Book Smart or Common Sense?

[GWENLYN18]

This question is for nursing students who are in their second Semester and up. How do you think a person who is more technically inept and has a lot of common sense will do in clinicals? Do you think it's better to have Common Sense or book smarts. I recently had a baby and when I was in the hospital there was a nursing student who came into my room and we started to talk anout nursing school and she was telling me that she was book smart but was having trouble because she really couldn't get the hang of anything hands on. Is there any nursing students out there who are in the same boat as me and are not really that book smart but can kick but with hands on stuff. Please let me know how you are fairing. Looking through all of these posts makes me nervous because all i keep hearing is how horrible nursing school is. I am really excited. I love hands on stuff. THANKS :rotfl:

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

I agree with most saying that both are important, but I feel the common sense is a little more important. I have classmates that are booksmart with no common sense, common sense and not booksmart, and those who have neither (scary). I think of myself on the more of the common sense side. I'm smart and I can grasp what is said in lecture and what read if I study it enough, but I find myself doing better in clinical with practical application. My feeling is you can be the smartest person in your class and know everything about anything, but if you cannot apply it to your patients care, your not doing the patient any good.

[mariedoreen]

My feeling is you can be the smartest person in your class and know everything about anything, but if you cannot apply it to your patients care, your not doing the patient any good.

And on the flip side, you can be the best in clinical at skills, everyone who sees you thinks you've been doing it for a lifetime... but if you don't understand electrolytes or what the significance of my changing hemodynamic status is, I don't want you near me.

[GWENLYN18]

You Sound like me, Thanks for your post! :chuckle

I agree with most saying that both are important, but I feel the common sense is a little more important. I have classmates that are booksmart with no common sense, common sense and not booksmart, and those who have neither (scary). I think of myself on the more of the common sense side. I'm smart and I can grasp what is said in lecture and what read if I study it enough, but I find myself doing better in clinical with practical application. My feeling is you can be the smartest person in your class and know everything about anything, but if you cannot apply it to your patients care, your not doing the patient any good.

[live4today, RN]

...................................................................you can be the smartest person in your class and know everything about anything, but if you cannot apply it to your patients care, your not doing the patient any good.

THAT is the EXACT quote one of my nursing instructors told the class when I was in college! :)

She told us a true story about a previous nursing student she had that made straight A's in every subject, but failed mercifully in the clinical area. She just couldn't pull it together enough to transfer her book knowledge to the clinical setting. The instructor said that she had many booksmart students in her years of teaching nursing that had good memory for test taking, but that was where their progress in the nursing program ended. My instructor had a Masters Degree herself, but tired of hearing the booksmart students complaints about how good they were with test taking skills, yet couldn't pass clinicals. She said those are the ones who go on to "teach" or "manage" because they can't seem to make their brain meet their hands in unison.

NOT my words, but one of my former instructors words, so don't bash me for sharing it.

My personal belief about it all is you need BOTH.....not just one or the other.:)

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

You do need both, like many other posters have said.

I also agree that those with common sense seem to do a little better in clinical because they just seem to be more comfortable. And though the book smart kids in my class got great grades and seemed to remember everything...they were the ones who didn't always pass the boards on the first try, while the common sense students almost always seemed to get it done the first time. I think it all comes down to being a little more relaxed, a little more confident - because it's so hard to think when your mind is goiing a mile a minute and you keep second-guessing yourself. Does that make sense?

Just my observations.