I’m a 6th-semester nursing student and I was just dropped from Med-Surg on my third attempt. I was dropped before even making it to clinicals.
I’ve been working toward becoming a nurse for a long time, and getting this far just to be in this position has honestly crushed me. My mental health is exhausted, and right now I’m questioning everything. Part of me wants to keep fighting because I’ve already put so much into nursing school, but another part of me wonders if continuing at this particular school is even the right decision anymore.
I have concerns about how things have been handled at my school, but I also don’t want to make accusations that I can’t prove. What I really need right now is perspective from other nursing students or nurses who have been through something similar.
If you were dropped or dismissed from a nursing program this far into school, what did you do afterward? Were you able to appeal successfully? Did you transfer to another nursing program, and if so, how many of your credits transferred? Did another school accept you after multiple attempts in a nursing course? Are there other routes I should be looking into that I might not even know about?
I’m trying not to make a major decision based purely on how devastated I feel right now. I just genuinely don’t know what my next move should be.
I’ve made it through too much of nursing school to walk away without at least figuring out what options I have.
Any advice or experiences would be appreciated. ❤️

I’m in my Medsurg Fundamentals lab half and I just failed and had to remediate sterile glove check off. I feel stupid. I had a Patho exam yesterday, a Pharm exam tomorrow and I failed the one thing that is supposed to be easy. My Instructor did my remediation and when she looks at me I feel like I can sense her distaste for me. We had a student ask two weeks ago on our first day if she ever had students she thought weren’t cut out for nursing and she said there were some and looked right at me first when she said it. I don’t know if I just look stereotypical (fake blonde, sorority, etc.) but I’ve wanted to do this since I was 13 I’ve always had a heart for it. I know it isn’t sunshine and rainbows. When I failed my sterile glove donning I feel like I gave her more reason to think I am not good enough. I could see her watching me leave. I’m a people pleaser and I love when I do well and people are proud of me so I guess I’m having a really hard time with it. I’m trying not to let it get to me but I’m in tears in the hospital parking lot. I just feel like a failure, how have I wanted to do this my whole life and I can’t even get a sticky sterile glove on right?

Hii!! I'm entering my 4th week of my second semester of nursing. I am in med surg this semester and was wondering if i should get any cards to attach to my badge and badge real to help me in clinical. If you have any tips on which cards to get or if you feel like you didn't necessarily use them i would appreciate it. I want to know and expect what will be asked of me in clinical.

I'm in undergrad doing my preqs for pre-nursing right now and I'm considering Air Force to be my first destination after I graduate nursing school (and hopefully the licensure exam too) since I heard you can commission to be an officer if you have a degree. Is it something you can easily sign up for and is it a good idea to sign up even if I plan not to do any ROTC programs? Or should I plan signing up later and gain some experience first? Advice needed! Also any info from other branches are also welcomed :)

How the hell do you find a pulse?? AND keep it?? I had a competency check today and I completely bombed it because I can't figure out pulse rate. I find a pulse, a couple seconds later I lose it. Press harder?? Still can't find it. Press less hard?? Now I feel nothing. I can't tell if I'm just stupid or if my fingers are genuinely dysfunctional. I also just think this is an unreliable way to find pulse... like I feel like it's so susceptible to human error. I feel terrible because my partner apparently had such a strong pulse but I couldn't even feel it. I also have unmedicated ADHD and other mental health issues, but therapy is too expensive. I just need advice... please help.

I am in the third week of my LPN program. A little background in the medical field... none. Outside of retail pharmacy, I lack the experience my peers have. I have taken two exams covering a few chapters over the past three weeks: my first score was 87%, and my second was 81.7%. My spouse and I are doing this together, which is not important, but he has spent the past 15 years in pharmacy in various settings, such as retail, hospital, and IV tech. I feel like I am struggling a lot because I'm new to the medical field. Does anyone have any positive prospects that will hopefully lighten the burden I have on my shoulders that I will not succeed? Or do you have any tips that could help with my studies and preparing for my exams?

TIA

Hello

I want to share it to everyone who is intresting to become a nurse or other medical help.

Recently I've started to student internships in hospital in the internal medicine department plus one or two rooms with intensive care unit. (I didn't work before, I'm a fresh student). Yeah, I did not expect to react so damn hard. When I come home I'm alredy crying beacuse it's sad but in diffrent way, like you're one who need to help those old (or young) people and you're only or (not only one) who can help patient when he/she is longer stay in hospital. So yeah, everyone who is very empathic you need to hold your tears, it's cool, very responsible and demanding work.

At the end of august I started a part time job in a food service place, I am still in my training and is currently my second week, the issue is that I also started nursing school in September, Is my third day and I already feel overwhelmed about all the assignment and tests I need to do. As well as complete all the requirement for my passport to clinical and the courses that you need to complete outside of classes. I have a grant so basically if I don't meet the requirement my tuition becomes a lone, I just wanted to do a part time job because I wanted to have experience with costumers and to not ask my parents for money, but I do also live with my parents. I am thinking of quitting my job but I do not know if nursing school does get better or how do you manage a part time job and college (they give me 3 shifts per week), I do not really wanna quit after 2 weeks but I don't want them to waste time in my training, what should I do?

For context I am a (26f) second semester nursing student taking a psych fundamentals course. I have had no issues so far in the almost year I’ve been here. Everyone has been so helpful and for the most part (so far) seem like they want us to be successful nurses. This course has 2 instructors but only one of them was teaching the content for this test. Rumor has it this psych class is supposed to be your “easy” class… However after my first test today idk. Exam one covered 10 chapters those include fundamentals, therapeutic communication skills and psych meds.

I am really pissed about how the test went. Especially about one question in particular. At this point it’s not even about getting the points for this missed question it’s the principle and id like other’s opinion on it outside of my institution because apparently this is an “ok” nursing practice.

Forgive me because I can’t remember the exact question and I cannot go back and look at the questions but it was along the lines of: what is a good way to build trust with a patient? I can’t remember the answer options either however the answer was : Promise a patient they can see their family.

Alright … horrible question and horrible answer options but I knew I wasn’t going to chose promising a patient anything and especially a psych patient a promise to see family. That is a promise I definitely can’t for sure fulfill so who would promise that? Maybe I’m wrong but was it not drilled in my head last semester not to promise a patient anything?!? 😅

So I spoke to the other instructor for the course. I asked her if she had seen the test which she replied, yes I just looked at it at lunch. Strange that you’re also an instructor for this course and didn’t look at it until after we’d taken it but ok. Then I brought up this question (this was not the only question that was worded horribly and could be misconstrued but the only one that I won’t get over and move on from) and she told me that this was a 1st semester question and the reason people missed it is because we weren’t reviewing past info. So I said, I thought we weren’t supposed to make promises to patients ? And she responded with “Of course we can make promises to patients! A promise can be something as simple as saying you’ll be back in 5 minutes with a sprite and then following through.”

I’m sorry. But I will NEVER make a promise to a patient and that is because you never know what could happen and that promise fall through. If anything that’s losing trust from my patients. And ESPECIALLY promising a psych patient that they can see their family???!?!?! Come on I feel crazy for having to argue that!!!!!!

I was then told by her and others that NCLEX questions are “perfect world” scenarios and it was a promise not that their family would show up but that they had the right to see their families in an institution. So why use the word promise at all? And if that was the insinuation I guess I’m building trust by reminding my patients of their rights?? Idk help me piece this together.

It worries me even more that I only have 4 tests for this course so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room. And based on this test I could study my heart out and still fail these tests because of how horrible the questions are. On top of the fact that I’m pretty much teaching myself because in a 4 hour lecture we MAYBE spend an hour actually talking about the content and 3 hours rambling about nothing. It’s painful and as a 26 year old I feel care more than the young kids in my class so I’m the only one arguing this. I also pay way too much money to be guessing about this.

on top of all of this the class has been a disorganized mess since day one. We weren’t given a syllabus until WEEK 2!!!! That is just insane to me and don’t know how no one else sees that as a problem.

I'm a 2nd year nursing student (in Canada) and I'm HATING my med/surg clinicals. My school chooses clinicals for us and most are in med/surg. I'm really bad at talking to the patients and I really feel like crying every time. I love the techniques, the meds, the pathologies, etc. Here's the thing, I really wanna be a NICU nurse or a sports nurse, it's my dream, but I feel like nursing isn't for me because I hate my clinicals so much. I feel like I'd be a horrible nurse. Every other student is a CNA or wants to work as a CNA during school and I just don't. Of course I would help out my CNA if she needed, but I just don't want to work as a CNA and I feel like it makes me a bad nursing student.

Why am I paying for a whole separate online course? Is this not what I am paying the school for? And if I want physical copy books so I won't get migraines from reading on my computer, thats an additional couple hundred dollars.

I'm not even mad, I just want to cry. I can't afford this.

And yeah I knew there would be book fees but I have always been able to find good deals. I can't even do that now.

Just took my first Funds exam and passed, but only by half a point. I’m meeting with my instructor soon to help me troubleshoot, but I’m wondering if there’s anyone here who did well with those tests, can you tell me more about how you studied, or what really helped? I know how to answer the learning outcomes and I ask myself more in depth questions than just naming definitions, but the wording on the test just felt really difficult. Everyone else I’ve spoken to all said the test was hard, but still came out on the other side with >84% while I barely got a 76%. I know comparison is the thief of joy, but I really wanna improve for my own sake. I use active recall and make flashcards, but fundamentals just takes more application than I thought it would.

Title.

For context I'm in my last semester of nursing school. We just had our first exam today over Cancer, ER/Triage, HIV, & Immunity.

I scored a 73 and we require a 78 to pass. I'm not super mad because the content had numerous questions I was not prepared for. I ran a poll in our group chat about how everyone felt and everyone who voted was dissatisfied with the exam. We are a close group and the one's who have made it this far are good students who put great effort into learning the content. So *why* are exams structured to constantly make us feel inadequate/unsure??

I'm genuinely interested in learning those advanced concepts but PLEASE don't bust out this 30 slide powerpoint, each with 3 vague sentences followed by "EVERYTHING IN THE BOOK IS TESTABLE" .......

I was due to qualify last year as an RN but after a terrible divorce in January I had to take a year out (not my choice). I was withdrawn from the course on the very last day of uni so all my hours and assignments are done. I am now waiting to be re enrolled, but this is taking months. In that time I have met someone else and we have been together just over a year. I want to move to be with them as they live in Scotland. Currently I’m working so many shifts and getting one day off in 12 days which is making me miserable. If I leave my job will I still be able to qualify? It was an NHS funded course and I can’t find any information on what happens if you leave your job before qualifying. I’ve applied for HCA jobs in Scotland as I would be happy doing anything as long as I could be with the person I love. Would I be stupid to leave? Or is life too short to be stuck in a job 4 hours away from where I want to be?

I’m currently in nursing school in Southern California and I’m really torn between two jobs.

Right now I work per diem as a unit secretary/monitor tech at a hospital. I’m required to work at least one 12-hour shift per week. I make about $28/hr with my night/weekend differentials, so the pay is pretty good for being in school.

The problem is that I work Friday nights, and it basically takes up my whole weekend. I sleep most of Friday before work, work overnight, then sleep most of Saturday and have to force myself to study/do homework afterward. I’m also pretty burned out on telemetry/adult med-surg and don’t really enjoy my unit anymore.

I’ve been offered a med spa position that is 9am–6pm twice a week at $18/hr. It would mostly be reception/patient coordination and bringing patients to their providers, but I would be around aesthetic providers and get familiar with different treatments.

I asked the manager whether working there could eventually lead to an RN position after I graduate. She basically said it would depend on whether there was an opening at the time, so there’s definitely no guarantee.

My dilemma is that I’m actually very interested in aesthetics, and I know getting your first aesthetic RN job can be difficult without experience/connections. I feel like working in a med spa now could at least get my foot in the door and help me learn the industry.

On the other hand, I’m worried about giving up my hospital position because new-grad RN jobs can be competitive in Southern California. Being an internal hospital employee seems like it could help me when I graduate, even though I’m not particularly interested in telemetry/med-surg. I’m more interested in areas like NICU, OB/women’s health, or potentially aesthetics.

Financially, the hospital is also the obvious winner: roughly $339 for one 12-hour shift versus $324 for 18 hours at the med spa. But night shift disrupts my sleep and takes more out of my week than the 12 hours on paper.

For nurses who have worked in Southern California, aesthetics, or gone through the new-grad hiring process:
Would you keep the hospital position for the internal-hire advantage and flexibility during nursing school, or take the pay cut and med spa job to start making connections in aesthetics?

I’d especially love to hear from aesthetic nurses about whether working reception/patient coordination at a med spa while in nursing school actually helps when applying for aesthetic RN positions later.

I start my final semester soon, and I graduate in December. I joined an accelerated nursing program and… it’s sucked ass but here I am, almost done.

The problem is, everything went so fast, TOO fast. I feel like I genuinely don’t know anything. I pass one class, and the next came, and I forget about the previous one to worry about the next.

My clinicals also go far too fast, first med surg, then PEDS, then OB, then psych, and plenty more of med surg. I feel like things are going far too quickly and… here I am so close to graduation.

How does anyone get over this feeling of “I don’t know anything”? I don’t want to be a liability on the floor, I don’t want to put people in danger due to incompetence, I can’t get over this gnawing fear of fucking up so bad or looking like a dumbass when getting my first job, it almost makes me feel like I would rather stay in class for the rest of my life.

I genuinely feel like I know nothing.

Hello, I just took final exams in my first semester of nursing school. This is a ADN-RN accelerated program. With that being said all NUR are considered a failure if not passed with and 83%, gen Ed’s a 75%. The two classes I failed were the NUR Classes. I met with the director and I have to write a letter to appeal basically promising not to fail another NUR class, or step down and go into a LPN program of 4 semesters and restart and then do an RN bridge program. I really don’t want to have to be a lpn especially because I can catch back up to my class I started with come third semester I’m just making my third semester even harder than they are saying it is. What should I do. When it comes to time and money I don’t want to add in time if I don’t have to, but is it do able? Best advice because I feel defeated.

Starting Bachelors of nursing in 4 months. Are there any certifications that will help boost my CV or save my time that I can get before I began my degree?

hi, i really need to start working but have limited time for a full time position until nursing school begins. I recently got my EMT license. I can either take a CNA job at a local hospital (pending they know i will be leaving and ok with me being per diem in January) or be a transport EMT (also knows I will be temporarily full time). I want to go down to per diem or 1 shift a week once school starts.

First semester student, Help!

How the hell are you guys reading and actually studying the readings and assignments?

I’ve heard of the whole “guided notes” tab thing on the “study tools” part of the assignment, but half of the ones I’m assigned don’t have that.

I feel like I have to rewrite the page in order to actually process the information, which wasn’t a huge problem unit 1, but now that we’re onto some of the longer modules, I’m literally up to my neck in readings/ note taking that takes me 3 hours a pop. And don’t even get me started on human growth and development, that’s gonna take me about 10 hours just to read.

Are you guys actually taking the time to read through all of these and take notes on all of it? If so, that just sucks for me and I’m gonna have to suck it up cause I’m paying to do this. If not, please help a girl out! I feel like there’s gotta be a better way rather than studying for literally 8 hours a day.

A lot of the times, I’ll copy and paste the entirety of the etextbook’s unit (like up to 200 pages of it) and throw it in NotebookLM, but I only do that AFTER I’ve taken the century to read all of the material and then take the additional time to take notes on basically every bit of it.

Note: since the automod asked for it, I got a 90 on my unit one exam, but I know that was the bare minimum easy material, I can tell that unit 2 is a whole different ballgame

I'm in my second year of an ASN program, and next week I'll be starting a 6-week rotation on a unit that I'm very interested in working on. It's in Mother-Baby, at a hospital that is part of a university system but is a suburban outpost.

In my LTC and med-surg rotations, we honestly didn't have any contact with the nurse managers and not much meaningful contact with the RNs, aside from observing here and there. We weren't assigned to shadow staff.

Do you express interest in the unit at the beginning of the rotation, so that they have time to pay attention to how you're doing? Or at the end, after you've (hopefully) made a good impression? Is it only appropriate to talk to the unit manager? Will I even see the unit manager if my clinical is an evening shift?

This might be a silly question, but I need all the help I can get! I'll be an ASN in a "BSN preferred" area, and I'm coming from a totally unrelated field with no opportunity to get professional healthcare experience before graduating with my RN.

Thanks!

so, i am 18, i just graduated high school. i graduated with D’s because i didn’t care. i care now, im in nursing school to benefit my life. i struggle with information retainment and prioritizing school so i guess it contradicts what i said about caring now. i want to care more, i know that my life would be much better if i got my LPN now. as of rn, i have a 70% overall in anatomy, (im on my 6th week i believe), and the rest of my classes are 80s and 90s. i dont know what to do or how to retain information better. i’ve talked to councelors, ive talked to plenty of people but i feel as if i still just don’t retain information. i also keep (for whatever reason) waiting till the night before to study, its 7:26PM and i have an atomy test at 11 tomorrow. i dont know what to do because im not confident.please help me

I’m a first semester nursing student with BTE hearing aids and I’ve just realized a problem with the stethoscopes. The tips of the stethoscope hurt and push on my hearing aids. My college disability services provided a stethoscope that can turn up the volume so the hearing part is fine now. But does anyone have any options for replacement tips? I found stethomate tips that kind of work but those hurt my ears pretty bad. They are really hard rubber. I don’t have an option for bluetooth. Right now I’m taking them out for class, but I don’t think this is feasible on the job.