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Graduation is approaching–you have the finish line in sight and are SO ready to be done! Of course, most new grads still have the NCLEX to look forward to and to prepare for, but school is almost over!
Now, having made it through and done things you once thought were absolutely impossible, you know you are not the same person who entered nursing school so long ago. You are about to enter the workforce as a professional. No longer a student with an instructor watching over your shoulder, you’ll have your own license and will be responsible for what you do in your own right.
Responsibility is what having a license is all about. No one has the right to practice certain trades, drive a car or fly a plane without providing proof they can do it safely. Successful completion of a course of study from an accredited school is the first of the necessary steps to becoming a nurse (passing the NCLEX is the other).
Why then, should nursing school be so difficult? Hard to get in, even harder to make passing grades and to keep up with your clinical hours! You’re constantly evaluated, not only on tests but also on a personal level by those who observe the way you dress, speak, interact with others and carry yourself as a potential professional nurse. And a social life? Forget about it!
Nursing is a different discipline from any other degree program at a college or university. You are being prepared to literally hold another person’s life in your hands one day. You learn how to resuscitate a person, give drugs that can be very dangerous, perform a physical exam and develop critical thinking skills so you understand what you are doing and why. You learn to be an educator and advocate for patients, their families and other health care providers. Even doctors will learn things from you!
Nursing is not a good career choice for the faint at heart, nor is it a route to snagging a doctor to marry (aka getting an MRS degree). The soap opera depictions of romantic merry-go-rounds do not happen in real life. Nursing is extremely hard work that can be so profoundly exciting and unique, people actually get a high from it!
Is it fair for schools to weed out students who do not have the right stuff to do this kind of work? I happen to believe that it IS–because when all is said and done, it is not about US but about patients’ needs being met. We are not doing anyone a kindness by encouraging people who do not have what it takes to stand and deliver good patient care to stay in the profession.
In most schools, students who figure out that nursing is not for them after all usually drop out of the program. And many who stay in because of a false sense of job security from a recession-proof career and other such notions find themselves miserable and going from job to job, seeking the satisfaction and happiness which never was guaranteed in the first place.
So yes, nursing school is about teaching you critical thinking, meeting patient needs, and being an advocate. But it’s about making sure you’re ready for the truly difficult task ahead: Recognizing that you’ve entered more than a career…you’ve entered a calling. Even at times when things were truly bad and I desperately wanted to get OUT of the profession and prayed for guidance toward something else, the answer was a firm NO and I was steered back into nursing, whether I liked it or not at the time.
So, as you prepare to receive your diploma and school pin, be happy and proud that you are embarking on a journey into one of the toughest jobs you will ever love!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
For more Career Advice for Nurses pick up the latest issue of Scrubs magazine, available at a retail store near you!
Student
Nursing Student (you can change this when you graduate!)
Nothing worth having comes easy.
Scrubs Blogger
Scrubs Blogger
Fan
Because nurses deserve their own fan base
Good point!
Student
Nursing Student (you can change this when you graduate!)
But the question is whether there is a difference between hard, which is a good thing, and competitive and cutthroats, which in my opinion is unnecessary. Does the faculty really need to give stats at orientation about less than half passing? I mean we know it’s competitive; it was difficult enough to get in to the program. Do I really need to hear that there is a less than 50% chance of me passing? Do we need to hear, at every class, an update of how many students dropped? I think it just causes a fear that is unnecessary. Why wouldn’t they want us to all pass? Is there a limit to how many can graduate? We all made it this far, why shouldn’t we be able to see it through to the end?
Student
Nursing Student (you can change this when you graduate!)
I agree with Abby. I totally understand the severity and seriousness of the responsibility laid on our shoulders. One simple has to walk into the room of a critically ill patient to be reminded that lives hang in the balance in our work and it is our job to make sure that they stay on the right side of that line. However, some instructors are more of a hindrance than a help. Unfortunately Nursing is a very catty profession sometimes, and I’ve been chewed up by more than one instructor. The frustrating part of that for me is that every time I’ve been worked over by an instructor I didn’t do anything WRONG, I simply didn’t KNOW something. I think that instructors need to keep in mind that we are still new to this and will learn and grow as we progress. I think that no matter how well you do in school, on the first day as an R.N. you’re still going to feel like you know nothing. Some things can only be taught by experience and in my opinion, Nursing instructors aren’t doing us any favors by being unnecessarily harsh on us. After all, they were once exactly where we are, and for the majority of them, school was probably a bit easier because standards, protocols, and technologies have advanced since they’ve graduated. We’re not asking for a free ride — just cut us some slack sometimes! If we’re putting ourselves through hell to get that degree, we’re committed to the job and our patients, trust us!
LPN
Licensed Practical Nurse
Agreed. I don’t have a problem with being expected to behave in a professional manner, but I had one instructor who threatened to send us home if we made even minor mistakes. That is not a very helpful attitude for a teacher, in my opinion. It made me afraid to ask questions.
I also don’t like the way the program is set up. Many of us HAVE to work. We don’t have a spouse or parents supporting us. We have rent or mortgages to pay. Why is there no option to take either day or evening classes, or possibly online classes. Most of the classes in my program, the instructor read straight out of the textbook. I could have been through the program in half the time if I’d been able to take the classes online. I could have done some of the work during my downtime at work. I understand that you have to take the clinicals in person, of course, but why not give options for taking the classes? The reality is that these days many students are working adults with families!
Pingback: Why is Nursing School so Hard? « John Knowles
Student
Nursing Student (you can change this when you graduate!)
i agree with Abby, Lauren, and Therealcie. indeed the curriculum is not hard as the way the instructors explain it. i believe that instructors need to understand the fact that we are NOT attending a medical school and we dont have to know more what we are suppose to know. most of them have issues. if i knew that would happen to me, i would have studied different major. 2 of my friends one in engineering school and the other one in pharmacy school,,, i have books more than they both have. i have studying time more than each one has… i am glad i am making good grades, otherwise i would be a resident in a mantel hospital
23 years in I can honestly say that Connors School of Nursing was pretty tough and it seemed some instructors took pride in how harshly they weeded out students. My class started with over 50, more transferred in at different points and we still graduated only 22. I can think of several who I think would have been great nurses had they gotten a little less grief and a little more support when it mattered