Am I, as a nursing student, part of the problem?

[marie-francoise]

NOTE: Please read the replies on this thread before you post a reply to this thread. Thanks.

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OK, I might get "flamed" for this question, but...

As a nursing student in an ADN program, am I part of the problem in nursing today? (I have an MPH, and do not know if I will ever pursue a BSN, for a couple of reasons.)

Are there simply too many nursing students that are feeding the mill of poorly staffed/poorly operated hospital nursing units and temporarily (until they burn out and leave) providing a quick-fix to the high turnover that results on those units from poor working conditions?

Are we current students (and new grads) therefore keeping hospitals from facing the facts that RETENTION, esp of more experienced nurses, is key to addressing poor nursing working conditions today?

Maybe hospital leadership KNOW there is a ready batch of new grads to fill a vacancy left by a burnt-out nurse. (Although training a new hire is mighty expensive, and seems now to involve preceptors who are recent grads themselves, as well as decreasing preceptorship duration.)

I'm not saying we don't need new nurses - just that the system might need to be forced to prize their current nurses more, and not to be made so comfortable in the assurance that new nurses are being "churned out".

Maybe the caliber of new nurses needs to be raised. Maybe nursing programs actually need to be MORE selective. I don't know.

Maybe short programs to a nursing degree are not intensive OR selective enough and contain too many low-caliber students who will not help in gaining future respect for nurses? Maybe we are making it too easy for people to go through a program that will end with a job that makes pretty good money compared to other jobs with similar training intensity/duration?

Maybe we don't really have a "shortage" of nursing instructors - maybe programs need to be made both more selective AND intense. (I don't like when the "shortage of instructors" reason is furnished for the nursing shortage - it seems more like an excuse to avoid facing the reality that there is a nursing shortage because many nurses and potential nurses don't want to put up with crappy working conditions.)

Anyway, my basic question is, am I part of the problem, as a nursing stduent going through a relatively short, not very clinically intense (so far) program?

I keep wondering, though, if we should bring those old diploma programs back. Maybe make them competitive, intense diploma programs with an intense preliminary didactic component for learning diseases and rationales for nursing interventions, and then have the rest of the training be in the hospital, basically.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

i think that being a high caliber nursing student or nurse is a totally personal decision and action. you either are or you are not. to blame it on the system is simply passing the buck and refusing to take responsibility for one's own actions.

when i became a supervisor i was shocked at the number of mediocre nurses i ran into who were willing to just do mediocre caliber work. where does that come from? the self and no where else. how sad. i also saw nurses who would get stumped by things they did not know and just sweep it under the carpet hoping they wouldn't have to deal with it. what kind of professionalism is that? however, it happens more than you would know. you can't start a fire under these kinds of people if they aren't going to respond to it in the first place. i think a lot of it is based in the old feeling that nursing is a blue collar profession and much of the mediocrity is blue collar mentality. you can't stimulate activism in people who only go to work to collect a paycheck.

i think that the current "recruit and transfuse" approach at addressing nurses leaving the bedside serves to attract many people who would never have considered a career in nursing under other circumstances. and unfortunately, some of these people are not very bright, nor of good character.

:sofahider

[Katie82, RN]

Do you believe that BSN programs are more "clinically intense"? Not usually the case.

[marie-francoise]

Do you believe that BSN programs are more "clinically intense"? Not usually the case.

Not at all. I was in a 1-year accelerated BSN program, and it was pretty fluffy. The ADN program I'm in is far better. I already have my undergrad and grad degrees, though, so that's one reason I'm burnt out on the "fluffy".

But my point is not exactly BSN vs ADN vs diploma, but rather how programs select for students and prepare them. (My guess is that the quality of programs, whether ADN or BSN or diploma, will ultimately vary based on the quality of the faculty and the way they choose to implement the curriculum.)

My major point was referring to students - how they're applyng to schools & enrolling seemingly without an idea of the problematic issues surrounding nursing today.

Many of my classmates seem really, really unaware of such things as high patient-nurse ratios. Some of them, to put it really bluntly, seem a little mentally dull, DESPITE the program's actually being a really good one. So, good program, yet a lot of not-too-bright students.

That might sound harsh, but I can't see those dull students doing anything to turn around the state of nursing - esp bedside nursing - once they're out in the field. Maybe I misjudge them and they will make great nurses in the clinical setting - I know that some students are great at book knowledge and being articulate, while other, seemingly dull students are actually great at application.

But sometimes I worry that, while many of them will make competent technicians, they lack the insight into the "larger context" of things - such as the greater issues that affect their profession. Sometimes the light bulbs don't seem to be glowing too intensely above their heads - more like flickering. I don't know - maybe one can't intill insight or a willingness to "change the world" into people; maybe it's something you're born with.

And, yes, if many are going solely after the paychecks, they will lack much incentive to try to change the system.

And I do understand that many insightful, intelligent nurses - esp those with children and who are the family's main breadwinner - don't have the time or latitude (not to mention the energy!) to try to change the system.

Maybe what I'm getting at is, how do we professionalize nursing? Maybe that question sums up my point.

[RNperdiem, RN]

To turn around the state of nursing does not require all nursing students to be passionate activists, but it does need some.

Those that are passionate activists need to become leaders.

Great leaders who can attract a following, who can motivate the apathetic to create change.