Nursing is one of the most rewarding careers today. If you aim to pursue a nursing career, you must be ready to tackle nursing school. However, nursing students face many challenges, from stressful lectures to unpredictable clinical shifts while in nursing school.
If you are passionate about pursuing a nursing career, the challenges should not frighten you. Instead, they should help you prepare yourself to be more effective in your chosen profession. Remember that these challenges come with a huge reward: the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and extend one’s view on health and well-being.
Here are the top challenges nurse students face in the nursing school:
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Education expenses
Firstly, getting into nursing school might be challenging. Expenses like tuition fees, school supplies, books, accommodation, and the overall cost of living might hinder someone from pursuing a career in the field. Therefore, it is crucial to choose a suitable program and make a list of feasible alternatives.
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Stressful and unpredictable shifts
As a nursing student, you will spend a significant portion of your time at the nursing school in a clinical environment. Although complex and physically demanding, practical training allows nursing students to put their academic information obtained in lectures into practice.
However, the shifts change daily during nursing clinicals, and the patient assignments might change without warning. That is why student nurses must be quick learners and change adapters. In addition, you need to learn study tips for nursing students to help you cope well with stressful shifts.
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Brain-draining lectures
Nursing differs from other undergraduate programs in several ways, including brain-draining lectures. Nursing lectures cover complex theories and ideas that need a firm foundation in pre-nursing disciplines like chemistry, anatomy, biology and physiology.
Even after attending class regularly and paying attention during the lengthy lectures, you must also recall what you have learned in introductory classes to excel in nursing school. Additionally, nursing textbooks (particularly those for medical and psychiatric nursing and surgical nursing) are not as straightforward as those used by other undergrads. They usually come in two volumes, each of which is pretty thick and difficult to comprehend in a single reading.
As a nursing student, your social life almost invariably fades because you will have a lot on your daily schedule from busy shifts, lectures, and projects. Therefore, it is almost impossible to go out with friends when you have busy schedules. Nursing students must finish essential assignments and worksheets before the next day’s shift and keep up with an ever-changing schedule.
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Unrealistic demands and unreasonable expectations
One of the most prevalent issues that nursing students confront is that many individuals have high expectations and frequently place excessive demands on nursing students. People frequently expect student nurses to know what to do in an emergency scenario and, in some instances, to provide medical advice or treatment. In truth, most medical crises require more than basic medical skills to handle.
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Dreadful assessments and examinations
As a nursing student, you must take tests and examinations after lecturers and practicals, which are the most significant hurdles. If you encounter some forgiving clinical teachers who conduct “simple” quizzes and examinations, consider yourself extremely lucky; nonetheless, clinical instructors are often driven to develop complex tests to evaluate your understanding and knowledge appropriately.
You can’t criticize them since they are teaching students who will work in fields related to health and life. You will have an edge if you excel at identification and enumeration tests. However, most of your tests will contain situational questions with challenging alternatives.
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Exhausting homework and projects
Given the amount of effort required for lectures and clinicals, having homework and projects that are time-consuming and difficult adds more stress to the nursing students’ lives. The homework and projects may entail a thesis, case study, a set of nursing care plans, or a report, so prepare to do a lot of research and read reference materials. This aspect teaches nursing students how to manage their time and persevere in difficult situations.
Although nursing students face many challenges in nursing school, the profession is gratifying. Therefore, if you are passionate about pursuing a nursing career, do not let the challenges discourage you. After all, the best employees are those that are most enthusiastic about their work.
