Back to school time, means back to stress time. Now that I’m entering my last semester I feel excited to cross the finish line but so tired that I may have to crawl instead of run towards it. Can you believe how fast time has gone? When you first start nursing school you hear from everyone you know how quickly time will fly by. You may roll you eyes, or laugh under your breath, but just know this! When you are swamped in clinical's, simulations, lectures and tons of reading you don’t actually notice just how fast time has gone.

Now that I’m done sounding like a grandma reminiscing with her grandchildren, today I have put together a small list of things I wish I knew before starting nursing school. At this point I feel like there are certain things you always hear. Like “It will be the hardest thing you ever done” or “You will have no social life after you start”. And while I do agree with both of those statements today I thought I would share with you some things I’ve notice during my time in school that not to many nursing forums, YouTube channels or blogs discuss.

Whether your starting your first semester or finishing your last let me know which of these tips fellow nurses & nursing students have shared with you!

You Will Cry

Whether it happens because of frustration, pent up stress, or embarrassment there will come a moment when all you want to do is go home, and throw a self-pity party consisting of you, your negative emotions, and your tears. 

I won’t tell you to get a straw and suck it up. Find a bridge and get over it. It hurts when you feel like you're doing everything you possibly can but have nothing to show for it. Or when you keep making mistakes and can't help but find yourself lacking compared to others. The ugly (and constantly repeated) truth is that nursing school is tough!! You will be pushed to your breaking point and sometimes a good cry is all you need to release that pent up stress. Remember this, crying doesn’t make you weak, or any less of a nurse. It just means your human, and you have emotions that need to be released. Need a little help getting those tears out? Watch The Notebook. It works like a charm every time!  

C’s get degrees is just an excuse for laziness 

Ugh~ I hate this statement, but at the same time this sentence got me through my psychology degree. Look. No one is saying that if you don’t get all A’s you’ll become a social outcast, end up on the streets, and live the rest of your days with a one eared cat named patches as your lifelong companion. Did that sound dramatic? Probably. Is that how your brain thinks? 2 big thumbs up. But going into school with the mindset that C’s are all you need is just wrong. You should always put 100% (99% is acceptable also) into what you do. Don’t go to school wasting time not paying attention, not doing the readings at home, and barely passing every test you get. Forgive my language but it honestly makes you look like a half assed individual. Would you want a nurse who half-assed your treatment?

It’s almost change of shift and your patient’s blood pressure is borderline hypotension. The patient is fluid overloaded and is scheduled to receive a diuretic. You know you should hold the med back but you have other patients you have to see, and you don’t feel like having to call the provider and explain the situation when you know you’ll be handing off in 15 minutes. So you give the med, and decide to just let the next shift deal with it.

WHO WOULD DO THIS?! 

In any other major I would agree. Yes, C’s do get degrees. But when you have a person’s life in your hands that kind of mindset isn’t going to cut it. You will encounter people who are like this, and god forbid you ever have to meet them as a patient. Don’t join in and don’t encourage it. Remember why you chose to become a nurse and use that as motivation to propel you forward. 

You can never study to much

Eat. Breathe. Live nursing textbooks. The only time you can say you've studied too much is when days have past and you can’t remember the last time you showered, eaten or saw another human being. Other than that you probably haven’t studied too much. Before I entered nursing school I only thought of studying as reading through the textbook and jotting down some notes. Nowadays there are so many available resources that will help you study and learn the material without sitting at your desk for hours on end. Podcast, YouTube videos, songs, and study guides help you learn the material without losing your sanity in the process. On my way to school or work, during my workouts, and when I unwind to go to bed you can usually find me listening to a nursing podcast. During free moments I might watch a helpful youtube video to help me memorize my material. When I have a free moment at work I might bust out a study guide so that I can review what I learned, and focus on what I need to know. 

It sucks but if you want a break you’re going to have to plan it, and pencil it into your planner. During my first semester I would always underestimate how much time I needed to spend studying and I gave myself way too much free time. It’s a balancing act but just remember you can fit in different methods of studying into almost all parts of your usual daily activities. 

Your fear of public speaking will be gone in a matter of minutes 

Sweet biscuit!! There is no such thing as a shy nursing student and the teachers do their best to make sure of this. I never thought of myself as a shy or having a fear of public speaking, but I realized my mistake quickly after starting school. Since starting nursing school, I feel like presenting to the class and teacher has become the weekly norm.

Every week I find myself standing in front of the class, with 1-2 other classmates, and a stern teacher burning a hole into the side of my head as I present/teach on a topic I just learned.

Some shy people do manage to fly under the radar, but I’ve also learned that once a teacher discovers a shy student, they make it their life’s mission to call on that person repeatedly. Save yourself. The only people that avoid this are the students who are always volunteering to talk. Keep volunteering and eventually the teacher will want you to shut up and they'll find a different prey to move onto.

    Your first clinical assignment will scare the crap out of you

No amount of tech work, CNA work, medical assisting, etc will make it better. The sudden change from assisting with patient care to being in charge of the patient’s care is scary. Realizing how little you know is scarier. The first clinical is always the hardest in my opinion, because it’s a sudden realization of just how much you don’t know. I had been working as a patient tech for 1 year before starting nursing school and I still was amazed at how much I didn’t know.

The learning curve seems so steep at that moment and becoming a nurse suddenly seems like this overwhelming, daunting task. With plenty of time and experience that feeling does get better and soon enough it will completely disappear. Personally whenever I would start worrying about this, I would go speak to a nurse on the floor. The nurses you work with will love to tell you all about their nursing school days and even tell you funny new grad stories to help you calm down. Remember you are not alone, and you are not the only one going through this! 

Drop a comment down below if you’ve experienced any of these or have any other tips that you want to share. Have any questions? Feel free to leave a comment below or email me!

Till next time!