The *EXPERT* Beginner

[Kelly_the_Great]

Is anybody else sick to death of new nurses acting like they are somehow experts all the sudden because they passed a state board exam?

When I passed mine both times (LVN & RN), I felt like I knew enough to practice safely and now had a license to learn.

The further I continue in my career, the more I feel I am learning. Yet, somehow these folks just got out of school and they are the experts on charting, assessment, etc. but don't know their meds or skills??

[jjones0812]

Thank you SleepyRN...

[OCNRN63, RN]

Kelly_the_Great said:

I should apologize for making generalizations. Mainly, I was just venting. I haven't posted in the forums in years and didn't realize it'd become a place whereby making observations/venting frustrations would cause one to be accused of reveling in bashing other nurses.

To avoid generalizations and to be more specific, I work with a nurse who just got her RN license 6 weeks ago and on 3 different occasions I have seen her hold her name badge up to students and tell them, "Until you get one of these, you don't know nothing! "

And I get tired of the arrogance.

So now y'all tell me, am I just not appreciating everything she's bringing to the table or is this a nurse who just got their license and somehow thinks she is an expert of some sort?

Like I said I apologize for making generalizations but some of y'all are making assumptions and being a little defensive too.

Again, that's my fault for not being specific. However, I will say in response to a previous question, yes, compared to previous generations of new nurse grads I do think there's a greater sense of bravado amongst a lot of the new grads I see coming out now.

Kelly, you have no reason to apologize. You simply started a thread about something you've observed, and you wanted to know if others have seen the same thing.

If I had been precepting a new grad who had done that, I can guarantee you we would have had a "Come to Jesus" meeting. "That is not how we treat others in this unit" or something along that line.

I no longer work in the clinical setting, but I do see it based on some of the posts/threads here.

[Whoatemyburger]

I am a fairly new nurse . I'm always respectful to my experienced colleagues in my unit who by the way are wonderful . I am very lucky . I have learned so much from then . From what I heard from them , the learning never ends !

[heartsgal, ADN, RN]

\ said:

I should apologize for making generalizations. Mainly I was just venting. I haven't posted in the forums in years and didn't realize it'd become a place whereby making observations/venting frustrations would cause one to be accused of reveling in bashing other nurses. To avoid generalizations and to be more specific, I work with a nurse who just got her RN license 6 weeks ago and on 3 different occasions I have seen her hold her name badge up to students and tell them, "Until you get one of these, you don't know nothing! " And I get tired of the arrogance. So now y'all tell me, am I just not appreciating everything she's bringing to the table or is this a nurse who just got their license and somehow thinks she is an expert of some sort? Like I said I apologize for making generalizations but some of y'all are making assumptions and being a little defensive too. Again, that's my fault for not being specific. However, I will say in response to a previous question, yes, compared to previous generations of new nurse grads I do think there's a greater sense of bravado amongst a lot of the new grads I see coming out now.

WOW! she sounds sounds like a real winner. NOT!! I'm also a new grad, but am definitely aware that I do not know everything. I ask a lot of questions and don't care if some one might see that as a weakness, because I want to learn and learning from other experienced nurses is the best way I know how to become a better nurse myself, because it's not about me or them but the patients. It's too bad some bad apples are spoiling the preverbal barrel for the rest of us, who truly want to gain knowledge from our senior nurses.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

It amazes me that managers, supervisors, charge nurses, unit coordinators (every place seems to have their own made-up titles) do not try to help new nurses more. It seems like it would be a lot easier, and make everything run a lot smoother, to help the newbies out. I am an old nurse, so I don't have this problem, but I have noticed managers who seem to go out of their way to make new nurses miserable, instead of simply helping them. And people wonder why new nurses get their year's experience, then leave.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

At the risk of sounding a little "off" or making light of the "expert beginner" I will certainly say that I'm most definitely an "expert" at beginning things. I've done that a few times now... So I'm an expert at something?