Terrified for my first semester!

[jilliannn05]

Hi! My name is Jillian and I am about to start my very first semester of nursing school... AND I AM TERRIFIED! I just had my orientation today, and it did not ease my worries.

Let me give you a bit of background on myself. I entered college as a sophomore and I was done with my lower division classes within one year instead of two. Due to this, I feel as though I did not have time to prepare myself for what I am about to go through. SO many questions are running through my head. What's are the classes like? Will I be able to understand everything? What if I forget the important material?

One of my biggest fears is clinicals. I have absolutely NO idea what to expect. What do they expect me to do when I feel as though I know nothing? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but my anxiety is through the roof. I do not want to look stupid in front of everyone. I guess what I am asking is what should I expect clinicals to be like my first semester of Nursing school?

I know this post is all over the place but I am sitting here overthinking EVERYTHING and I would love some reassurance. Thank you to anyone who reads this and I hope you guys don't think I'm crazy haha.

[ILUVERNSG, MSN, RN]

OK---

First, Take a deep breath, close your eyes and calm down...

You sound highly anxious. Take it one step at a time.

Nursing school is rough and the profession is rough. You've got to be tough, you've got to be strong.

If you really want this, you'll have to work hard but others have done it and you can too!

Take it easy, stick with the smart students, follow the rules, never talk back, study hard and you can make it.

Learn ways to handle stress and anxiety because this is just the beginning my dear!

Good luck and keep us posted here! We are here to help.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Deep breath!

Your classmates are as new to this as you are. If they have CNA training, they may seem more comfortable in the pt care setting...BUT the CNA role is different from the nursing student role. Your instructors know this also.

Plus, we get eased into it. My first clinicals were in LTC. We were assigned one resident, and performed all of their ADLs (hygiene, feeding, tidying the room, etc.), administered meds with our instructor present, practiced a head-to-toe assessment... things like that. You're not going to be shoved into the ICU or anything.

[Ella26, BSN, RN]

You might be able to find some YouTube videos on what to expect at clinicals and classes.

I was very terrified as well. But, I got through it and you will too! Good luck!

[sleepynurseZZZ]

If you have to take HESI exams every semester like we do make sure to invest the $70 or whatever into purchasing the Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. ISBN# 9780323394628. Make sure to buy it new because it comes with an access code that links you to practice questions you will want. Instructors will sometimes tell you that the Saunders NCLEX book is sufficient to study for the HESI, but in my experience I scored about 10 points higher for each exam using the HESI study guide. It's tailored to the exams. Get some kind of calendar going and spend a few hours at the beginning of the semester entering every single assignment and it's due date into the calendar so that you don't miss anything. I used the google calendar linked to my computer and phone so that I could just pull out my phone and automatically know what was due. Khan Academy has free videos on youtube for every topic under the sun and they break everything down into easy to understand videos so if you're struggling with at topic you can always look up a video. Don't worry about clinicals, no one knows what they're doing, and most people will be in the same boat you are. Some people who have worked as techs may seem more comfortable, but even so, they still haven't had to perform all the nursing interventions you will learn, so don't let that intimidate you. Breathe, and you will be fine!