What the heck do these people think?

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Is it just me, or has anyone else encountered people (non-nursing students) that make comments like :angryfire"Oh, ns can't be that hard" or "Why do you have to study so much" or "She doesn't need anything for test anxiety". Unless you are in ns, or been through it, these folks honestly don't have a clue. One of my fellow students has really bad text anxiety. On the scantron she marked 14 answers "off a row" and missed them all and actually had them correct. Her spouse told her to just shake it off that there isn't anything wrong, she just needs to re-adjust her test taking skills - that doing poorly on one test isn't a big deal. Well, one poor grade in ns can be difficult to pull up. I know I am rambling on, but I sure wish there was a way for people to see the sacrifices we as students make in order to make it through ns. It just burns me up! What do y'all think?

Specializes in MSN, FNP-BC.

I couldn't agree more. Nursing school is tough.

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Specializes in heart failure and prison.

That's why they say it, because they don't know. Maybe that's another reason why they are not in NS. Tell them to get a life, because we nursing students will have a good life before they will.

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To those who say it isn't hard, I am assuming you still live at home, not married, and have a lot of time to study. There are many students who are married with children, who have to wash clothes, cook dinner, make lunches, iron clothes, help kids with homework, bathe babies drive kids to their activities, clean the house, go grocery shopping etc. All this and nursing school makes it very difficult. Please have some compassion for those whose lives are more than just studying.

I've maintained it's not that hard since I got started in NS.

I'm a single mom with 2 kids & 2 dogs, trying to pay all my bills by myself & keep a house in order.

I still find time to volunteer at the local food pantry & help with the little kid's sunday school class.

I'm also my grandparent's POA. I take them to all their appointments & organize their meds each week.

My life is not just studying. In fact, I barely ever study at all. So far, my grades haven't suffered.

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I'm hoping nursing will be easy for me--not married nor do I have any kids. Work part time, as well.

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Specializes in ED.

I know that NS is the hardest thing that I have done. My family dont seem to quite understand that school is difficult. I vent with nurses and family members in the medical field who have gone through the process. Everyone of them tell me that Ill will be fine and I believe that. Im on a emotional roller coaster from day in and day out. But this will be worth it.

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I'm hoping nursing will be easy for me--not married nor do I have any kids. Work part time, as well.

"Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're right!"

(Stewie Griffin, Family Guy) :p Just kidding!

At least you won't feel guilty about studying all the time and not spending enough time with a spouse or young 'uns, right?

Don't forget to schedule in some fun time, though. Remember, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". ;)

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Specializes in CVICU/ER.

To me, it's not tough, it's just time consuming. I love path and pharm and all the science classes. That comes pretty easy to me. What I find difficult is all the papers, the group projects, the community service, the labs, the things outside of our regular classes (aside from clincals...I love them) that take time away from my family. It's just a constant march to get through.

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I agree.....it's mostly just very very time consuming....and that in itself makes it hard. With three small children and a job and house and a husband the time I have is already very scarce...The one thing I am probably looking forward to the most is when I don't have all the time consuming "busy work" to do each week......

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Specializes in Starting dialysis.

I am not in nursing school yet but have completed my ADN prerequisites and have found, while taking the prereqs, that I do have to devote a lot of time studying to be able to do well on tests. It is different for everyone. Many people I know have no problem retaining everything they read and do not have to study much. I was not blessed with the photographic memory or whatever it is that allows them to do so well with minimal studying. I'm expecting nursing school to be hard but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I do know that I will get through it because I plan on studying being my full-time job.

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For us, it's pretty much an insurmountable amount of reading and mostly self-learning.

My program had a lot of that (insurmountable amount of reading and self-learning). After awhile, though, I noticed that they didn't really test us on the content of all that reading or what seemed to me the important stuff we should be learning. They tested our "critical thinking skills" with NCLEX style questions where if you were a good test-taker, you only needed minimal skimming of the reading assignments to do well on tests.

We also had to create care plans from scratch for each patient, which included lots of redundancies as most had pain issues, risk for or actual infection, needed help with ADLs, etc. Since there was so of this "busy work" to complete each week, that meant less time too try to "see the full picture" physiologically (electrolyte imbalances, symptom manifestation, etc).

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Specializes in None.

In my experience, every person I tell that I am in nursing school, I usually get alot of support. Or, since I am a guy, the classic why dont you just become a doctor!!! Which I HATE!!! Although, sometimes, being a nursing student I find when wanting to dodge commitments, Im ashamed to say just saying "Im in nursing school" people let me off the hook times, lol. Horrible I know!!

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Time consuming is right!! And let's face it, we want to be nurses and we have high expectations of ourselves. I've gone from all A's to mostly B's and an occasional A. But it's okay.

I have to say I know exactly what you mean about people not understanding. Nursing School is not like the other 90% of my community college. If they miss a lecture in say American Lit it's not the same as if we miss a clinical day. Everything we learn is built on something else we already learned. Any time we miss is that much harder to learn and make up. (I discharged my first foley today. Yippee!! What if I hadn't been there?? I'd have missed an opportunity to learn. )

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