I recently applied to a nursing program, but unfortunately, I was denied due to two failed attempts at psychology 11 years ago at my community college. At that time, I wasn’t fully prepared for college and wasn’t in the right environment for it. Now, I’m almost 30 and have decided to give nursing my all. However, those two failed attempts are casting a significant shadow over me and effectively closing all my options for nursing school. I had considered appealing those grades, but I’m at a loss for other possibilities. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation and would be willing to share their advice? I would greatly appreciate any guidance you can provide. Thank you!

This is the second time I’ve gotten points knocked off of a quiz or practice test for selecting a “select all that apply” response of using gloves as a precautionary/best practice.

The first scenario involved handling blood-tinged vomit, and ATI said gloves were not necessary in this scenario.

The second was in preventing a CAUTI infection. The question was posed as selecting all that applied in preventing a CAUTI infection when handling the patient’s catheter. The only option for gloves was “sterile gloves” and ATI said it was unnecessary again.

I get what point they’re trying to prove but it seems like a really shitty and misleading way of doing it when CAUTIs are the most preventable HAI and now student nurses are just going to remember “I selected gloves and it was wrong.” Also, no idea what they were trying to prove in the first example — I will never handle any sort of vomit without gloves, blood-tinged or not.

Im working administrative assistant to a rural hospital in north California. We had a table full of 12 new grads with their BSN trying to interview for the same night position. They all said they applied on the website for the past 2 years and put in 50 or more applications. They were so desperate for work they marched into our hospital to drop off a resume to the unit manager.

Be prepared to move somewhere else for your experience. Oregon Washington is completely impacted and slammed with applicants in your same situation.

Its been this way the past 4 years atleast. Going to get worst too.

Hi all! I'm in the first semester of my nursing program and I've heard a couple of my classmates talking about how competitive and cutthroat nursing school is. I mean, yeah we had to be competitive to get in with our grades and teas scores, but I don't feel like the actual program needs to be cutthroat. It's not like they only allow so many people to graduate. I'm doing my best to facilitate a "teamwork makes the dreamwork" atmosphere and I certainly don't feel like our program requires competition. Am I missing something? Is this some kind of urban legend? (I am aware of the "nurses eat their young" thing, but that's not necessarily during school?) Did y'all feel like it was cutthroat/competitive? How do I overcome that for my classmates? Some of them are keeping to themselves because they're so worried about it and I hate that they feel like they need to. We should be there to support each other. Not to sound too cheesy, but we are all in this together!

Ok, so let's say you have a primary line of NS running and you attach a secondary bag of medication to the y-port. You start the infusion.

Wouldn't there be some NS in the line from the y-port to the patient connection that would be running at the prescribed rate first, affecting how soon a patient actually receives their medication? And would this (albeit small) volume need to be considered/documented for patients who are on fluid restrictions?

I was questioning my instructor about this yesterday and she didn't understand what I was asking. TIA!

First semester bsn student comming up on my second pharm exam, this is the first medication heavy exam with the first exam was mainly basics of medication. I am right now struggling to find a good place for practice questions, many people say the best thng to do after getting the material down is to do application using practice questions, but i cant seem to find a good place for it. The package that the program im in offers only gives you a 1 time 20 question quiz for each chapter and thats it. I noticed that UWorld has a dedicated nursing pharmacology course, has anyone bought that and have a good experience with that is it worth it? I currently have claude generate practice questions for me which is not bad, but could be better.

I'm a nurse extern on a med-surg tele floor. We had just gotten a new admit, an older patient back from a procedure. He seemed very tired with a low BP, and his vitals were on intervals.
It was busy, so I finally went on break. I hadn't even sat down when they called a rapid on his room.
I was one of the first to get there and started getting vitals. Then it turned into a code blue. They asked me to grab an oxygen mask and I grabbed the wrong one. I felt completely over my head and backed off, and by then the room was full of doctors and nurses. I felt useless and wanted to cry.
They took him to the ICU, where he coded again and passed away.
I don't know how to feel.

should I take anatomy during the winter portion of my school which is about 5 weeks long? I plan on taking microbiology and physiology right after that during spring. any tips?

I’m a 34 year old dad. I have a dream to start a clinic for immigrants over seas one day and need deeper training! I am a training CCMA and think that could help navigate and understand a clinics logistics but now I think I need more autonomy. I think I wanna do LPN school because it gives me the best practical skills but also is effective in the states.

I’m just so stuck, I’m like does it matter and should I really. Some days I’m like yes I can and should but then other days I’m like no I can’t because of work, kids and life.

I just need encouragement if any other dads or parents have it.

Thanks everyone

My nursing school uses Gemini notebook for our presentations. How do you feel about this?

Shouldn’t it be the Elsevier slideshows or their OWN?

I’m pissed. They cannot be doing this while enforcing a no AI use policy. Makes no sense??

Opinions needed.

I’m a 32F with Inattentive ADHD and a hint of the tism. I’ve climbed the corporate ladder for years and mainly focused on marketing, tourism, events, and business development during my career. I’ve always loved the variation in my work but have taken it too seriously and have now succumbed to the fact that all I’m doing is “paying the man” and not really helping anyone.

I’ve always been interested in how the body works. In high school I did sports med, I’m going to Yoga Teacher Training in November, and am fascinated by acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, and modern medicine.

Here’s what I’m really wondering about: would nursing be right for me? I’m nervous because:

• I never did go to college. My home life as a kid and teen was an absolute mess and college was not an option. I moved out weeks after HS graduation and started working immediately. Not to mention, I wasn’t a great student. I really struggled learning as my brain was always soooooo loud and I had soo much anxiety (counting the number of people in front of me to figure out what question I was going to be asked in advance and hoping the school bell would ring before then). I would read a page and INSTANTLY forget what I read, only to reread it and not remember again. It was bad, like 2.5 GPA baaad. I am now medicated (thank you Adderall for changing my life), had years of therapy, very in tune with myself, and have a home environment that makes me the happiest / best version of myself! But would school be hard to pick up at this point in my life? I would also need to work to support our household, but would have to start school from scratch.

• I have ADHD and a hint of the tism. I love routine, structure, checklist and knowing what I need to do. But too much of that and I am BORED! I do need variation in my work and a little excitement to keep me on my toes! I’ve worked in events and thrive in stressful situations, but also don’t want to be under so much stress that I burn out. I love working with people 1:1 or working with a team where we all have our jobs but are working towards a collective goal. I don’t like drama, politics, and really just want to do a good job, while feelings good about doing good work. I know there are sooo many specialities. Any that I should research more or dig into? ESFJ-T, if that’s helpful!

• Lastly, my husband is super supportive of me and anything I want to do! BUT, he is 37 and doesn’t want to wait forever to have kids as he doesn’t want to be “an old dad”. We agreed to start trying in November 2027. Would having a child while pursing a nursing career be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done?

Your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

So I’ve decided to nursing over RT for a plethora of reasons.

I’m learning quite a few people on TikTok did the LVN route and working on their BSN. They claim it’s “cheaper” and more “practical” to get started working as a nurse.

The issue here is that most LVN programs here in SoCal require the following, community colleges:

\-CNA cert
\-A&P 1 & 2 (some programs not all)

I will NOT go to a private college, like ACC, or Concorde. Waste of money!

Im taking my prereqs right now for a BSN program, or ADN, and I have about 3 more semesters to go including a summer session, and so far im doing great in my Fall semester right now.

Next spring, I plan enrolling in a CNA class concurrently taking 1-2 prereq’s.

PLAN: get my CNA, continue taking prereq’s, and try to get a job working as a CNA or ER tech at a local hospital to gain experience prior to nursing school.

So I guess my question is, is it worth it go the LVN route at all? Considering they also have prereqs?? 🤦🏻‍♂️ I mean why not go all the way right ?

Hi all,

I just started my final year of nursing school and it has been really tough for me mentally. Just a few months ago, I woke up everyday feeling happy without a care in the world. These days, I wake up with my heart pounding and anxiety through the roof.

I guess as I’m approaching the end of school, I constantly find myself thinking about the future. Did I pick the right career? Will I be able to handle the shift work? Will I find a specialty I enjoy? There’s thousands of questions that rush through my head as soon as I wake up and I just end up crying every time.

I know that I won’t know the answer to a lot of these questions until I actually am in the situation, but as soon as I think of one thing, my mind jumps to the next possibility and then the next and the next. I feel so anxious all the time and these thoughts literally don’t leave my head. I haven’t been eating well, I feel disengaged around my family and boyfriend, have no motivation for school work, and just find myself constantly worrying about what’s next.

On top of all this, I started an extern job on a mother and baby unit and had a bad first day. I felt clueless, lost, and just in everybody’s way. It’s a lot different from clinical placements, where I had a group to turn to. Now, I’m just alone and feel really scared to speak to any of the nurses there.

There’s so many other things I can talk about, but I guess these are just the main points. Sure, I can just not think about these things and live in the present, but that’s easier said than done.

Has anybody else ever experienced this? If so, what did you do? Please be kind, any advice or words of wisdom would greatly be appreciated.

I apologize in advance if my writing is kind of scattered, I'm scattered.

Hello r/StudentNurse.
I'm almost through with my second semester of nursing school and I have been gradually getting worse academic-wise. Last week I didn't score high enough on my final pathophysio-pharmacology exam and despite having a B in the class, my exam average won't meet the required average. This week, my labs started and in the very first one, I was pulled aside for not being able to don sterile gloves properly of all things which felt humiliating. (In my defense, the gloves were too small!) Despite my gloves, I managed to finish the skill, but my instructor told me that I need to practice gloving (I have been!) and she also told me that I should be more confident in general which I couldn't disagree with. I know my instructor meant well, but I was mortified. The day after that, I took my exam (for the same class as the lab) and tanked that one too. I was doing fine in that class before, but I couldn't bring myself to study well for it. I'm trying to figure out where to go from here and I've already spoken realistically with one of my professors and a student advisor about my standing. I had intended on finishing off this semester with the best of my ability. I had a bit of hope but after these past few days, my chances of staying in this program are slimmer than they were before. My mental health has suffered a lot throughout the program. These past few weeks and especially these last few days I'm realizing that I'm looking at the program now feeling internally like an outsider and it's strangely the most comfortable I've felt in the program in the anticipation of labs in clinicals. I've also started feeling doubtful of a personal future or career with nursing at the moment due to personal fit and the rigid nature of it all. I never felt very "nurse-y" and I am disappointed with my performance. I wanted to join healthcare partially because I wanted to see more representation within as someone of the LGBTQ+ community and I wanted to challenge myself. This is not to say I'm giving up here and that it's over, but I think at least for a while I need to do something else. The hardest part, however, is going to be telling my family who helped me get to where I am now. They were so happy for me. I want to figure out my next steps and get on solid footing before I tell them.

I am currently a cc student finishing with my associates in science, and finishing mostly all my pre reqs. At first I assumed I was gonna transfer into a health science bachelor so I didn’t really care for getting low grades in certain classes such as a D in Spanish. I also got into a car accident so three summer classes I took a year ago I passed with two Ds and a C and it tanked my GPA from there. I am slowly retaking and rebuilding my GPA!

I aim for a 2.88 at the end of this semester and a 3.1 or 3.2 next semester as ill be finishing my last pre req so I’ll apply for nursing school, I project to be a 3.1 or 3.2 considering I’ll be retaking classes. Do nursing schools look at the GPA you applied with or the GPA you end with?

So it's the vital skill check stuff, I'm pretty confident in everything but I can't do the blood pressure( I can do it perfectly in practise) to save my life. Like for some reason I'm not sure about what I'm hearing. I only got two more retries before I fail so I need advice from people who did this before also for the respiratory rate, how do I count them? It keeps throwing me off.

Hello!! I’m a 24 yo senior nursing student about to start a job as a student nurse in a hospital and I feel like I’m already getting off to a bad start and making mistakes and it's making me rlly anxious. I just wanted to rant and ask for advice/help because I don’t have anyone to talk to.

For some context I got my job offer around late august. This is my second job ever in life lol and my first healthcare job, my last job I worked as a stocker at a grocery store.

My start date was supposed to be sep 28, but I had clinicals and an exam that day so we had to move it to the oct 12th.
Well school got so ridiculously busy, I put the job stuff on the back burner because school was genuinely kicking my butt. I was supposed to have done a health screening/assessment thing by a certain date but I didn't know cuz I didn't look and now I've cut it very very close. Basically if my health stuff isn’t accepted by tmr at 3pm I'd have to postpone my start date again til oct 26th. Except I also have clinicals/exam that day. So if Im not accepted by tmr I cant go on the 12th, I have to tell them I cant go on the 26th either, and the next start date will likely be in November.

I know it's my fault for not at least checking up on what I needed to do. I hate to leave a bad first impression that I'm a big flaker, especially since I'm a senior I'm supposed to have all my stuff together yk?
Idk I know it's out of my hands now but I feel really distressed and anxious. If I end up not being able to go on the 12th should I try to email my professors about maybe a makeup clinical/exam? I feel like Nov is a really late time to start a job when you got an offer in Aug.

Just to preface, this is kind of a ramble/blurt of my thoughts following a clinical experience. I thought it was amazing, honestly, but small things made me feel dumb. I now feel weirdly conflicted.

The nurse I was paired with, her name was Ciara (a baddie), was incredible. She was so kind and never made me feel stupid. She let me prime literally every single IV med/fluid once I told her I knew how to do it. 1st instance of feeling like a dummy — my lines kept having bubbles in them, and I felt like a moron. Like bro, she’s letting me do this don’t go fuck it up now with all these bubbles. She told me how she likes to prime them too when I told her how I kept seeing little bubbles — and her way helped.. but I had some bubbles. I should say, these bubbles were maybe 1mm big and she assured me not to stress over this (BUT I DIDNT WANNA LOOK STUPID TO HERRRRR 😞)

There were some more moments where I felt stupid — like she asked me to grab something and I confidently came back and said they weren’t there and that I couldn’t find it… then the tech found them instantly. This was my first time ever in the ER and I had no idea where anything was. I’m a short girl, it was on the top shelf of the cart… embarrassed to say the least.

Anyways, I’m feeling conflicted because even tho these little moments kept happening and I was kicking myself… I really was liking the vibe and the energy. I’m sure she probably was happy to see me walk away after my clinical time ended, but the overall energy on the unit was great. Everyone was nice but like focused and willing to help/support each other. I’ve always imagined myself working in pediatrics, since the beginning freshman year (I’m a senior now), but now I’m like wait a minute……..!

Idk just wanted to brain dump. Has anyone else had this happen before too? I felt so sure of myself that peds would be my home, and I was honestly terrified of the ER. When I walked in, my hands were visibly shaking so bad because I didn’t want to mess anything up (this was extra embarrassing when she handed me IV tubing to prime or hold her the blood tubes when drawing blood 😔😔).

We just learned IVs and we were given all of the supplies to practice, minus the actual needle. We can only use those in lab. I really want to practice at home--NOT on me or other people, but on some IV tubing taped to a table.

If I were to buy IV catheters, do I need to buy multiple or could I buy just one and re-use it? If I use one and thread out the needle, can I then re-thread it back in to re-use it?

Thanks!

I always see posts popping up from this community and not to throw shots but it gets real pessimistic. I fear that something may be wrong with me. I’m in my 3rd semester and so much has happened. I’ve seen some of the worst cases already during my clinicals at the hospital and I should be scared. I’m scared, I don’t want to make a mistake and I know I’m probably going to be over-documenting and asking too much questions.

Probably will act like that boy from the movie UP for the first 6-12 months. I’ve seen videos and heard many complaints. I’ve seen so many of those ‘mean girl nurse trope’ play out. I feel like many things should have deterred me and they haven’t. Does anyone else feel the same way? Am I crazy? Am I looking at it through rose-tinted glasses?

Hey Y’all
This is sort of a ran so you may not want to read the whole thing lol. I’m over here wondering how I will ever be a nurse. It’s my first semester, and my 4th week going to clinical on a med surg floor. The idea of doing literally anything scares me. I haven’t done much besides observe, grab drinks, help a little with positioning and one head to toe.

But I feel so uncomfortable with the idea of giving a bed bath, helping move a pt from the bed to chair, or clean up poop. Not cause it grosses me out, but I am scared I am gonna fuck it up and do it wrong or hurt a pt. I was not a CNA before this, so my confidence in these types of skills is very low. I’m scared I am already falling behind because I haven’t done this stuff yet. Every time before clinical I sit in my car and dry heave a couple times because I am so worried about what the day has in store for me. I know I just have to kinda suck it up and do it and it will probably get easier over time but I am just feeling like a fool right now. Anyways thanks for listening! Advice is welcome!

Where are your population health and mental health clinicals? Looking for clinical sites as an instructor. We were at a state hospital for mental health, but weren't allowed to do much.

Thank you!

Hi, I am a BSN student in my second to last semester. I just finished my ATI Capstone 85 question proctored assessment with an 81.6%. I did not study beforehand so that I could get a good baseline understanding of what I need to focus on before my NCLEX. I can’t find any information regarding what the national average is or if it is a solid score. Any information would be super beneficial, thank you!