Nursing School has it all wrong.

Nursing Students General Students

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I entered nursing school with a certain level of excitement, only to find that the course work is in some ways a complete waste of time. There is no need to ever learn about nursing theorists. Issues and trends is also somewhat of a joke. I am currently taking a research class in a BSN program. Why? So much time is wasted on these courses and little time is discussed about actual science. I am tired of learning about therapeutic communication. Since when is it o.k. to be programmed to say a cookie cutter phrase of "you feel sad. tell me more about your situation". If I said half of the things they consider the appropriate response, I would be looked at by my patient as if I was out of my mind.

It is embarrassing to mention NANDA nursing dx. "Disturbed energy field", who came up with that? There needs to be an overhaul.

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Specializes in CNA (Stroke, Neuro, LTC), Volunteer.

I agree! But I also believe that they have to teach us something specific to give us a baseline, and once we are actually working we will at some point find our definition of nursing and job duties.

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I feel your pain, but at the risk of getting a shoe thrown at me, there is a LOT of therapeutic communication on NCLEX...so it isn't totally worthless. And I hate to say it, but I actually use some of it in practice now. (Not the "What I hear you saying is..." stuff, but definitely some of the reflective techniques.)

Ok, I'm ducking. :sofahider

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Specializes in LTC.

Haha ! I agree 100 percent. My trends class was a complete joke ! Well, I shouldn't say joke but I really didn't see why we needed a whole class of it. Theorist- besides nightingale I don't remember anyone else. Don't even get me start on NANDA dx!!!!

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Maybe you just chose to go to a bad school. Some nursing programs do an excellent job of preparing their students for a career in nursing. You may have simply chosen a bad program that isn't doing a good job of linking their academic content to actual nursing practice the way a good school should.

Or maybe you do go to a good school but just "don't get it" yet.

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Maybe you just chose to go to a bad school. Some nursing programs do an excellent job of preparing their students for a career in nursing. You may have simply chosen a bad program that isn't doing a good job of linking their academic content to actual nursing practice the way a good school should.

Or maybe you do go to a good school but just "don't get it" yet.

It has nothing to do with the program. It it systemic to the whole cirriculum. You are saying that none of your tests deal with nursing diagnosis' that would make every doctor scratch their head? "Decreased cardiac output r/t blah blah blah". Why can't we call it CHF? You mean to tell me you don't take ATI test that pound you on therapeutic communication? What about the cultural competency questions. You don't have any of those on your exams either? People go to the hospital to get better, not to enjoy an all inclusive vacation. What is taught in any nursing program is what is needed to pass the NCLEX and ATI tests. The questions seem to come from the community nursing aspect instead of a acute setting.

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Well there is more to therapeutic communication than just tell me more. Funny, though because we all used to joke that that was always the answer on a test. But I actually put what I learned into practice the last time I was in clinicals and my patient got very bad news about her health status. Its not easy talking to someone about their declining health, especially when they are lashing out at you. I was surprised that I was able to use some of the things I learned.

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Go look up all the nursing theorists. Look up Rosemarie Porifice "humanbecoming theory". Read her theory. She makes up words and combines human/becoming to one word to feel her own ego. She uses words like cotranscendence and rhythmicity. What is that about. Give me a break. Do research on how to save lives not on ways to fill your own ego. We need less psychology and more patho, pharm, A&P, and a whole course on fluids and electrolytes. Go ahead and throw in a course on lab interpretation. You can get rid of courses like issues and trends, research, theory, and community. Take a look at P.A. curriculum vs. NP curriculum.

As a student, I was in the room with a seasoned nurse trying to talk about heparin's mechanism of action. She told the patient it was an antithrombolytic drug. I wanted to crawl under the bed in shame. I bet she knew how to talk therapeutically to her patient though. Another patient was on heparin and on warfarin at the same time. Order was to d/c heparin when INR was above 2.0. During report there was no mention to d/c heparin even though 7 hour old labs done the morning before showed the INR above 2.0. I had to tell the nursing during their report. I bet the nurse was culturally competent though. Meanwhile the patients right arm was extremely red where the heparin was infusing.

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It has nothing to do with the program. It it systemic to the whole cirriculum. You are saying that none of your tests deal with nursing diagnosis' that would make every doctor scratch their head? "Decreased cardiac output r/t blah blah blah". Why can't we call it CHF? You mean to tell me you don't take ATI test that pound you on therapeutic communication? What about the cultural competency questions. You don't have any of those on your exams either? People go to the hospital to get better, not to enjoy an all inclusive vacation. What is taught in any nursing program is what is needed to pass the NCLEX and ATI tests. The questions seem to come from the community nursing aspect instead of a acute setting.

We can't just call it CHF because nurses don't diagnose. It's an annoying distinction, I know, but it actually does stem from a nurse's scope of practice. Can I "fix" CHF as a nurse? Not really. But if I know the patient has decreased cardiac output, I can make sure the meds I'm giving will improve that; I can restrict fluids as necessary, and so forth.

As a nurse now, I don't have to write out care plans step by step, but I do have to identify nursing diagnoses for a given patient (Acute Pain, Anxiety, Decreased Cardiac Output, Risk for Infection) and print the plans out and customize them for that patient.

I know it's frustrating; I've been there; but try to look at it for what it is and have an open mind. Some of this stuff you may never use again, but at the very least you DO need knowledge of nursing diagnoses and therapeutic communication to pass NCLEX. And you may be surprised how much of it you will continue to use in practice.

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Doctors can't fix CHF either. It is a progressive disease process.

Did you know they are getting rid of all NANDA nursing diagnosis'? Yes, they are getting rid of it all. It has opened nurses up to an increase in lawsuits.

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I'm sorry that you seem to find nursing school frustrating; I was just trying to point out that you really do utilize some of this stuff. But it sounds like you have everything figured out.

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Disturbed Energy Field....great one NANDA. We look like a bunch of tards out there. Nursing has the habit of making a simple concept into a convoluted mess. I guess there is an inferiority complex. I don't have that complex. I am worried about keeping patients alive not making sure I bend over backwards to accommodate every culturally appropriate intervention. There is neither time nor money to incorporate it all. Sorry for my grammar mistakes and all that comes along with venting at a frantic pace. I have had it with nursing school thus far. I want to go to P.A. school.

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