Advice wanted, as an older RN student, what thing should I NOT do?

[hamsterwheel]

I will be entering an RN program in the spring. I'm an LVN but I'm starting the program at the beginning, not a bridge program due to "stuff". I'm 45 and while I love my patients I'm not really a people person. I'm going into a program with mostly 20 something women and I'm concerned that I'm going to want to nag. I have 2 kids in that age range and while getting my prerequisites I noticed a near uncontrollable urge to parent other students and sometimes teachers. Some appreciated the advice, assistance and "Mom purse supplies" but most got a trapped animal expression and tried to politely chew their leg off and run. It turns out teachers don't like you correcting them either, (except one aspie microbiology professor who appreciated my pointing out a math error in the lab manual she'd wrote) I've accepted that I annoy the BM out of teachers and students but I'm hoping to start fresh in clinicals so at least someone will give me a recommendation when it's time to look for a job. The nurses in my lvn clinicals seem to like me but I think that was just because my anal attention to detail meant I didn't kill their patients causing them grief and paperwork.

Advice on how to not torture the poor RNs in clinical would be appreciated as well as any general advice.

[AliceTrout]

I was a non-trad in my nursing program, but the youngest one (I jumped degrees back to back). I will tell you at my school there was a pretty strong anti-nontrad sentiment, and for a somewhat good reason.

The non-trads typically liked to voice their experiences and background knowledge every chance they got. Over classmates. Over the instructors. All the time. Sometimes they had great input, but over time this becomes horribly grating, disruptive, and just downright condescending. Nursing students are paying to learn from nursing instructors who are selected for the job. Try not to use class time to expound on your personal experiences, that precious time is for the instructors to talk, not you. Adding in your two cents here and there might seem like a good idea, but if you are giving "real world" examples to students who have to take boards using the "crystal palace" standard of NCLEX, you are hurting your classmates, not helping them.

In my class we had two competing non-trad "know it alls" who seemed to thrive pointing out the instructors mistakes, book errors, power point typos etc. That behavior alienates you from your peers if you can't reign it in for those special times it is truly warranted (for example a student making a mistake that puts someone in harms way). Doing that too often is like the boy who cried wolf. Eventually people stop listening to you, and frankly just try to avoid you.

Non-trads have a lot to offer younger classmates, just recognize that you have to give and take, look for non-verbal cues to see if you are overstepping your bounds.

Also. Wheelie bags. Don't get one.

[SunnyPupRN]

Seems like a no-brainer. Be quiet.

It isn't just nursing students who resent being corrected and judged, it's everyone.

Did your teacher announce that he/she was an aspie, or did you diagnose that yourself?

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

I just finished my second year of an RN program after being and LPN for 22 years. I never "hid" the fact that I was an LPN, and if asked about something I would gladly give very short input, but I never corrected an instructor.

I remembered that when I was a CNA in the LPN program my instructor would tell me I had to stop thinking like an aide and start thinking like a nurse. I took this advice forward as I went back and remembered that I was there not only to get the RN initials but to learn how to "think" like an RN. No matter how good of a nurse you are as an LPN, its different being an RN. I actually felt behind some of my classmates in certain areas because they were fresher on the material learned in the LPN year and I remembered only the things that I used regularly.

I made friends with a couple other non-traditional students and kept my private business, well, private. I did form one study group (with the non-trads) but we did it differently. We posted study guides and questions on google.docs and then we took turns finding the answers and each contributed to the document using citations from the slide or page # that we found the information on. Because we all had families and lives outside of school, it let us work together and help each other study on our own schedules. It also made the study focused on what we where there to do, instead of a social session.

And there were times when I did worse on tests because I wanted to answer "real world" not "NCLEX" world. I was glad I kept my mouth shut then, because I didn't mess up anyone else with my thinking.

During my clinical, I would let nurses know that I was an LPN, so I was hoping to learn to not just the skills, but the process they are thinking when they are making decisions. I made sure when I asked questions, they were truly questions and not accusations. I would say "it's been a long time since I've done this (which was often true) can you refresh me on the procedure.. (steps, reasoning, ect.). Or I would say "it's easier for me to remember how to do this if I know the reasoning behind it, can you explain why I do this?" Which sounds I lot different then "why are you doing that?" I do think those nurses held me to a higher standard, and I was ok with that. But I was not shy to tell someone, I just don't know, I've never learned that, or I haven't done that in such a long time I can't remember. I didn't pretend to know it all, because none of us do... we learn our speciality and forget lots of other things we don't use. I had wonderful clinical experiences.

And congratulations for going back and continuing your education, you and your patients will benefit from it.