Hey Everyone,
I hope every one is having a terrific Thursday! I received another “ask me a question” and this question comes from Nancy and here is what she asked:
“Hello, I hope your day has been going great! My name is Nancy and I stumbled upon your website about a week ago (gratefully) and I have to say I absolutely LOVE it because you give so much insight and answered a lot of the questions that I had about nursing school. I am barely about to start on my prerequisites this May to become a Registered Nurse RN and I am excited but sooo nervous at the same time since I hear that nursing school is so hard. Its almost intimidating to hear this everywhere I go! Anyways I will get to the point, I have 3 questions for you and would greatly appreciate it if you could answer them for me.
1. I am starting to feel somewhat intimidated about nursing school since I am a bit shy at first and I keep hearing so many bad things, do you have any tips for someone shy like me?
2. Exactly how much are you supposed to know once you are an official graduate and start your first job? Do they still kinda hold your hand or do they just throw you to the wolves lol?
3. I read that you were excited about your insurance benefits, in general what types of insurance benefits are registered nurses offered? I have heard on a couple of occasions that some hospitals offer free health insurance?
Sorry if any of my questions seem silly but I thought I would ask since you are almost done. By the way, congratulations on your upcoming graduation! I read your blog ALL the time now and think its great that you decided to document your journey for other nursing students.”
Is Nursing School Hard?
Nancy, EXCELLENT questions 🙂 ! These questions are many questions nursing students think about. First of all, thank you so much for the compliments….they were so sweet and meant a lot to me. Just knowing I’m helping some one out there keeps me motivated to blog. I really appreciate it, thank you!
I know that you are excited but totally nervous about getting prepared for nursing school. I’m telling you that you are fixing to embark on a really rewarding journey….I promise! It will all be worth it in the end. You have no idea how many times I thank God that He gave me the will to stay with it because right now I’m seeing how it is paying off.
Now to your questions:
Regarding question 1: First let me address, the part about nursing school being hard. When I first started nursing school, I heard from other nursing students who were above me how hard nursing school was and how all these people failed….etc. My advice to you is don’t listen to them….they are being negative. These negative responses I got from people made me question if I was smart enough, willing enough, and strong enough to get through nursing school. I was scared! However, I was like well I am going to give this nursing school thing my best effort and I have almost succeeded. Nancy, to me you sound like you really want this, and that is the key ingredient in getting through nursing school. You have to want it! Another thing is to give it all you got! I promise if you put the time and effort into it you will pass…guaranteed! I’m not any smarter than the average person and I’m doing just fine and if I can do it you can trust me!
Regarding question 2: This is regarding my experience and with the hospital I work for and I’m guessing it will be similar at other places. I am only required to know the basics about nursing. For example, the scope of the nursing practice (what I’m allow to do as a nurse), technical skills (drawing blood, starting IV, giving injections, basic patient care…baths, bed changes, foley catheter insertion, wound dressing changes), and the basics about medications. Of course there is more that I’m leaving out but I’m only required to know the basics. They do not expect me to be able to know what a nurse who has 20 year experience knows. To tell you the truth what you learn in nursing school is to help you pass your NCLEX-RN (what you have to pass to get your nursing license). You will learn what is expected of you by working in the hospital. No, they do not throw you to the wolves. I am required to go through a nursing residency program where I will be with another RN for like a couple of months before I practice on my own. Plus you have to take of all these classes offered by the hospital to help you progress from the student nurse to the nurse role. So don’t think you have to know everything about nursing after you graduate because you don’t.
Regarding question 3: The insurance benefits I’m getting I have to pay for but they are worth it and over all cheaper than other companies. For my husband and I to have coverage for health and dental insurance it will be around $92.00 a month. For the health plan, I going with the health plan that is for someone who really is overall a healthy person and doesn’t require a lot of doc. visits a year. The dental is good…it covers everything with almost no co-pays. I know nurses who work for the government, like the VA, have excellent benefits. I wish it was free for me that would be awesome! Most hospitals where nurses work offer good benefits…which that would be silly if they didn’t lol. Where I’ll be working they offer a lot of insurance benefits such as health, dental, pharmacy, short-term disability, life, even pet lol, 401 K benefits, retirement plans.
Nancy, thank you so much for your questions. If you have any more questions, which I know you will once your start school don’t hesitate to ask me. I’m here to help you! I wish you much luck and you will do awesome. Keep me posted on your journey. I hope I helped you out! Good luck!
Until next time,
Sarah 😉