Nursing school - we all have to go through it before becoming a nurse. Countless quizzes, tests, studying and homework assignments are enough to drive anyone up the wall, but this week we want to know:

What is the toughest part about nursing school?

Is it working a full-time job while attending school or trying to prepare yourself for the NCLEX? Tell us what was (or is) the hardest part and how you made it through! 

TeresahRN says ...

Life in general is difficult. I tell my students that  any thing new will be difficult until it's learned. That is true for all professions... Best of luck.. Teresa

Hi Teresa! That is very true....it is always hard to learn new material no matter how difficult it is. It doesn't get any easier until a person is comfortable with it, which is at a different rate for everyone...

Thanks for the wisdom!

I'm going to have to say the hardest part of nursing school, at least for me and a few of my friends, was trying to have a social life apart from nursing school! It is easier to deal with school when you're just focusing on school, but the temptations of hanging out with friends and enjoying the littler things in life are hard to concentrate on when you have finals/quizzes/projects/careplans/essays to do.  Personally, I didn't have very many non-nursing friends and generally our idea of hanging out usually involved going out to lunch to discuss a project or hanging out at someone's house to study =) It was hard always trying to find a good balance of the two.

In an accelerated LPN program, the hardest thing is not knowing what will come next.  Will we get jobs?  Was all of this work worth it?

I feel certain my class of 20 will pass NCLEX but it is the job market that is frightening....with less than three months of school to go, what will come next? The hospitals won't hire us and even home health providers are saying they want LPNs with one year of nursing experience.  I know that the schools dump out nurses each year and they must be working SOMEwhere, but until that part is settled, that will be my biggest concern.

Having Instructors who really dont give a damn,

I'm just finishing up my first term in nursing school.  I'm HOPING the hardest parts are behind me...getting accepted into a program that was extremely competitive, and then figuring out all the ins and outs of the program during this first term...along with all the time demands, deadlines, testing, assignments, skills checks, clinicals, and alas...the group project.  I'm HOPING that now that I have a better grasp of what the program entails, that things will run a bit more smoothly.  I realize there will always be stress and time constraints, but there is just something about knowing what to expect...knowing how to organize yourself, developing a group of study buddies...that takes some of the strain out of it. 

This is my third time around after getting a BA in psychology...20 years ago and then a BS in HR...15 years ago.  Now that I'm in nursing school, I can honestly say that this is the most difficult and demanding program I've ever been in.  HOWEVER, it is also the most rewarding.  I love the program, the professors, the other students, and the content.  This feels like such a defining moment in my life.  I know I am making forever friends through the program and I know that a whole new world will be opening up to me upon completion of the this program, as well as after I become an NP.  There is just so much to be thankful for and also to look forward to.  Wish I had started down this path my first time around!

I remember how hard it was to get accepted into the local program back then. Some of the Instructors were also not very nice. When I was in some of the clinicals I ended up learning from the floor Nurses. My first Clinical, Fundamentals Of Nursing,the Instructor left me alone with  assignments to fend for myself even when I would ask  her questions  if certain other students she liked  asked her similar questions on their assignments she would answer them.. Of course all assignments/tests  were very hard. thruout the program & grading was very strict.                                               I would have to adjust how many hours a week of work due to more involvement , I would put to School & Clinics.

First of all, I like school. I love learning new information and read and soak up clinical information all the time. The hardest parts of school is being treated like a child, being made to do busy work, not receiving credit for prior learning. For example, in my RN to BSN program I lost a whole grade level for not getting the instructors input for a Case Mangement project. I had done Case Mgmt and already knew what to do and how. Now, she did not say I did it wrong just did not seek instructor support as I was supposed to.  LOL. Now, I am thinking about doing the BSN to MSN and it is the same thing. Despite being a nurse for over 20 years, I recieve no credit for prior knowledge or competency, must do every step no matter what you know. Academia in general is so set in their ways. They are the most resistant to change despite wanting their students to change and adapt to them. Just like the mainstream universities resisted so long the online programs and tried to discredit any other type of learning. I knwo nurses that have worked in multiple practice areas of health care and even owned large businesses but, receive no credit at all.

You know I thought the last level of nursing school was the hardest -- it was not. Not even studying and preparing or even taking the NCLEX-RN wasn't hard. The hardest part was getting those interviews and finding someone that will look at me without being bias or negative and look at my accomplishments my experiences as a Nurse and finally landing that "Hospital Job." That was the hardest for me.

The most difficult time for me were some of my clincals. I think trying to find the right words to say to my patient. I found later when I got into the real world that you can't  fix everything, and that sometime words are not what a sick patient want, sometime its is about just being there for them.

I want to encourage you all. You are embarking on a very worthy journey.

"Learning the classifications of medications and what they're used for.Very overwhelming at first,though once you've devised a plan

  for study,( generic / trade names ), it does all come naturally to you,just like reading the newspaper."

 working and going to school along with studying have been a challenge for me.but i have maintain and kept moving along...

Life is not easy, but if you have discipline and you give up to many things while in school you can succeed. For me, it was difficult having time to study for tests because at that time my little one was 9 months old....some nights I went to sleep early so I could get up early at 5:00 am to study before school. My little one wanted to be hold while I was doing my homework, I used to put her on my lap, hold her with one hand and write my homework with my left hand.  During school I did not go many parties such as birthdays and weddings. I told my friends "I need to study for this test or I need to read 33 pages". I am sure if I did it through school you can too.

I 2nd that Reflex...