Attitudes of New Nurses

[NextGen]

Where are all of the attitudes of new nurses coming from? Did they teach you this in nursing school? Did your preceptors teach you this? I am stunned every day to hear new nurses confidently saying things to patients that do not make any sense. The new nurse seems to think that as long as they say it with confidence, it will somehow make sense.

For example, the patient and their family asked about the medication doses the patient was receiving. At home, the patient took different doses than what was prescribed in the hospital. The new nurse said "The reason the dose is different is that the doctors do not like to give you too many medications while in the hospital". Nurses are not doctors and do not speak for doctors. SHE SHOULD HAVE SAID "I will talk to the doctor about your concerns and get back to you". The medication was for seizures and the patient had not had a seizure since the dose was increased.

I believe patients when they tell me that they asked the nurse before me to follow up on something and nothing was ever done. The new nurses do not even document that the question was raised by the patient.

NEW NURSES: You are not doctors. Just because you say something with confidence, does not make what you said believable. That patient is your responsibility. You do not need to "like them". You do need to take care of them.

Any other nurses out there have experience with new nurse attitudes?

[DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN]

That post came from a NEW, repeat, NEW nurse, not an OLD nurse.

I am well aware, I am just pointing out that OP obviously identifies more with the more experienced nurses.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Thank you to the OP for this post. The responses you have solicited have made my evening. BTW, I'm a newborn nurse... Not even a newbie. I just passed NCLEX on 22 July. :) how many years do I have to put in to be considered "seasoned"? Not "haggard"... "Seasoned". :)

When you can say with a straight face "put a fork in me, I'm done"

Congrats on passing your boards!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I ignored most of the rant, but what struck me was that the OP was upset that there was no documentation on the question. If I was expected to document every single time I answered a question, I wouldn't leave the computer. We have general documentation for medication education in the care plan, but specificity isn't required there. I use my nursing judgement to determine what I do and don't need to document re: pt questions, e.g. A pt requesting/obviously needing to speak with a doctor prior to signing a consent.