Multi Media Project

The speaker, a first-year nursing student, discusses the pressure and mental health challenges faced by nursing students. They highlight the criteria and GPA requirements, the intense studying and lack of social life, and the discouraging comments from their academic advisor. They share their personal struggles, including isolation, poor eating and sleeping habits, and self-doubt. They emphasize the importance of having supportive friends and the need for open communication about mental health. They conclude by encouraging others to reach out and support those who are struggling. Nursing and college in general can be mentally challenging. Hello everyone, I'm Kaitlyn, I am a first year nursing student at Davis University. I am going to be talking about the mental health and its impact on nursing students. I'm going to be talking through my story and how I've dealt with it. First things first, I want to put this out there that nursing is an incredible field for many people. It has incredible benefits, incredible learning outcomes, just really it's an incredible field. And I don't think, I think a lot of people don't realize how much pressure students go through to get to that point in nursing, to achieve those benefits and outcomes. At Xavier, there is a rule or like law, not law, but like criteria you have to meet to go on to the next level. In your basic classes, basic nursing classes, so your anatomy and anatomy lab and your first year nursing class, you have to maintain a 2.75 just in those three classes. And yes, it doesn't seem that hard, it's like, oh, it's just a 2.75, I can do that in my sleep. But like, once you're in that mindset, like, oh, I have to do good on this, it creates so much pressure on a person. And I was one of those people that I was like, oh, I have to ace every test to keep that GPA. Since I was in that mindset, I was studying 24-7, I didn't really have a lot of friends at that time. I was mostly in my room. The only time I really left my room was to go to class and occasionally eat. You meet with your academic advisor once a semester, it was about halfway through the semester, and I met the 2.75 GPA so far, and I was only a couple of points, like, above it, so he was like, asking me these questions, he's like, so how much time do you spend just on anatomy studying? And it was probably around, I would say, like, 2 hours a day, so 14 hours a week. And he's like, well, that's not good enough. And it was to the point, he kind of put on me, he was like, well, if you want to become a nurse, you are going to have to study quadruple that. And I'm sitting there, trying not to break down in front of this guy, and I'm like, I have other classes to maintain good grades in, and I don't think people realize that there are classes outside of nursing class, your first year of college. And I called my mom, walking back to my dorm, and I was, like, really close to, like, dropping out. Because it was just so much to hear an academic advisor tell me, well, you're going to have to do more than that, like, are you sure you want to be a nurse? Like, that's just, it hits hard when you're doing everything you can to do good in school. So that's when I really was going downhill. I still did not have a lot of friends. I had stopped eating. And I had only left the dorm when I had classes. I was not sleeping well. I was stressing over every little thing. I was stressing over, am I good enough to be a nurse? Do I have what it takes to be a nurse? And it was to the point I called my mom, who is a nurse, and I broke down and just told her, like, I don't know what to do. I always thought it was going to be an easy and smooth ride, but it really isn't. I went almost the whole semester with really no friends. I really didn't, I personally thought I had no time for friends. It's like, oh, if I'm not in class, I should be studying. If I'm not studying, I'm not doing everything I can to get to where I need to be in this criteria of nursing. After a couple more weeks, I was slowly, slowly, gaining a really good friend that I really, really needed. The funny thing is, we had our one class together the whole semester, and we sat next to each other, we talked during class, but outside of class, we really didn't talk. She was a nursing student as well, and she was in the same place I was in. It was just so, it meant so much to me that I wasn't the only person going through this. Looking back at it now, it's so funny, we're actually going to be rooming together next year. So it's just, it means so much to me that that one person can change everything. She was someone that always texted and asked, hey, do you want to do this, do you want to go eat, and she still is. She yells at me now if I'm studying too much, if I'm not eating enough. She's kind of like keeping me in check to make sure I don't go back to that place where I was before. And it's just crazy how much students don't realize that there are so many people around them that are going through the exact same thing that they are going through, but no one openly talks about it. And now, whenever I have a problem, I am so open to talk about it. If I'm stressed, if I'm having a bad day, if I'm having a good day, I say why I'm having that good day. I've learned to express myself through the hard time that I was going through, because I was so in the dark for most of it. Looking back at it now, after talking through it, I've realized how far I've come since those moments, and I've gained so many friends along the way. And it only takes one person to change someone's outcome or look on life. So if you are someone that's struggling, or if you know someone that's struggling, don't be afraid to reach out and be that one friend that someone needs. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you have gained the realization that nursing students, I mean, this is for any college students, but that it is mentally, mentally challenging at times.