What is the hardest thing about Nursing school?

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Hello, for all those that have graduated nursing school, recently or long ago, what was the hardest class, course, or thing about nursing school in your opinion? And any advice on how to overcome the struggles of it?..:blushkiss

Thanks.....:nurse:

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

the hardest thing for me was the time you have to devote. i was at it morning noon and night. i don't do well with crash sessions. i can't sit still long enough or retain info that way. so i would wake up, read, do laundry, read, eat breakfast, read go to school....ect. i learned to always have my book open, that way i'm not looking for the right time to get to studying, but can take advantage of pieces of time as it presents itself.

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Thanks for posting, anyone else have any thing to add?:monkeydance:

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Specializes in OR.

The time management aspect..I worked 32 hours a week during school and sometimes it seemed like no one understood how difficult that was. The instructors would ride you harder if they found out you worked, work sometimes wondered "why are you so tired?" and family and friends were always complaining that I had no time for them anymore. Actually, there WERE people who understood...my fellow classmates and of course, my peeps here at allnurses!:mad:

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Specializes in School Nursing.
:mad: Having to disciplinig myself to study, when my husband and kids wanted me to go have fun with them ! *sigh* !! It was all worth it though, just gotta know how to juggle :monkeydance: everything !
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Specializes in Acute rehab/geriatrics/cardiac rehab.

The amount of information to read and study and not having time to do "fun" things all the time.

The hardest thing for me was dealing with real patients at my first experience in the hospital. I was scared to go into the patient's room. Now, two years out of nursing school, I've handled anywhere from 6 - 10 patients at a time.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

THe commonality that I hear is the protracted waiting time to get into nursing school - how to get the needed pre-reqs and in the correct order and then schedule time to go to school. Good luck.

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Although I have not graduated (will graduate in December of this year) I have found the hardest thing to do was time management. Making sure to get enough study time, family time, and work time has been a constant struggle, but defiently worth it

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The hardest thing for me was the lack of sleep. I'd go over to the hospital after classes ended around 6 p.m. to get my next day's patient info for my Care Plans, which we had to do the night before seeing a patient, then get home and start working on the Care Plans at 9 pm, go to bed at midnight (only if I was lucky!) and then get up at 5 to make it back to meet for pre-conference at 6:30. We had ridiculously complicated Care Plans, and I was an overachiever type who wanted 100's (or at least 95's) on them, so they took me HOURS to do!

OK, that was the whining part...so now for what might be helpful tips: take notes with you WHEREVER you go. Never go to doctor's office, anywhere at all, where you might be delayed without notes. You can always study & review in those few precious extra moments. Second tip: NEVER study last minute. It is way too much material and way too stressful. Read your notes as soon after class as you can to reinforce what you just heard. Also- consider your class time to be study time. Try to listen really hard and try to learn right on the spot; that will save you some time later. Also- I found it helpful to type summary notes on my computer before an exam. The reading and summarizing helped me to remember things. It was kind of like writing notes twice. Last tip: do help someone else study. You learn LOTS when you try to teach it to someone else. I helped tutor several students so those subjects became my 'specialty' and I knew them so much better because of it.

Best of luck!

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time management

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I found the hardest part was getting all the required reading in. Never procrastinate. You usually wont have the time you thought you would to do it later on. And get used to missing your favorite shows on t.v.. Pharmacology ... go over, and over and over it. Good luck.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

The disorganization and politics! The classes were easy, lots of work, but not hard material. It was all the extra stuff, the personalities, last minute schedule additions, staff changes etc. that I found the most difficult.

Like the others said its really important to stay on top of the studies and you will be fine.

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