What You Need to Know When Nursing School Makes You Want to Quit

At some point in our nursing careers, we all wonder what the heck we were thinking!

No one tells you that at some point you may wonder what you’re doing in this place called nursing. I was older than all my nursing school friends by ten years. I was twenty-eight instead of eighteen. And, even with ten years of life experience under my belt, as I walked onto the medical ICU at 6:30 a.m. and reported for my first clinical day, I didn’t have that much more life wisdom than my fellow nursing students.

The night before my first clinical day (at 8 p.m., no earlier!) nursing students reported to the unit to get their patient assignments. By 6:30 a.m. the next morning we had to have the following information completed:
the pathophysiology of the patient’s medical condition an index card of every medication they were taking including dosage, side effects, nursing considerations, etc. a nursing care plan for the patient

My patient was a 60-year-old white male who had had a myocardial infarction less than 12 hours ago. He was connected to a monitor and an IV. The ICU nurse handed me a razor blade and a pink plastic bin, told me to wake him up, and get him shaved and bathed because the docs were going to round in 15 minutes.

The last thing she said before leaving the room was, “Don’t cut him. He’s on a blood thinner.”

While the razor blade glistened in my hand, my heart was banging in my ears and my patient appeared comatose. I knew that if I went any further with this charade of becoming a nurse, I was going to kill him. If not him, then the next one.

What was I doing here? I never wanted to be a nurse growing up. I wasn’t even sure what nurses actually did. But there I was . . . scared, confused, and lacking the ability to prioritize, and someone put a razor blade in my hand. What the heck?

I want to tell you upfront that I get it! All nurses get it. Even the ones who won’t admit it.

I’ve been a new nurse. I know what you’re going through.

Somehow you get through the hours and years of nursing education and clinicals, someone hands you a diploma, you pass a hugely stressful certification exam, and suddenly you’re supposed to know what to do with all the sick people on the planet.

At some point, we’ve all asked, “What am I doing here?”

Nursing clinical time is supposed to be the equivalent to residency for a doctor, but, truth be told, nursing clinicals don’t prepare us for real-life patient care. If you’re anything like I was after graduation, you’re still clueless when it comes to the complexities of the healthcare system. You still struggle somewhat through the steps of sterile technique or applying the nursing process.

You know some things, but are unsure about other things.

There’s stuff you know you don’t know and there’s stuff you don’t even know you don’t know yet.

The mantra in your head never ends . . . .
“Am I smart enough to be a nurse?”
“What if I make a mistake and someone is injured . . . or worse?”

Even a 6-week or 8-week orientation isn’t enough to silence that voice in your head that’s screaming, “Just don’t kill anyone!”

As a seasoned nurse, here’s what I want you to know.

That voice in your head will never go away. It will fade to barely perceptible decibels only to resurface again as a deafening roar every time you learn something new. But it will never go away because there’s too much at stake.
It’s there to keep you honest, to remind you that no one knows everything no matter how confident they feel or how many hours of nursing practice they accumulate.

The confusion will pass. The confidence will come. It will take time and experience.
It takes a quite a few shifts of caring for five patients and thirteen family members, while cleaning up stool and emptying suction canisters, taking vitals and recognizing abnormals, checking orders and calling the doctor, all while realizing you have to draw STAT labs while two of your patients are trying to get out of bed without help and another is complaining of chest pain.

YOU WILL eventually feel like you’ve gotten it together and the processes will be easier.
It takes about six months to a year. Most nurses will admit that they begin to feel sure-footed sometime around the one year mark. It will vary for everyone depending on your specialty but it will happen.

Manage your expectations. Expect to struggle in nursing school and during your first year as a nurse. Expect to study long and hard throughout nursing school and beyond. Nursing is a profession that requires life-long learning. Expect the confidence to come, because it will. I promise.

For more help, information, and encouragement, download The Beginner’s Guide to Nursing.