my college is scaring me

Peeps Mcarthur · May 3, 2004

As others have said,

Try to avoid grumbling with the others. It's hard not to fall into it now but it will be impossible later in the core classes when there will be ALOT of irrelevent psychosocial theory. You might as well embrace that now rather than be disillusioned later. Any school in any trade will make you learn stuff you'll never use. Don't fall in with the crowd on this one. Keep your grades up so you'll have options later in life.

Some of nursing theory will relate directly to prerequisites like psychology, sociology and stages of development psychology. It's important to learn to write properly in real life but the rest of the classes are just fufilling core for the degree. Most math besides fractions, A&P, and Micro is negligible unless you're in a BSN program at a university and then only to get the degree.

These are those classes that are 'good to know'.

If you plan on going on to the practitioner level you'll use the science for medical theor

SCRN1 · May 3, 2004

most math besides fractions, a&p, and micro is negligible unless you're in a bsn program at a university and then only to get the degree.

where'd you get that from? in my adn program, we had to take and make above an 80 in those courses if we were to earn our degree.

neg-li-gi-ble ( p ) [color=#0033ff]pronunciation key (ngl-j-bl)

adj.

not significant or important enough to be worth considering; trifling.

SamanthaLu · May 3, 2004

Rhee, I feel exactly the same way in some of my prereqs, which is as far as I have gotten in the program. My classmates scare me. And while I agree that one can be a good nurse without having to be a saint, all of the good/great nurses I have known have warmth and compassion in their attitude--and I don't get this feeling from a lot of the future nurses in my program. And to be honest, a lot of them are just bloody freakin' stupid (or cheaters) and I am terrified at the prospect of working alongside them! I tend to have doubts that all these people really will be weeded out, but I can only hope.

Which brings up another topic. I am at a community college and am seriously thinking of doing an accelerated BSN program just because of all of this. Does anyone really believe there would be a difference as far as students go? or could it be worse? I don't mean to be on a high horse at all. I really had a lot of faith in this program and after getting myself into serious debt for an overpriced liberal arts education that has yet to pay for itself, I am all for the affordability and quality of community college education. it's just some of the students that are driving me nuts

susanna · May 3, 2004

I have a question...I'm a student finishing the prereque's for the nursing program (and I have to say I never thought I'd get hungry when disecting sheep parts, but it happened last week), and some of the students in my classes are scaring me....

All I hear is that everything is too hard, too hard, too hard, and irrelevant. I'm talking about comp I and a microbiology course. I'm wondering if any of you think that good English and writing skills are needed in nursing? I would think with all the paperwork, clear writing would be important.

Thats how all the nursing students in my classes act too, Rhee. I'm not sure either what to make of it. I mean, pre-medical school students don't just skimp out on their pre-med courses. They take them seriously. I'm asking myself why are all the other pre-nursing students in my classes are not taking seriously the so-much-easier pre-reqs we have to do for nursing.

This scares me because it makes me think that the gap between the roles and responsibilties of doctors and nurses will be alot greater than I'd expected when it comes to working in hospitals later on. I'm looking forward to being a nurse in order to enjoy working along side doctors as part of a collaborative team, not just under them, taking their odors and obeying without adding any of my own insight. Should I take all this negligence as a sign that my expectations for a nurse are too high to be a reality in today's managed care system?

Peeps Mcarthur · May 3, 2004

By SCRN1

Where'd you get that from? In my ADN program, we had to take and make above an 80 in those courses if we were to earn our degree.

Then how do they apply to everyday nursing? I believe that's the thing.

Rhee · May 3, 2004

I just want to thank everyone for their responses, I feel much better now. There was actually a girl in my medical terminology class that left the room when we discussed the digestive system, because 'nice people' don't say "rectal" or "anal". The only person I can take care of is myself, so I'll just do my best and ignore the griping....

Peeps Mcarthur · May 3, 2004

By Sussana

This scares me because it makes me think that the gap between the roles and responsibilties of doctors and nurses will be alot greater than I'd expected when it comes to working in hospitals later on.

They are worlds apart.

Like you, I had the same expectations.

I left nursing school last year to pursue a degree in medicine as a physician assistant. I discovered that the nursing profession was too far away from medicine for my tastes. The reason I wanted to be a nurse was to blend my love for medicine with the patient contact of a nurse as the counselor told me was what nursing was about.

That is not the case

It is what you make of it though. You can certainly be knowlegeble of medicine as a nurse and use it to have a clue about your patients, but you will not use medicine in treating patients. That is why there is a gap between the two theories.

Peeps Mcarthur · May 3, 2004

By Rhee

I just want to thank everyone for their responses, I feel much better now. There was actually a girl in my medical terminology class that left the room when we discussed the digestive system, because 'nice people' don't say "rectal" or "anal". The only person I can take care of is myself, so I'll just do my best and ignore the griping....

Excellent Rhee!

Don't forget this. It will slip in when your guard is down. Be focused on YOUR goals and only sensitive to your attitude. It's the only one that counts.

krissypoo · May 3, 2004

In any job out there you are going to have co-workers who are there for the pay check. In a perfect world we would all be able to follow our hearts and choose jobs based on our passions, rather then security of income. GUESS WHAT, this is not a perfect world. I can't raise my daughter with the chances that i may sell a painting today.....meaning art is a hobby, not a career, for most. There is room out there for all of us. And i think the majority of us who are entering this field for the purpose of a secure job can and will provide compassion when its needed. Just because i want a chance at providing my family with oppertunities that cannot come from my hobbies, DON"T SHOOT ME DOWN. There are enough negative vibes in the world, and once we're done and we both have our degrees, is it really going to matter who went for what reasons? We will be equals, and balance is the answer in any job setting. We hopefully will all try our hardest to make this world a little better day after day, and support one another, as co-workers. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM. :confused:

I know for myself i need more friends, not enemies.

-krissy

Sheri257 · May 3, 2004

I don't think you have to be a "saint" or "Mother Teresa" type person to be an excellant nurse, BUT, it really peeves me when someone goes into this profession thinking of it as just a job & doing it only for a paycheck.
I have seen and worked with some horrible nurses who are miserable with working in this field because they had that attitude...or developed it over the years. It makes everyone around...patients, co-workers, DRs, etc...wish they'd go somewhere where they would be happy and quit making those around them just as miserable as they are. When a patient is sick or hurt, they don't need someone with a bad attitude attempting to care for them just because that person is only doing it for them money. There's too much of this kind of attitude everywhere anymore and it's a shame. I wish everyone would find something that they enjoy and are good at and go with that.

Just because we're going into nursing because we need a steady job and income, doesn't mean we're going to do a bad job and have a bad attitude. You're making a broad assumption that doesn't apply to everyone.

Maybe you live in utopia, but we have to live the real world where decent jobs are few and far between. And just because we're being honest, doesn't mean we don't and won't care about the job or the patients.

If you're not in it for the money, then I'm sure your employer would be more than happy to take back that paycheck and have you work for free.

:chuckle

telenurse04 · May 4, 2004

All I hear is that everything is too hard, too hard, too hard, and irrelevant. I'm talking about comp I and a microbiology course. I'm wondering if any of you think that good English and writing skills are needed in nursing? I would think with all the paperwork, clear writing would be important.

I guess it just scares me that these people want to be medical personnel, but they want to be spoon-fed the things we need to know, because I know it won't be like that on the job. Will it change once I'm done with my prereque's?

Rhee

Rhee, you are right on track. Ignore the others. Too hard? Well, it's college. You are supposed to become a professional as the result. Composition is quite important in nursing. Ever think about writing legislators to tell them how you want to practice? What about submitting a guideline to a hospital committee? What about how you communicate with the public/patients? Microbiology? After two years of practice, I would like to take a refresher course of microbio. Microbiology talks about the "bugs" that cause many many diseases in your patients. This is very important. You must know how to protect yourself from these patients. How their disease is spread, how you will treat it. Spoon-fed? No way. You are right, you are not spoon-fed anything when you are the one taking care of a patient. You must know how to contact the appropriate resources if you don't know something (going to the pharmacist, online resources, texts on the unit, remembering from school.) They say after college, you learn twice as much in one year on the job what you learned in 2 years of college. In pre-req courses there are many students that havn't jumped through all the hoops; some will change their majors a few times and some will drop out of college. Medical personnel is what they want to be? get real. They do not sound like it if they are belly-aching about the pre-req classes. Once you are beyond the pre-reqs, the content is more in abundance. It would be impossible for the professors to tell you everything you need to know. You have to be responsible for your own learning. Besides, there is that saying that once a textbook is published, it is out-of-date!! Good luck in school.

Energizer Bunny · May 4, 2004

Can someone copy the original post so that I can read it...I haven't been able to get to the first page for two days now!!!!! Pleeease?