me and I feel like I'm starting from scratch. This is supposed to be my leadership clinical and I definitely don't feel like a leader. My preceptor nurse does things way off from protocol. For example, she was doing a something that was supposed to be done with sterile technique and none of the 3 other nurses in the room said anything when she broke sterility... I just don't know anymore.
I love helping people, social justice is my passion, and I like healthcare so I thought nursing would be a great career choice for me.. now I just so doubtful and would like some thoughtful responses.. please..

I guess I'm not sure why someone else doing something "way off" protocol would make you question whether you should be a nurse?

jem4justice · Mar 21, 2011

ChinacatSN, thank you for your words of encouragement...

I think I just needed to vent and my post was kinda unclear.. I did go from talking about that I'm unsure if nursing is my thing to - my preceptor doesn't practice proper technique.

Another thing is dealing with horizontal violence on the unit, there are some PCTs and nurses that are great, so very nice. Others that make you feel like you don't belong there and are just in the way. Today I just had a very bad time in clinical and I didn't feel good and ended up going home.

Thank you both for your comments..

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2011

Is it because you can't remember what to do, or is it because you just don't like doing it? Either way finish school. You'll find something to do.