Can any of you guys help a guy out with 10 questions?

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I'm in an accelerated nursing program in OK and have to interview a BSN-RN nurse (of less than 5 years) for an assignment.

If someone has time to answer these 10 questions, I'd be appreciative! I know of no male nurses that graduated fewer than 5 years ago.

  1. Do you believe you prepared adequately for your job while you were in nursing school? Why or why not?
  2. What was most helpful to you as you began to practice in the nursing role as a new nurse?
  3. Were you given adequate orientation and assistance by others?
  4. How important is the role of evidenced based practice in your profession?
  5. Do you work with any ADNs and, if so, can you tell any differences in the way BSNs practice nursing compared to ADNs?
  6. Have you been able to find a mentor in your profession that has helped you to develop professionally?
  7. Did you experience reality shock? What was it like?
  8. Have you had any encounters with sexism and if so how did you handle it?
  9. Are you satisfied with your nursing career now? Do you plan to continue to working as a nurse in the future? Do you plan to study for an advanced practice role in the future?
  10. What advice or suggestions would you give to a new male graduate as they begin their first job as a nurse?

Thanks so much! I hate busy work, but we have two courses that we're having to knock-out in 3.5 weeks so a trip to the hospital to find a new nurse is not conducive to finishing all this crap they're having us do.

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Peds ICU.

E-mailed you a response.

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Thanks, Mike!

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

you need any more answers?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, nursing admin, med/surg, flight.

Well, I am guessing you could use me?!? I have been a nurse for 9 years but my education is as follows: I became an LPN 9 years ago, then finished an ADN program in 2006, and then completed a BSN program in 2010. Considering I just finished the BSN program last year and completed the ADN program 5 years ago, perhaps I am a candidate to answer your questions???

1. Yes, I believe I was adequately prepared for my job in nursing school. Nursing school only provides you with basic knowledge and gives the student certain critical thinking techniques. Upon graduation, I felt comfortable knowing how to seek guidance and where to get information, which I believe is the basis of nursing education.

2. What was most valuable to me as a new nurse in practice was the guidance of highly experienced and skilled fellow nurses. I was extremely lucky to be hired into a step down unit right out of school with a group of coworker nurses who offered nothing less than 20 years of nursing experience each, and all were very willing to dump their knowledge and experience into the sponge nurse brain that I had.

3. I believe I have answered this question in answer 2.

4. Evidence based practice is large in any nursing area. In the ER where I work, research about changes are continually being reviewed. Wait times, faster processes, patient satisfaction, and continuing education are some examples of evidence based practices that are evident in my practice area.

5. I completed my BSN in 2010, and was an ADN before that. In the ER where I work, and on my rotation, I am the only nurse who is prepared with a BSN. The other 3 nurses who I work with are very skilled nurses. Being a prior ADN prepared nurse, I would believe that my answer to this question could be potentially biased in response. However, overall, I believe the care provided by me, a nurse with a BSN, is highly comparable to the nurses I work with who hold associate degrees. The only practice area that I have found that ADN curriculum lacks is in the management area. I am the charge nurse on our rotation, and I have sometimes found myself explaining and educating the ADN's regarding certain management or leadership decisions that I decide on. As for clinical knowledge and practice, the care provided by ADN's is equivalent to that of the BSN prepared nurse.

6. Yes, I have found a mentor in my profession. My mentor is a nurse who has been in practice for 49 years. She is in her early 70's, still works full time as an RN in a busy emergency department, is educationally prepared as a three year diploma nurse graduate, and offers an unremarkable wealth of nursing knowledge, experience, and guidance. To me, she has been my idol and guidance.

7. No, I don't think I experienced reality shock. As I had been an LPN, I was aware of what nursing was going to offer and what to expect as I entered the profession as a professional nurse.

8. The only encounter I have experienced with sexism is with a very small percentage of female counterpart nurses. I can recall one RN who resented me because I am a young male nurse and I was offered a supervisory position over her. I belive that my issue was more age related bias than sexism. I was an LPN at age 17 (I was 15 in LPN school). Take 17 and add 9 (years I have been a nurse) and you can figure my current age of 26. Therefore, I often experience mistrust and "slack" based on me being 26 years old. Yet, it is often a comfort when I state that I have been a nurse for 9 years at age 26.

9. I am very satisfied with my career choice and love the nursing profession. I could not see myself doing anything different with my life; nursing has become my passion and I have gained a wealth of experience that has empowered me to continue nursing education. I am currently a nurse practitioner student and plan to earn terminal nursing education upon completion; I just haven't decided whether to choose a DNP or PhD route in Nursing yet;)

10. As any new nurse regardless of sex, keep your head up;) You may become overwhelmed with job interviews and proving yourself when you land your first job. At an interview, when you are asked about experience, try to correlate a similar experience if you have no healthcare experience. For example, when someone asks you about your experience with "dealing with a psychotic patient," perhaps you could give an example of talking down an angry customer or managing an aggressive person, etc. When you start to work as a nurse you may feel overwhelmed initially, but don't give up. When things get very stressful, look around at all of the nurses you work with and realize that every single one of them was a new grad once. When a nurse coworker is unprofessional to you, kill them with kindness. Angry people are often unhappy for some reason or other. If you become angry back because they are angry toward you the situation will only get worse. Next, DON'T feel too "good" to ask for help. If you are unsure about something, ask for guidance or help from someone who knows, perhaps a more experienced nurse. The last thing you want to do is harm someone because you were unsure of something; a judge won't find you not guilty simply because you were unsure! And finally, if you make a mistake, own up to it. The fact is, you WILL make a mistake as a nurse. Everyone makes mistakes. The problem arises when you don't own up to it or lie about it intentially. I have made mistakes and I have always owned up to them. You won't get in trouble if you immediately take ownership for a mistake that you make!

11. Good luck as a nurse and I hope you are nervous. If you aren't nervous then something is wrong! Being nervous is natural. Afterall, it is a sympathetic nervous system response which proves that you have a neurological response to stressors and therefore have a sense of what is right which is imperative to the success of the nurse!

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Congratulations on your success Danny. Hope to find a mentor like you

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Specializes in orthopedic & HDU.

Im not sure if im ican help you but ill give it a go,,i have been a nurse for 17 yrs(bsn rn 1994 )im internationally trained,but i think its doenst matter.e.r nurse-94-2001, m.s nurse saudi arabia charge nurse,m.s &hdu nurse 2002-2010,ortho hdu till present.both in london england

1)im absolutely sure i was prepared adequately,on my 1st year till 4th year we were trained to look after patients as a nurse (only we asked if we need to double check something were not sure) obviously we have our nursing instructor behind our back looking for any error.,,exams,return demo evry otherday at school if we are not on duty,plus the school i graduate are strict were i have to maintained certain grades.

2)the thing that helps me really is i love my job,i work hard for it at school with lots of tears and sleepless nights and so i told myself once i get my license ill make sure ill enjoy it.if any nurses loves nursing mainly because of money then thats not nursing,,yes we need money to survive,but its should be a small portion from being loving to look after sick people.

3)my ist assignment in saudi arabia was a bit difficult,,foreign land,strange language, etc...no support what so ever,so i learnt from watching those other nurses,basically do it urself attitude,back here in london yes lots of support which is lovely,even if u dont need it they will give it to you.

4)evidence practice-to be honest not particularly involce with it for 17 yrs of my career,,i let my manager do it ,few trainingi attended but none of them really give me a positive outlook about it,but dont get me wrong its good to have it,but i always look at it as ;if they will help my patient well being then yeah ,let do it; otherwise scarp it in the bin.

5)im not sure whats adn means..but being an rn means lot of responsibility..most of my time here in london im inchargeof the ward while i hold the bleep where im also responsible for any admission,trouble,staff sickness,materials requisistion etc for the whole hospital sounds daunting but yeah i love chalenge.not mentioning my manager will kill me if i over budget the staffing nor store orders etc..but at the end of the day only one thing that is important>>>>patient care

6) no mentor for me im afraid....i always aske during my early career and infact till now,,nursing is an evolution we learn everyday so its a continous process,we never stop learning..

7)the only time iwas shock i think when i was in saudi arabia where nursing as a male nurse is totally different,,cant look after female patient cant touch them even thou they are dying etc...otherwise none at all i basically have idea what to expect,,early in my nursing school time ive seen a lot of diseases and surgical cases that when i finally become an rn is no big deal for me..so i think exposure to the hospital setting really help me a lot in tjhat area.

8)not much apart from hey ,,can you help me lift this patient up " your a man so u can do this pretty easy"early in my career i feed up female counterpart saying this stuff buit i guess we can help it but appreciate that being a male nurse gives us more responsibilty than them in some aspects of nursing(i might me wrong but thats my insight anyway)also getting higher position as a male is intimedating on my part ..but so far so good,,lol

9)im very happy with my career i dont know how long im gonna continue but yeah cant askk for any career apart from nursing infact im trying to get a license in america for the 3rd time lol..so fingers..i would love to be a nurse anaesthetist ,but i guess that can wait till i pass my nclex,,

10) will my advice to u my friend is simple love your job,,coz if u dont,its not worthied doing it.nursing is a very stressful job,if u dont enjy it,then its not for you.always smile,be respectful to ur fellow nurses and the rest of the medical team, voice out if u think something they missed out say it,say it in a nice way so others wont get disrespected.dont be scared to asked,,no ones gonna blame u from asking, and remember ur dealing with peoples live, so single mistakes can be very fatal,,do ur job on ur own pace,once uve mastered them ,then u can gradually increase ur pace up.watch ur co others how they do things, and learnt from them,if u made a mistake dont worry as long as ur patient is ok ,then its ok apologise and learnt from it,,most nurses mmade mistake we learn from it, and it will make us a better nurse in the future.try ur best by doing nursing in a proper way sometimes we can be very busy that we tend to forget how to do nursing in a right way.because if u made it a habit ,then bad habit are difficult to die out..

Well i guess i told you everything i can remember...lol weeeyyy ..time for for my break..lol enjoy ur time my friend be proud of ur job ,,its a job in the land where we are called as an angel....so do it with love and passion and god will reward you with lots of blessing in life

ps...sorry for any typos error lol its 3am here now

joe

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