Advice from current nurses or students?

[Pianoplaya94]

Hi,

I am extremely interested in pursing nursing as a career (registered nurse to begin with... hopefully NP later on). I will soon graduate with a bachelors degree in health sciences and will apply to an accelerated (2 year) nursing program (BSN). I have a couple of questions.

Firstly, do you like your job? How much autonomy do you have?

Secondly, what kinds of tests do you perform and how do you analyze the results?

Thirdly, nurses have a reputation for not being smart and "that's why they are a nurse". However, this doesn't really make sense to me. In my experience, in order to get into nursing school you need an extremely high GPA... not much lower than that required for med school. So I'm confused about this. But how much are you "looked down upon" in the work place? Especially by doctors.

Thanks!

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

Lesson learned for my next post!

That's great to know, thank you! I worked with several nurses on a unit at a hospital, but rarely ever saw the doctors (I only saw the residents) so I wasn't sure of the nurse-doctor relationship. I only went by what I read on some of these forums. But thank you for clarifying this for me.

Residents are very much doctors. In fact residents are the perfect opportunities to build those bonds and relationships and because they are still in their training and learning there can be many times they are learning from YOU! It's literally the perfect time to nip any stigma in the bud so that when they become attendings they have a great amount of respect for nurses.

I worked at a large teaching hospital and it was my first experience with round the clock residents, some became my best friends. Some scared me they would soon be on their own. But so many I learned from and they were eager to teach and so many learned from me. Some stuck around after residency to sign on as attendings and when the new batch of residents came around, guess who it was telling the residents they better not tick off the nurses and they better listen and learn??

[Pianoplaya94]

Residents are very much doctors. In fact residents are the perfect opportunities to build those bonds and relationships and because they are still in their training and learning there can be many times they are learning from YOU! It's literally the perfect time to nip any stigma in the bud so that when they become attendings they have a great amount of respect for nurses.

I worked at a large teaching hospital and it was my first experience with round the clock residents, some became my best friends. Some scared me they would soon be on their own. But so many I learned from and they were eager to teach and so many learned from me. Some stuck around after residency to sign on as attendings and when the new batch of residents came around, guess who it was telling the residents they better not tick off the nurses and they better listen and learn??

Oh yeah I know residents are MDs, it was the attendings (after residency?) that I never saw. Maybe once a day. The residents were very cool and friendly to everyone. I agree that they are so eager to learn. I've noticed that they (generally) love talking to everyone (nurses, attendings, volunteers, administrators). I did once see an attending yelling at a resident once, but maybe that's just to teach them how to act under pressure?

That's good to know that you had a very positive experience with the nurse-resident relationship! Interesting to know this relationship is so important for future relationships in the medical community as well.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Yeah I've never heard that nurses have a reputation for not being smart. We do have a reputation for being trustworthy -- most trusted profession 15 yrs running! :)

Disrespect from physicians has become quite unacceptable, actually. Sure there are jerks as in any profession, but it's recognized as a patient safety issue to belittle or intimidate the ones who are with that patient for the OTHER 23+ hours per day. The standout anal-orifice-MD I have worked with was a neurosurgery resident, who was actually fired for his behaviors.