Education vs Experience

I'm sorry. I am tired of wasting my energy. To a student, perhaps it seems that there is an attitude that "YOU HAVE TO PAY YOUR DUES". People with education and experience have tried to convince you, politely, that it's NOT a matter of paying your dues, it's a matter of REALITY. You had your mind made up before you even posted this thread.

I suggested that you speak with your academic advisor and nursing instructors about your future plans. I suspect that you may have done that but did not get the answer you wanted. Sorry, you're not going to get the answer you wanted here, either.

But do what you want. I suspect you will, no matter what anyone else tries to say.

I appreciate your perspective and understand where you are coming from. However, you didn't seem to address the feedback and opinions offered by others. What they said didn't sound like a chorus of knee-jerk, close-minded "you have to pay your dues" to me. It sounded like several were thoughtfully explaining why they saw experience as relevant and either necessary or highly preferred in general for nurses pursuing advanced practice... not because "I had to do it and so should you"... but because it's an ADVANTAGE to have experience.

Perhaps the problem isn't so much with many nurses' belief that experience is necessary or highly recommended before pursuing advanced practice but perhaps its with the nature of nursing education. Perhaps if all school offered stronger clinical training as part of the schooling then maybe more nurses would support "skipping" working professionally as an RN before starting grad school. As it is, though, many programs only provide minimal, real-world clinical experience. For many, it's not until they start working full-time that they get the kind of repeated exposure to various diagnoses, symptoms, treatments, & tests that makes a nurse a nurse and not just someone with a nursing degree.

Think of someone who has earned their driver's license but never drove more than the minimum number of hours required to qualify for the license... and those hours almost all being on small, empty side streets? Would you encourage that person to immediately hop on the busy freeways of a crowded metropolis? Would you encourage the person to immediately start pursuing truck driving school, or becoming a bus driver? Would you encourage that person to immediately consider becoming a driving instructor? Or would you encourage them to get more practice driving, to become comfortable with it, to allow the chance for it to become almost second nature BEFORE pursuing something in driving that involved more critical conditions and/or more responsibility?

Who said anything about paying dues? I certainly never mentioned paying dues in my post. That is something you are fabricating. The people who responded to your originial post tried to point out valid theoretical and practical reasons why it is strongly recommended that newly licensed nurses get some practical experience in the field before moving into graduate education that focuses on leadership and advanced practice. If you have "dues paying" on your mind ... that is in YOUR mind. It isn't in the minds of those people who responded to your original post.

And note ... many of those professions such as medicine and law require graduate degrees for basic entry into practice. The students in those graduate programs are not studying to be leaders in their professions, they are taking courses to basic beginner-level practitioners. In nursing, people with graduate degrees are expected to be experts and to be prepared for leadership roles. That's not true for the physicians, lawyers, and college professors in other disciplines. Comparing nursing to those other professions is a bit like comparing apples to oranges -- both fruits, but definitely different in key ways.

precisely (re the bold).
this is nursing.
and you're still not getting it.

much luck to you, airforce.
i mean that.

leslie

I am a recent (5 years ago) grad, and I struggled with the same issue. Do I go and work for awhile, or go straight to grad school? I decided to work, and I am really glad I did! I have already moved into a leadership position with my BSN and am now in a really great spot to start my Master's program. I truly don't think it's about paying your dues. I think that, with a Master's degree, you are showing that you have an advanced level of knowledge and skill. Whether you want to do leadership, clinical specialist, nurse practitioner, or education, you truly need basic experience to do any of those positions. It may be hard for someone who hasn't worked yet in the nursing field to realize what those advanced positions entail. You will never find a staff nurse who will respect you as a manager, leader, clin spec, or NP if you have no basic nursing experience. Unfortunately, that's just the honest truth. Honestly, a BSN does NOT prepare you for the realities of nursing...especially the politics that exist. And a resume that includes a 4-year BSN degree followed by a Master's degree, but NO work experience will NOT get you very far. I am on a recruiting committee that helps to choose leaders and clin specs for our organization. There are MANY applications for each position; someone with no work experience will not obtain a position in our organization. That's not to say you can't go straight for your Master's, but get some even part-time work experience. There are skills you never practiced in nursing school, whether it be a BSN or AA degree. And, if grad schools in your area are like they are here, there are probably 20 spots for every 500 applicants - you will not be selected without proof of progressive work experience. Like the above posters have stated, it's not about paying your dues....it's a reality.

School: To gain the experience and knowledge to become excellent practitioners.

Real World: Build onto experience and knowledge to become excellent practitioners.


There is a big difference:
- Between reading orders and giving orders
- Between reading a diagnosis and making a diagnosis
- Between interpreting lab results because you can and interpreting lab results because you have to..
- Between reading a plan of care and dictating the plan of care.
- ETC.
- ETC.

Looks so easy: The provider hits the floor make rounds, looks at the charts and writes some orders and leaves.. Now that I have been on both sides I can tell you it is not so easy. I can tell you the patient does not want to hear how new you are.. That nurse that has questions wants the answers.. That doctor your consulting with on a case wants answers not guesses. Everyone wants answers and they want them yesterday.

Its not education vs experience, its education and experience..

Explaining it is not easy but there comes a time and no one can know what its like until they have to do it: Diagnosis and dictate treatment without strings attached.

Things will come up in conversation one day and you will be asked,
"What's your background?"
BSN, MSN, ARNP. Impressive.

So, where did you get your clinical experience?

*chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp*...

Makes me think, "I don't want to be your patient."

I have been saying this to my peers for years. I got my basic nursing education from a textbook. My advanced practice has come from experience. I have gotten 80% of my knowledge from patients, coworkers, doctors, families, reading thousands of H&P's, consult reports etc...... Medicine is not an exact science.

An instructor and I were discussing this topic recently. In nursing, if nowhere else, not having clinical experience will hurt you and your patients. There is no way around it.

You don't have time to have a gap in your skills - you have to be up and running immediately. Sure, some people can cope, but that doesn't mean most people should.