Tell the truth

karenelizabeth · Sep 16, 2002

Originally posted by TootyFruity
My friendly nurses in Allnurses Land!!! :)

Tell me the truth. Deep honest truth!!!

Is/Was nursing school HARD?

Is/Was it difficult for you to pass the course?

Did you think you would fail?

Is/Was it difficult for you to grasp the medical terminology?

Most important question that I'll ever ask.....

Would you really recommend that anyone (interested in nursing-of course) take the ADN course to be an RN?

As always.......your help and advice is soo much appreciated!! :kiss

1. Yes at times but also great fun

2. same as above

3. Sometimes but we all have moments of doubt and I didn't fail I passed

4. Yes but you get used to it :rolleyes: . Keep a book and write terms down once you get the hang of some of the latin used you can work out new terms more easily. It's often nursung terms abreviations that are comfusing when you change areas.

5. Sorry cant answer as I trained in the UK (not sure what ADN is)

well good luck :kiss

Karen

mario_ragucci · Sep 16, 2002

(grin) Since I'm in Allnurses.com Land, I'll chime in and make my peace. I don't know if nursing school will be hard or not. How easily do you get lost? My school has a pass/fail thing. You have to get a 75% to pass. i heard there is a 20% attrition rate amongst new classes.

I start in one week officially. I work in a hospital. The hard part for me will be school, work and the time it takes to live my life and still be naughty sometimes if I want, oh, and to always have enough time to sleep at least 6 hours per night.

1. sleep

2. school

3. work

4. naughty

Mario's nursing school priority to do list :-( I'm sorry

researchrabbit · Sep 16, 2002

I took the ADN course. Since I already had a four-year degree and didn't really want another 4 years, it worked for me. If you have the time and like school, then a four-year degree has its benefits...and I think a 4-year degree is important for us as professionals...you get a lot of background in other areas which make you a well-rounded employee...that broadening process is important.

(not to slam anyone who doesn't have a 4-year degree here...life experiences can contribute just as much providing you take the time to garner them...art, philosophy, history, etc)

It was HARD. This was compounded, though, by the fact that I'd just gone through a nasty divorce, had lots of debt I hadn't previously known about, had two kids at home, moved 4 times during the time I was in school, and worked 2 and sometimes 3 jobs throughout...with time to study, it would have been comparable in difficulty to my first degree, which was in languages. In other words, lots of study time and time to practice skills means less difficulty with the schooling process.

My next to last semester I was close to dropping out, as my clinical professor for whatever reason, didn't like me and did everything she could to undermine me (an absolutely horrible experience)...that was the only time, though; other professors and rotations were an absolute delight, including the "hard" professors.

I never thought I would fail, although I had resigned myself to the possibility of C's (wound up with Bs & a few As).

Medical terminology was not difficult when it was an area I'd previously experienced (example: having children meant I had knowledge to build on for Peds and OB...having older parents gave me knowledge to build on for Geriatrics...). If you are young, though, and haven't had all those lovely life lessons, you will be studying more!

So keep in mind: the more you study and the more you practice skills, the easier nursing school is. If you have a lot of demands on your time other than school, then it will be harder. Someone who doesn't particularly like school or doesn't have good study habits will find nursing school difficult.

Did this help? :)

live4today, RN · Sep 16, 2002

originally posted by tootyfruity
my friendly nurses in allnurses land!!! :)
tell me the truth. deep honest truth!!!

is/was nursing school hard?

is/was it difficult for you to pass the course?

did you think you would fail?

is/was it difficult for you to grasp the medical terminology?

would you really recommend that anyone (interested in nursing-of course) take the adn course to be an rn?

no, i did not find nursing to be all that difficult.

it was not difficult for me to pass the course.

no, i did not think i would fail...not once!

it was not difficult for me to grasp the medical terminology.

yes!!! i would highly recommend anyone interested in nursing take the adn course to become a rn. whether that nurse decides to pursue additonal education should be based solely on their own individual decision based on where they hope to grow from that point as a nurse. :nurse:

bagladyrn, RN · Sep 16, 2002

As I remember, the hardest part for me was my own expectations for myself. I almost drove myself crazy in my quest for perfection! Don't do this to yourself - once you are out of academia, no one will look at your GPA. I often wonder if it's coincidence that this was when I first developed an ulcer!

Glad2behere · Sep 16, 2002

Tootyfruity,

I had a hard time in nursing school..BSN. That was 25 years ago.

The school was new, and I did nursing school to satisfy other concerns. Kind of landed there because I was in lala land.

Fresh farm boy had been in a hospital one time for an appendectomy as a youngster. Knew nothing about it. Came from a large family, did well in JR College and almost never cracked a book. Had really bad study habits. The technical side and the scientific realms of it I loved. I absolutely hated nursing theory and thought it absurd. Most of the instructors were new as well, and could not word a question so that the class would argue for extended periods with the instructors post-testing regarding what the questions really meant. An unproportionate amount of grading went to nursing theory.

Clinically, I did very well, and on rotations after class or at night I would go back to the unit and read and study charts and research later, trying to tie everthing in where it had a flow to it.

This worked very well for me and saved me. There was one big flaw in that I began analyzing illnesses medically, reached a familiarity and could anticipate what to do next, or at least what to expect. My test scores were a joke in Nursing theory and brought my GPA way down. The chart reading and study did wonders for my medical terminolgy and understanding the flow of care, and really helped too in assessment skills because I had something right then right there to compare to. Kinda like monkey see monkey do.

Was it hard? Yes, mostly because I never bought into nursing theory. Writing out nursing processes was ok and learned alot from those. My 3rd semester I was advised to drop and retake that 3rd semester. One of the instructors, whom I had had on a previous clinical suggested I hang in there because I had another clinical rotation with her, and she assured me I would be just fine. She was right, I aced her clinical and actually helped her a lot on her research studies. In this clinical also, there was the most technically competent nurse I have ever seen (male English nurse, Mick Jagger lookalike) and he helped a lot, a fantastic preceptorship.

My downfall was that the specific areas I was interested in clinically I did real well in, but I never could muster the enthusiasm

for nursing theory, L&D, geriatrics, and psyche. Give me a MVA, or a burn victim and I sparkled.

semstr · Sep 16, 2002

Nursingschool was fun, it was not easy, lots of stuff to learn, theory and practical, lots of tears, first grey hairs and lines in my face. ( Lost about 5 kg though)

Was is worth it? YESYESYESYES

Can't tell about the ADN, but what I read here it's not a bad way to start, you always have the possibilities to go on. (right, guys?)

When you want to go into nursing, DO IT!!

(ok, I am an educator, so not really objective) Take care, Renee

JillR · Sep 16, 2002

Was nursing school hard? For me it was not as hard as I expected it to be. I had heard many horror stories, so I was convinced it would be the hardest thing I would accomplish in my life and it was not even close. The hardest thing about nursing school for me was not the difficulty of the work, but the amount of the work. The amount of time required to complete the work, cut into my time with my children and that bothered me.

No it was not difficult to pass.

I never thought I would fail. I sometimes thought I would not do as good as I wanted and/or expected to do and somtimes I thought I would not have time to complete eveything. It all got done and I did very good in the end.

It was not difficult to grasp the medical terminology, but I had been exposed to it already. I think I would have had a harder time if I had not taken a medical terminology class earlier, but I know I would have made it with or without. I suggest a good medical dictionary.

I think you have to consider your motivations when it comes to nursing school. I was very motivated and I don't think I would have stuck it out when I was 18 years old, or even my early 20's.

amylynn · Sep 16, 2002

I will be honest--I have no idea when or how I decided to become a nurse. I was going to college, declared nursing as my major and that first semester I started my ASN program. School was always easy for me, so college was no different. I made some of the dearest friends in nursing school, people who stand by you no matter what, because you are learning special, different things. I continued after my ASN and completed my BSN while working full-time nights (my school was worker friendly, thank God!). I have never regretted a moment. I love my job. I have been a RN since '91 and have seen and done things I never imagined. I have travelled, switched jobs at least 8 times. I've worked in an office/insurance setting, day surgery, and have come back to my inital love--Peds ICU. Would I recommend going to nursing school--you bet! When you get out, it will be tough. But stick with it-it's a great profession. My husband is currently a full time student. For what? NURSING!! He's 35 and he cannot wait to become a RN. Good Luck and can't wait for another RN to come on board!

spineCNOR · Sep 16, 2002

1. Is nursing school hard?

Yes!

- Not so much a question of comprehending the material, but trying to keep up with the volume of busy work required - papers, presentations, etc....

2. Is it difficult to pass the course?

No

- if I did the necessary work I was not concerned about failing.

3. Did you think you would fail?

No

-however, in my last semester of a BSN-completion program I was so tired and discouraged that I wanted to quit many times. All one can do in that type of situation is to handle it one day at a time, and just hang in there.

4. Difficult to grasp medical terminology?

Not so much

-it is a different language, but if you work with it and use it, it will come to you.

5. ADN vs. BSN

- I would recommend to anyone that they go ahead and go the BSN route--only because of my experience. I graduated from a Diploma program MANY years ago, wanted to finish my BS, but with one thing and then another-money, time, work schedules, etc,etc, etc, I did not finish my BSN until I was 48. It is very hard to go back to school after being out for so long.

However, everyone has to do what is right for them- for some people the ADN is the right route, especially women who have young children at home, people going into nursing as a second career, etc. The bottom line for anyone is what their individual goals are, and what they want to do to accomplish them.

As one of my classmates says, people who want to go into nursing should get into it however they can, whether BS or AD route.

Sleepyeyes · Sep 16, 2002

1. Nursing school was not that hard; it was the fear of flunking out that was excruciating to me. I had all kinds of "anticipatory fears" because I 'd heard so much about arbitrary, biased, subjective decisions made by "some" instructors.

2. It wasn't difficult to pass the course; it was difficult to get instructors who made me feel confident.

3. Yes, i sure did....in clinicals. Lotta fear there. Seemed as if our instructors were terrified for us to make any moves at all. Very very bad for the self-esteem.

4. Nope. My problem was more one of learning the clinical skills. If I had it to do over again, I would've chosen to work in the hospital as a Monitor tech/Unit secretary, so I could more easily figure out what the docs were planning for a course of tx. Now that I look back on it, procedure skills are easy to learn; figuring out what the patient needs comes from assessment skills that the RN needs and plain ol' experience with seeing the orders and the updates.

5. Yes. I would recommend that. You can always take the BSN online and you'll get paid better when you are licensed. Plus, you'll get out there and learn more by doing.