[elkpark]

Originally Posted by Silverdragon102

We get the same in the UK forum but there are some things taught the old way which was good and is missed now. On a few occasions I have had 3rd students come to the ward and they didn't know how to take blood pressure or even know what was norm and abnormal, now I am sorry but that is appalling and shouldn't happen. Yes there is both good and bad in both old and new ways of teaching, just a shame things can't be combined and make one good way

I agree completely -- we have the same situation in nuring education in the US.

[janfrn]

fenders, are you suggesting that diploma-trained nurses can't integrate evidence-based practice into their own practice? Or that their learning stops when they graduate? Not so. I have an office filled with nursing research and nursing resources; I just spent 8 days and more than $2000 of my own money to attend the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses National Teaching Institute. I take what I learn back to my unit and spread it around. And speaking of my unit, when I look at the nurse at the next bedside, if they were hired before I was I have no idea what kind of educational preparation they received. We all do the same job, some of us do it better than others, but at the end of the day, I can't tell who has a degree and who doesn't. My point was that the nursing education programs have to find a way to keep the "nursing" in nursing education, because being able to write a perfect APA format paper on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs isn't going to help me when my patient tamponades, bleeds into his head or has a tension pneumothorax. Nor am I going to be mentally calling up statistics on cardiac tamponade while I'm bolusing and starting CPR. Yes it's good to know the 'whys and wherefores', but we still need to learn the 'how'. Now please let's all just get along!

[fenders]

My dear, I am not suggeting one is better than the other, that is what you were suggesting. I was only trying to give you an understanding of where the university is coming from. things have changed. there are alot more nursing students then there were in the past and it's very complicated to try and fit every student into a mat ward, emerg, psych etc. Of course diploma nurses can use research as long as they have taken a research course to understand how to read the variables to determine whether the research is statistically significantly, peer reviewed. The other concept of the university experience was to give students an experience of life by making them take some non nursing electives, sociology, psych, geography, etc.

I don't disagree with you guys that you had a more thorough clinical training in school. I wish we had that experience but I had learned most of what I learned out in the field. The student that didn't know how to take blood pressure doesn;t tell me much, was it manual bp he couldn't take, I know I initially had an issue with the welsh and allyn machines which had faded buttons and tried to figure out how to work it and it's very frustrating when you get attitude instead of assistance. I know med students exp a similar experience. I know some fourth year med students who didn;t know what metabolic acidosis is or also had some probs with bp. they know the disease desc very well.

My main point is that we all meed to respect each other in this field and stop eating our young and guide them instead. It would be nice to see that. I remmeber when i was a student there were some units/wards where the staff treated you like you were invisible. I said some not all.

remmeber the saying about our children "we better be nice to our kids because they choose our nursing home" lol

they could be taking car of you one day.

Sorry Janfrn, not meaning to attack you, just frustrated when i hear comparisons on the unit and especialy when a new grad is critcized for their degree or diploma etc, vice versa. it doesnt matter to me, its the attitude that counts the most.

[RGN1]

Originally Posted by janfrn

And the powers-that-be are telling us that we're turning out better educated nurses these days! Ha. My diploma program included eight week modules of medicine, surgery, psych, maternity and peds, and that meant six weeks of clinical placement in each area in addition to the classroom stuff.

I can't answer that question. Maybe Suzanne will weigh in.

Same here in the UK - the new degree/diploma courses dont have all the variety of clinincal hours that we had in our old fashioned training! Some UK nurses who want to move to America are coming unstuck because they don't have requisite hours for the USA anymore.

I would say you can take N-CLEX without CRNE if you wish (after all I got my N-CLEX courtesy of my UK qualifications & we don't have a final exam of any sort) as the USA is only interested in your nursing hours theory & practical;they are not interested in the CRNE. However, I would have thought that you might want to take it anyway in case you want to come back to Canada & nurse in the future.

[fenders]

I am writing the michigan nclex in oct and they require just two things, a current registration in canada and a copy/proof of the education degree etc.

could be different in other states.

good luck!

[suzanne4]

Originally Posted by fenders

I am writing the michigan nclex in oct and they require just two things, a current registration in canada and a copy/proof of the education degree etc.

could be different in other states.

good luck!

It is very different in other states. And MI is only easy if you went to school in Canada, otherwise, you would need to meet all of their other requirements as well.

[suzanne4]

And also just to add in, there is no such thing as a MI NCLEX exam, it is a national exam. You just happen to be writing it for MI.

We have not had state specific exams in the US in quite a few years.

[fenders]

Oh Really! I somehow thought and had heard form some unreliable sources that if you wrote for one state it isn't transferable to another. Good to know, I'll def look into that.

thanks

[elkpark]

Originally Posted by fenders

Oh Really! I somehow thought and had heard form some unreliable sources that if you wrote for one state it isn't transferable to another. Good to know, I'll def look into that.

thanks

The NCLEX is definitely standardized nationally, and has been for some time. You only have to take it once (provided you pass, that is! ), and your results will be accepted by any state. That is only one requirement of licensure, though, and some of the other requirements vary from state to state (like whether or not foreign applicants need to have a local (home country) license).