CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING INTO NURSING SCHOOL
So you found out that you got into nursing school? First of all, CONGRATS!!! You have worked SOOO damn hard to get here, and it was a tough road with many obstacles and hoops to jump. Now you have this whole different journey ahead of you… nursing school. Nursing school will be one of the most challenging things you will ever do in your lifetime, balancing academics with your family and social life. BUT… you have what it takes to succeed. You must understand the mindset, discipline, and passion it takes to succeed in nursing school. No matter how great of a student you are, nursing school will be challenging in some aspect.
Mindset
What goes into the mindset of a nursing student? Well, let me tell you! The mentality of the nursing student must be open to learning and in different ways than you ever have before. You are learning how to take care of human beings with real pathophysiological problems, all of their emotions and psychosocial components, and how to be their advocate for appropriate care. It is a TON of responsibility, and this is why you have to have a confident mindset. There is a considerable difference between confident and cocky. You want to present yourself CONFIDENTLY. You might be asking… how can I be confident if I don’t know what to do? You are entirely correct, and I am not saying that I expect you to know EVERYTHING about caring for humans before entering nursing school. No practicing nurse today knows EVERYTHING about caring for EVERY specialty body system of a patient… and this is why there are so many different specialties. Back to the confidence part, you need to be confident in yourself as an individual and then second as a nurse. You need to be able to understand that it takes great confidence to be a successful nurse. Aside from being confident, you must be self-aware, humble, and coachable. Being self-aware of your study habits (the good and the bad), knowing what distracts you, what motivates you, and how you present yourself as a professional is another essential component of adopting the mindset of a nursing student. To learn from everyone and every experience around you must have an open mind and remarkable observation skills. Through the classroom, simulation lab, clinical, and community outreach, every single experience will add to your background and toolbelt of being a successful independent nurse in your future career. Being coachable and able to take constructive criticism will get you far. You can learn from great feedback and continue to work on your weaknesses and refine the strengths you already have. This is just the tip of the iceberg in adopting the right components of the nursing student mindset.
Discipline
Whatever idea of motivation you have, please throw it right out the window right now. Nursing school is significantly challenging and does not allow you to run off of motivation alone. To be motivated only motivates you to do something like study or prepare for finals or clinical when you FEEL like it. THIS is where discipline steps up. If you have excellent self-discipline, you will have a better chance at being a successful nursing student. This means to have a plan and to execute it in regards to if you feel like it or not. Now I am not saying you aren’t allowed to take mental health breaks because we all need them. However, it is comparable to getting through finals weeks every one to two weeks in nursing school, depending on your course load. Developing a study workflow for the content you are learning, and a strategic way to commit that information to memory will mitigate lots of wasted time wondering how to prepare for this exam? Set up a routine and EXECUTE it.
Passion
If you do not have passion for the nursing profession at the end of the day, it will be blatantly obvious in your clinical aptitude. Nursing is a calling, not a trend. You must want to be a nurse to do well in nursing school and your career. Nursing is challenging mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually as you navigate caring for human beings in different levels of care with unique health ailments. Having passion as a nursing student facilitates inquiry and curiosity that will help drive you to put yourself out there to get the best experiences you can in the classroom, simulation lab, or clinicals. Being a nurse encompasses many different roles, but most new nurses take jobs at the bedside, which is an art of its own and takes passion. The pandemic has left many nurses burnt out for many apparent reasons. However, their love for their career has kept many of them in the workforce instead of up and going. With that said, if at any point in your career you need a mental health break, or a step back from the bedside, or pursuing a different role, DO NOT HESITATE. Act and follow your heart. WAYYY too many specialties and different nursing roles for any nurse to be 100% unhappy with their position. While no job is perfect, and indeed there will be ups and downs in your career, your passion for the profession will pull you through to a career of abundance and alignment with your own healthcare goals.
Take this summer to enjoy being present with yourself, your family, and friends and mentally prepare to start this marathon of a program. Getting organized ahead of time for the semester will significantly help. Make sure you know when your program orientation is, what your first-semester schedule looks like, whether you are responsible for signing up for your courses by getting to know your academic advisor. For more tips on preparing for nursing school, head to the Private Facebook Group I have designated for Nursing Students! Congratulations again, and I cannot wait to see you in the Nursing School Survival Community!
