anything you wish you were told in nursing school that you werent?

[karyan06]

I am 2 years down and 2 to go in my nursing school, and I am an LNA in LTC and a cardiac medical hospital setting. I was just wondering if there was anything you wish you were told/wish you did in nursing school or when you got out that you didnt realize at the time. anything advice would be great:D

[Counselort]

I don't know if this helps or hurts, but I'm moving into the PA field after fifteen years in mental health as a social worker/counselor. Ready for a change and some different responsibilities. Plus I'm in a rural area with few/no psychiatrists.

Many of the same concerns apply to counseling/social work - limited time, necessity to chart, extensive liability, watch your back or "CYA". Even in private practice these all apply,PLUS you get the joys of dealing with insurance companies

Like many of you, I wasn't taught any of this in school. When my day came to supervise, I tried my best to share these realities with the students -- as well as the positives; the one family that is thankful, the child who does succeed when returned to their parents, and the one guy who actually quit drinking after two years of your off and on treatment. You have to look for those small rewards because the money (even worse than nurses, believe it or not) isn't why we go into helping fields.

[clonopin_x]

I really wish someone- anyone!!! would have told me how important my preceptorship was. I was interested in a few things- impatient psyche, OR, ED, L&D. I couldn't really make up my mind, because we had to decide without having been in any of those specialties. My instructors and advisors all said "if you don't know what to do, just do Med Surg, because it will give you the foundation you need".

Whatever. I hated med surge, I still hate med surge, and 2.5 years later I'm still stuck doing med surge even tho its the last thing I want to be doing. You can't get a job without experience/ connections, etc, etc, etc. And as a new grad, the ONLY real experience you have, the connections you make are through your preceptorship, so CHOOSE WISELY

[SaraO'Hara]

You will swear more, drink more, and feel more futile than you ever have in your life.

Sometimes managers will get in the way of treating patients just to prove their own power.

It's always the nice patients who go home to die.

[BanoraWhite]

Well I finish in about 6-7 weeks and have not been told (along with the rest of my class) how to perform a female catheterisation, take bloods, suction a trachea, have not passed a single med to anyone...so I'd like to you know, maybe learn that.

The only clinicals we have had were in nursing homes bathing and dressing patients for 4 weeks.

Not happy with my school at all.

[Leelee2]

I really wish someone would've told me...that you will be spit at, hit at, pinched, pee'd on, disrespected, cursed at, ect...That med pass in a nursing home, should not be interrupted other than emergency situations.

Document, Document, Document, and when in doubt document, and cya.

That management/administ. pay a whole lot of lip-service to "quality care"

That the majority of the states do not have a recommended nurse/patient ratio....just provide enough staff to provide "adequate" care.

That a nurse's often give up their own rights. (I have been slandered, and physically abused by patients, etc) and often there is no recourse/justice.

That sometimes, when you do your very best, to provide the best patient care you can, it still isn't enough.

[coast2coast]

I am still new, only 6mo on my own so far in nicu but so far I have learned that my patients lives are literally in my hands, depending on the decisions I make. That in the large teaching hosp I am in I frequently find new residents asking me what should be done! What surprises me most is that somtimes I know. Asking for help, asking questions and asking for order clarification are all better than a dead patient! Never assume you know everything.

And ditto on no time to pee!

My SO is one of those new residents. He has been singing the praises of the ER nurses who have been helping him out. "They know EVERYTHING!" (in reverent tones) Hehe.

[hazyblue]

...that caring is a two-way process...

[Saysfaa]

"...that caring is a two-way process..."

What do you mean?

[Flylikethewind]

That I would love going to work everyday!

And I would get a strange kick out of making a seamless bed and mixing antibiotics

and that I would witness pooh flying out of a orifice onto a nurse and the curtain around the bed

and that when you dress necrotic flesh it's pretty much all you will smell for the next 24 hours

[Copper4]

No matter what your role, if you are thoughtful and smart, and always do what is best for the patient, you will do fine..(.if that means asserting yourself with a doctor or family member so be it-you are doing your job):)

[missjennmb]

1. The amount of paperwork you do may very well exceed the amount of actual patient contact by a trillion times
   
2. Nursing does not necessarily mean 'not a desk job'
   
3. Don't ever expect that doing what you were told yesterday will keep you from getting in trouble for it today
   
4. above all else... CYA
   

I always thought there was a right way and a wrong way to do things, and I am learning very quickly (and NOT the easy way unfortunately) that those lines are blurred, and the hard part of my job is knowing which of the many people I answer to, to listen to from one issue to the next.

[samiam7898]

that when you dress necrotic flesh it's pretty much all you will smell for the next 24 hours

Well that's really something to look forward to. LOL!

My 1st semester of NS starts next month. I'm VERY excited, but also extremely nervous. I haven't handled emergency situations very well in the past and I sure hope I can overcome that. Hopefully some education and confidence will do the trick.

Very good (and frightening) info here. Thanks karyan06 for starting thread!