Which was more stressful: nursing school or actually working as a RN?

anewsns · May 27, 2015

I actually thought school was harder , because life circumstances were hard for me as it was at the time , and as someone says, school inundates your life and work doesn't have to. I worked 24 hours a week as a CNA in school and had all kinds of other stuff going on so it was never ending. I like the stability I have now. I feel a lot more in control.

(there was one day , when my car needed work, I had no gas and no food, I got my check right before the bank closed and the bridge to get to the bank closed down randomly, I didn't have any food and was starving at school and only had 99 cents so used it on a butterfingers bar as it was the most filling , stuff like this just doesn't happen anymore )

NOADLS · May 27, 2015

School was definitely harder. Having to learn and become somewhat proficient at a chunk of skills I'll probably never use AND having to make it look like I give half a damn.

Dranger · May 27, 2015

Work, no question.

School was easy in comparison.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 27, 2015

The ideas that stress is 1) bad, and 2) to be avoided at all costs sort of underlie this question, assuming for the nonce that it isn't a student looking to write a paper (which I think it is).

I'd seriously look at reframing it. Every age and stage has its own stressors. You can probably remember being baffled by what adults do as a child, with no control over your own life. Then the awful feelings that flooded over you in your teenage hormonal tsunami-- gym class, hair growth, menses or nocturnal emissions, tits or unwanted erections, zits, dating, your mother hovering over you saying, "If you need anything, dear, I'm always here..." when you didn't even know what it as you needed but it wasn't her, for sure. Then leaving home, getting your first apartment, making your first road trip by yourself. Then later, when you have that first really big fight with your spouse and realize this marriage thing could be more work than it seemed at the beginning. Then what? OMG, pregnancy, the unexpected messiness of childbirth and nursing and babies in general, then being in complete charge of this totally helpless little life every single day ... and night. And then ... and then ...

You get the idea. School has stressful elements, work has stressful elements, family life has stressful elements, being alone has stressful elements. This is probably the origin of the heavenly glorious afterlife that pops up in about every culture. :) The key is not to, well, stress about it, but to embrace it as the opportunity for growth and strengthening that it is. Ships are not made to stay in port.

CBlover, BSN, RN · May 27, 2015

Hmm, that's a hard call. I would have to say the very first month that I was "on my own" as an RN was more stressful than nursing school. However, as time went on I am more comfortable and less stressed with my daily routines with my patients.

CBlover, BSN, RN · May 27, 2015

"Another student wanting nurses to write her paper?"

I've never seen or heard of such an easy assignment if it is one...

annabanana2 · May 27, 2015

Noting your BSN and RN, it DID end!

Very true! I should have said at the time it felt like it wouldn't end.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · May 27, 2015

Fo me, school was more stressful. Sure the responsibility is greater now, but I have a ton more confidence now too. In school I was working PT as a CNA, had a newborn, had exams to study for, and was always afraid of not knowing every answer to the grilling from instructors, and thus failing.

tsm007 · May 27, 2015

Work. Most definitely work. School has always been something I am good at and therefore naturally confident in. I'm a new RN so until I get my nursing confidence built up I'm going to have to vote for work. I hope there's a day down the road that I can answer this question differently. :)

Barnstormin' PMHNP · May 27, 2015

ADN was super stressful, new RN was super stressful. BSN a piece of cake. Grad school very stressful, it just never ends, until it ends lol. Right now I feel school is more stressful than work, but I have had nursing jobs that are way more stressful than grad school. It really depends on the situation, and how much support you have at home and at work at that point in time. GrnTea stated it very well, especially the baby part!

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · May 27, 2015

Work!!! As a student I didn't have a license on the line every single day.

Angeljho, MSN, NP · May 27, 2015

Going to school was more stressful for me because of everything that comes with it. Committing time to study, balancing rent/bills/other expenses with tuition, giving up certain life pleasures because of school. Work is just work; you go, make your 8 or 12 hours, and then go home.