I know we have all had these nerves/jitters/panic attacks through nursing school. Or maybe you are just feeling these for the first time as a new nursing student in the program. I am going to talk about 3 main items that give nursing students the most anxiety/nerves.
- Failing an Exam, or worse, failing out of the program completely!
I am not going to tell you that nursing school isn’t hard or challenging. I am also not going to tell you that you will do amazing on every single exam. Quite frankly, many people do fail at least 1 exam during their nursing school program. (Not saying you will). That is just because nursing school exams are VERY different from any other exam you have ever taken for classes. It’s not just a clear cut the answer is “A” type exam. Nursing exams are made with questions that are related to taking the actual NCLEX exam. They make you have to think and use critical thinking skills to get to a correct answer. Many now that are SATA (select all that apply) type questions. Many students get caught up on just trying to figure out how to answer these types of questions. I have failed 2 exams during my nursing school program. I have always been one that has done well for every single exam I have ever taken, so to fail an exam in nursing school was like a kick in the gut for me.
What I can tell you is this. If you do fail an exam, Don’t give up! You can still do well on the remainder of your exams. See what it was you missed and make time to go over the exam with your professors. Please make the time to understand why you missed questions. Learn from them. They could end up being real life scenarios that end up saving a patient. 🙂
2. Clinicals make me SUPER nervous!
YESS! I think especially if you don’t have any medical experience in the hospital already or as an EMT, finally starting clinicals in the hospital can be super nerve wracking and intimidating. You don’t want to look like you have no clue what you are doing or make a dumb mistake. I remember I could never sleep well the night before a clinical for all the nerves/excitement I had for the following day as well as what kind of nurse I would be paired with. I can also remember like it was yesterday feeling major butterflies in my stomach before the shift started. But as the day went on, the more comfortable I became.
Remember, you are a student. The nurse knows this and knows you are there to shadow her and do what skills you are able to do (depending on how far in the program you are). This is a hands on learning experience and you should try to make the best out of every single opportunity you have. It’s completely normal to be nervous or scared. I promise over time it will get better 🙂 Many end up finding it to be super fun once you do some cool skills! Or just being able to do hands on things you learn about in school and are able to finally apply it.
3. I don’t know if I was made to be a nurse.
I can count MANY times I have had this thought pop into my head. Many of these times was when things were super overwhelming and just thought maybe I wasn’t cut out for this kind of work. BUT… let me tell you something, we have ALLLLL had these moments where we have thought this and know we definitely were made for this! Nursing is a hard profession, guys. It is not easy. You will have amazing days and some really difficult days you just want to end. But then, you have the moment like I had when a patient tells you how much of an impact you have made on them and how grateful they are to you for helping them feel better. These moments are what reminds me that I was made for this profession and keep me pushing through the difficult times. So even nursing school will push your limits running on no sleep, countless coffee drinks, stressing over the next exam, etc.
Hope you guys realize that all these are valid reasons to be nervous or scared about in nursing school. If at any point you are still finding yourself having a really difficult time trying to keep your stress/anxiety under control, try talking to someone else in your cohort that are experiencing the same thing and how they are able to cope with it in the program. Or confide in a family member that you can talk to about it. You are not alone.
You got this! I have complete faith in every single one of you!
XOXO,
Kristen