surviving school?

Hey RStar,

I am in my 1st semester of transition as well, and I am scared too. I cant seem to get the hang of these care plans that i have not done in over 4 years...hang in there, talk to your instructor and get help. they are there to help us. use the resources....take care, good luck and god bless....

Hi,

I am in my second semester of nursing, and it doesn't get any easier. I too feel like throwing in the towel. The more you talk about how you feel, the easier it will get. I find I over think the question, go with your first answer and move to the next question. We are all in the same boat, I just hope I too will survive another day.

I am in my last 5 weeks of LPN-RN school. I have been a LPN for 20 years and feel that I am a very smart person and was on the President's list prior to starting nursing classes but..... This is killing me. I am trying to study and keep up with classes but with work and kids i'm dying. My grades are just not good enough. I go into exams thinking I'll be alright but when we go over the answers of the ones I got wrong, I can see how that answer could be right also. The questions don't always ask just knowledge, they tend to confuse me or I read the question wrong. I feel so stupid all the time that I'm not sure I want to continue as a nurse. In the real world I do my job and I do it well. Do I think I'll be a good RN? YES but you couldn't tell it by my grades. I'm almost in tears right now writing this but I am really stuggling. All I have ever done is nursing and if I did change careers I would not know what to do. I can't do anything else. I don't know how to do anything else. Is there anyone out there that feels like I do or am I all alone?

Kmm1234,

You are not alone!!!! I have been an LPN for 4 years. I got A's in LPN school. The RN program is very hard. Finding time to study, work, do house work and have a life seems impossible sometimes.. But it can be done. Congrats on only having 5 weeks left! With the grace of God, I will graduate in May 08. I too have a hard time with taking tests. I can narrow the answer down to 2 options, but they both seem correct, and I end up second guessing myself and get the answer wrong... I have 3 tests left this semester and I am putting my nose to the grindstone so to speak and am determined to pass this semester. Good luck to you, your not alone, school sucks, and a good nurse is not only determined by a test grade.

i just have a question here. i see that most of y'all have considerable experience as a lvn/pn. do you feel this could be why things are harder for you? i have found that as a transition student my way of thinking is way off the street compared to what my school is expecting. for example on a test when they have "what would you do first " type questions....what i would do first is never the right answer... i think i am victim of my own experience....

When taking an exam I have to remember that I am in "NCLEX land" where pt:nurse ratios are not horrible and idea situations exist. Being an LPN helps with clinicals, knowledge of meds and procedures. But when taking a test you can't think about "how you did it at XYZ hospital". You have to go by the text book or instructors lessons.

I feel what ya'll are saying. I just got accepted into the bridge program to start in Jan 08. I am so excited and stressed out that I can hardly sleep. I know it is going to be tougher than the LPN program which had me pretty burned out in the end. I am so worried about leaving my infant with a babysitter and finding time at school and clinicals to pump breastmilk, I am afraid I may have to quit breastfeeding before I am ready.

The only thing that keeps me going is reminding myself how bad I want to be and RN.

I wonder if there are books that can help. I recently subscribed to AJN and Nursing 2007 there are some very helpful articles and resources. They are always advertising books like "Assessment made incredibly easy" and stuff like that. This time around in school I am going to try broaden my book collection and try looking beyond the wordy textbooks required by the school, hopefully I will find things that will fit my learning style a bit better and keep me awake. If anyone has any to recommend I am open to suggestions.

I am in my last semester of nursing school and I am so stress out. The other night my husband ask me what I wanted to eat for dinner? I told him if I have to think about what I wanted to eat for dinner I would go to bed hungery. Right now the only thing I can think about is school. I never thought that going back to school for my RN would be so hard. My grades do not reflect how much I study. I am thankful that I am passing. I can not wait until 12-14-07 graduation.

LVN of 18 yrs here. I do find that sometimes my floor skills and real life situations hinder me. On the other hand, they have also helped me tremendously. Some one posted about being in NCLEX World when testing. This is true. My coworker just graduated from transitional school and told me that when I am taking NCLEX to imagine that I am working at Perfect Hospital and have only one patient. Guess this one patient thinking wouldn't work with priority questions, but I think sometimes we read into the questions too much.

Doing okay grade-wise- As and Bs. Not such a priority since being accepted into the program. I mean what do you call a nurse who made Cs in nursing school? Answer: a nurse. I know lots of nurses who are very book smart but have poor critical thinking skills. I would advise not beating yourself up for less than perfect grades. My philosophy is that most of us transitioning are a little older with families. We are juggling kids, mortgage payments, work, etc... Somethings gotta give, right? GPA doesn't really matter now. I am not advocating slacking. Just put forth your best effort, learn from your mistakes and wrong answers and move on.

Winding down our Pedi rotation and classes. Finals are on Dec 10th. One month hiatus from school and then I start my last semester in January. I wish I could just relax and bum around for a month but instead will be picking up extra shifts at the hospital (in addition to every weekend) to try and catch up.

*Sigh* just remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel (and it IS NOT A TRAIN) It is a means to an end and we will survive!

i just have a question here. i see that most of y'all have considerable experience as a lvn/pn. do you feel this could be why things are harder for you? i have found that as a transition student my way of thinking is way off the street compared to what my school is expecting. for example on a test when they have "what would you do first " type questions....what i would do first is never the right answer... i think i am victim of my own experience....

i totally agree with you.....i had to change the way i think and forget what i know. i have to give the "book" answers, not reality!! when the question states "what would you do first?" i'm thinking...well, i'd be doing more than one thing at a time, so what do they want?? but, when i think like a first year student, it gets easier. hang in there....you can do it!!