<p>I'm currently struggling with how to answer the question "Do I want to be a nurse?"</p>
<p>I was super sure I wanted to be a nurse for awhile, and then A&P came along. I struggled with it a lot and barely made it through A&P I but did well in A&P II. I then felt confident again that I wanted to be a nurse. At that point, I actually started nursing school. I loved it at first, and I did well throughout the entire semester, but maybe halfway through I started questioning if nursing was what I really wanted. It didn't help that mental health wise I wasn't doing well at all. I decided to take the spring semester off from nursing, and during that time decided that I wanted to change my major...to what, I wasn't sure. Over the summer I was thinking I'd like to be a teacher...another respectable career which I have some experience in. I took this semester off partly because of mental health and partly because I'm just not sure what I want to do. I'm doing well mental health wise, and am going back to school next semester so I have to decode and answer the big question. How in the world do you do that?</p>
<p>Can you try to get some experience in health care so that you can get a clue about what it even means to be a nurse? I think that you may be having trouble deciding because you have no experience with what it is like to be a nurse. </p>
<p>An area hospital may have a program that would be helpful for you. My daughter worked in EMS for years while in high school and this helped her to have an idea about what nursing would be like. Do you know any nurses that you could talk to and ask about what they do?</p>
<p>I did one semester of clinicals and I enjoyed my time. If I hadn’t been enjoying it, I probably would’ve failed, and by the same token, I got the best grades of my life that semester even though I wasn’t doing well mental health wise.</p>
<p>To be honest, when I became a nurse, I did not really know what it meant to be one. I just knew I loved anatomy and physiology and wanted to do work that I would use that knowledge. As I took my prereqs: Psych, Soc, Chem. I thought that if nursing also needed knowledge in these areas that further supported my concept it was for me. Luckily for me being a nurse really suits me. </p>
<p>I don’t think you can really know what nursing is like until you start doing clinical rotations. That is what the role really entails but not the task stuff, but the big picture part. Understanding the patient’s disease process, honing your assessment skills to monitor progress or decline, making a difference by anticipating patient or family needs early and having the assertiveness to stand up to Doctors or even other staff in order to ensure it gets done.</p>
<p>Nursing isn’t a wimpy profession and it can be stressful so if you think your mental health is not up for it, there are other healthcare roles that might be less so such as Respiratory therapy or speech therapy.</p>
<p>I did a semester of clinicals, and I enjoyed it…but I wasn’t sure if it was for me. Now the thing is, I don’t know if that’s because of my mental status or because it just isn’t my thing.</p>
<p>“I took this semester off partly because of mental health and partly because I’m just not sure what I want to do. I’m doing well mental health wise, and am going back to school next semester so I have to decode and answer the big question. How in the world do you do that?”
I would suggest that you are only having trouble with this question because of what you yourself have stated: “I’m just not sure what I want to do.”
When you are ready, if you are ready and this is for you; then I don’t believe you would have much of an issue answering this very basic question.
I also personally think you would be doing yourself a favor to figure this out once and for all and completely before you jump back into the nursing program. What if you want to take yet another beak? What if you complete more of the program, finish it even, only to find out you can’t stand the field? </p>
<p>Why did A/P first shake your decision to pursue nursing? Was it the difficulty, or the material content? I will let you know that in the BSN program that I was in, we basically were given a review of any A/P we were expected to know or use for that course; so if this area (perhaps memorization) was just difficult for you don’t let that alone deter you too much.
“Now the thing is, I don’t know if that’s because of my mental status or because it just isn’t my thing.”
Without knowing what type of mental status you are referring to (just some general anxiety or something a lot more serious), it’s hard to really comment on this at all:
It may be a condition which isn’t compatible with what nursing asks of you; it may be a condition that may be easily managed; or it may just be some short term episode that should have little to no impact on your future career decisions.</p>
<p>Post above: “Nursing isn’t a wimpy profession and it can be stressful so if you think your mental health is not up for it, there are other healthcare roles that might be less so such as Respiratory therapy or speech therapy.”
While I don’t like the word ‘wimpy’ (what careers do you consider ‘wimpy’, I’m curious?) I would go on to say that most jobs working in a hospital environment especially are going to have a high stress level- whether it’s nurse or respiratory etc. Outpatient is the next best thing in terms of reduced stress environment, but it’s certainly not stress free. </p>
<p>It may also be how you look at it: if you are talking about something like an extreme anxiety disorder that sometimes gets out of control or isn’t/can’t be well managed, then you might also say that such a person, though they have what may be called an anxiety disorder, is an anxious person and may very well not be well suited to a healthcare field. The point of this previous sentence is to say that you also have to decide- if your mental status at that time made this very unclear- whether it’s going to be compatible with nursing or not. It may be that it was just a very temporary status and won’t have many long term implications; but you also don’t want to push yourself into something that you won’t be okay/successful/happy with.
Give yourself the freedom and ability to say if it just wasn’t for you- without having to attribute it to external (or other) factors if that turns out to not have been the case. For example, if the ‘mental status’ you are describing is something like depression (or anxiety as well), it is also quite possible and not entirely unlikely that your happiness or stress due to the program may have been a large contributing factor…always consider these types of possibilities.</p>
<p>I don’t know what it was about A&P. I think it was mostly that it was HARD. My professor didn’t actually teach us much of anything, she expected us to learn most everything on our own or in the groups she assigned us in class. I wasn’t doing well, and it made me doubt myself.</p>
<p>I’m starting to think that it just wasn’t for me. The thought of going back to the program makes me uncomfortable.</p>
<p>I’ve been raised in nursing homes my whole life, it goes a far back as i could possibly remember. Everyone one in my family is a nurse, CNA, or sonagramer. I know every thing a CNA does. I’ve helped my mom and granny out in the all timer units and on the regualar halls. I’m great with people, they all love my and i give great advice all my friends come to me for help. I always said I’d never do anything that involved nursing or doctor because I’m not that good at math and I’m ok at science. Although i really injoy working with them by the way im 16 and always wanted to got to this school. I’ve worked extremley hard. Honor roll society, top 10% of my class, vice present of my somphore class, and I’m track leader and have won an award for it and I’ve only been in it for going on 2 years now. I’ve played basketball for four years, but no longer play, and I’ve done abnd for 5 but no longer play but i did play clarinet and bass clarinet. I wanna work in law do something spontanous any suggestions!!! thanks Caylin</p>
<p>SingDanceRunLife: You did well enough in A/P to make it into the program didn’t you? You have to keep in mind that science courses are going to be more demanding, and as a result you may not get the grades you are used to. In some science courses a grade of B may be considered very good (equivalent to an A grade in others), and often there are many more factors that can affect one’s grade in a science course: lab grades, more course points overall, practicals, reports, etc. This is quite different from other courses that may have only a couple exam grades. And I would also say that a poor instructor may detriment you far more in a science course than in a non-science one (except math courses). This is just because these classes are going to be more difficult and demanding.
When I got into the BSN program our admitted class was told that the program would be more difficult than any coursework before, and that it would require critical thinking unlike the gen. ed courses. If nursing students were never required to take any sciences, then this might be closer to the truth. But the science prereqs (biology, microbio, chemistry, anatomy/physio) were much more of a challenge and required far more critical thought then any nursing material I was exposed to.
(I did not stay in my BSN program, and have since left to pursue a science major- currently under biology.)</p>
<p>So you may have just had a difficult A/P class (instructor/poor labs/other factor) and it may be isolated. Science classes, especially in the biological sciences, are very often a lot of self teaching since they are often heavy on memorization: there is only so much an instructor can do for you at that point; unlike chemistry for example where further explanation can really help.
A/P may be especially difficult for you, but you have already gotten through it!</p>
<p>“I wasn’t doing well, and it made me doubt myself.”
Again, how were you yourself judging your performance? If you were studying hard and still not making the high grades you wanted it may have just been the class. Apart from that, try not to judge yourself on the basis of your performance in one type of science class; especially since you did put forth the effort and did well enough to get into your nursing program- congrats!</p>
<p>“I’m starting to think that it just wasn’t for me. The thought of going back to the program makes me uncomfortable.”</p>
<p>It very well may not be for you, but only you can decide. But try not to let this be influenced by your struggles in A/P. You may find that you like certain nursing courses far more than others, and that interest may really drive your performance as well. But just don’t let undesirable performance in one area influence your overall decision- then you really are being overly harsh on yourself. Let yourself be okay with not meeting high expectations in all areas after putting in the effort- don’t stop yourself from trying out of fear of failure.</p>
<p>If you decide it isn’t for you (if you were an R.N. right now and knew you had to go into work tomorrow, would that make you happy? is it something you really want?), then do find out asap and accept whatever you decide.</p>
<p>“I’ve been raised in nursing homes my whole life, it goes a far back as i could possibly remember. Everyone one in my family is a nurse, CNA, or sonagramer. I know every thing a CNA does. I’ve helped my mom and granny out in the all timer units and on the regualar halls. I’m great with people, they all love my and i give great advice all my friends come to me for help. I always said I’d never do anything that involved nursing or doctor because I’m not that good at math and I’m ok at science. Although i really injoy working with them by the way im 16 and always wanted to got to this school. I’ve worked extremley hard. Honor roll society, top 10% of my class, vice present of my somphore class, and I’m track leader and have won an award for it and I’ve only been in it for going on 2 years now. I’ve played basketball for four years, but no longer play, and I’ve done abnd for 5 but no longer play but i did play clarinet and bass clarinet. I wanna work in law do something spontanous any suggestions!!! thanks Caylin”</p>
<p>Hi Caylin, you really don’t have to be great or even ‘good’ at math to work in the health field. The math that you will need to know for nursing is quite basic, and you will have an entire course devoted to teaching you and making sure you are proficient. You aren’t expected to know it before taking the course! As long as you are willing to learn, you will be fine. I would say that you should at least be ‘okay’ in math and science to do nursing, although more proficiency is always better. But don’t exclude yourself due to thinking that these areas require some natural talent- any skill is gotten out of practice and diligence. You sound like a good student who has no reason to limit her potential. 
If nursing or something else health related is what you are really interested in, then go for it! You still have time to decide, and most students change majors in college anyways.
Just remember the talented students or those with advanced degrees only get there by hard work and motivation, and that can surely be you if it is your interest and you are motivated towards it.
Best</p>
<p>Tinuviel8 - In my actual nursing courses with clinical, I did well. In fact, I got the best grades/GPA of my life…but even then I was doubting if nursing was for me because my heart wasn’t completely in it. So I’m not judging based just on A&P, that was just the first doubt.</p>
<p>“but even then I was doubting if nursing was for me because my heart wasn’t completely in it”
By all means find something that your heart is in- this is a career choice that you will be using to make a living daily, so choose something that makes you happy!
You sound like me in that you were doing very well but it just wasn’t for you… I am very glad that I left. I could have done it and done it well but I wouldn’t have been happy long term. That was my scenario…
I really think you should look at other options/majors. I know it’s difficult, once you have invested all the prereq courses to consider that you may be stepping back quite a bit to pursue another major but you have to do what is best for you; and at least you are doing it sooner and not later (after becoming an R.N. or years down the road).</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m trying to figure out what’s gonna make me happy because I don’t think nursing is it…</p>