Concerns with brand new nurses

truern · Nov 13, 2008

WOW??!! Really?? I dont even know what to say to your incredibly RUDE reply. Im sorry, how would you know about my job history?? Im just asking because for a minute there I thought you knew me. BUTTTT you dont. For you to even let it cross your mind that you know my job history because of a couple of bad experiences Ive had, is just flat out ignorant. For you to reply to this post with such negativity when I made it clear I wasnt trying to judge or offend, tells me I clearly offended you. But thats just my humble opinion, of course.

NursePeace, you've been nothing but rude this whole thread....you can hide behind your "not trying to judge or offend" all you want, but that's exactly what you've done.

What I know of your job history is what you yourself posted. Don't like that, then don't post about it. I'm just saying from what I've read that you posted you being derogatory about new grads is the pot calling the kettle...well, black.

NursePeace · Nov 13, 2008

NursePeace, you've been nothing but rude this whole thread....you can hide behind your "not trying to judge or offend" all you want, but that's exactly what you've done.
What I know of your job history is what you yourself posted. Don't like that, then don't post about it. I'm just saying from what I've read that you posted you being derogatory about new grads is the pot calling the kettle...well, black.

Clearly, I have noooo problem being rude when needed. No need to "hide" behind anything. Do you HONESTLY think every new nurse should be a nurse?? I dont know where you live, but in my city schools are putting out hundreds of LPNs. Some who do not care about the patients, just there paychecks. Now, if you've never came across those kind of nurses kudos to you. It seems to me very unrealisitc and you are just looking for an arguement. :yawn: Which Im no longer taking part in. I come to this site sometimes for comfort from fellow nurses when things arent going so

great and sometimes for opinions on concerns of mine. Sometimes to learn. Never to argue or to offend. I have no problem putting my ugly moments out there because I know Im a great nurse. Now for you to try and go back and use one of those ugly moments to judge me as a nurse, just speaks in volumes about what kind of person you are.

lexaa777 · Nov 13, 2008

It is unfortunate that this post has turned into an ugly thing. Nursepeace, i dont think that u intended for it to be like that, but unfortunately you did come off severly judgemental, kinda like a "nancy nurse", if you have ever heard the expression. I think that there will always be nurses that get into it for the paycheck, which it seems like you have ran into more than your fair share, but i have to think that the majority of us who do this job really care, right....So, on that note...i want to say...if you are offended by the replies that you have recived, just try not to be so judgemental yourself next time. The old "treat people like you want to be treated" comes to mind. I think if you read back over your first post you will see what i am talking about. You seem like a nice person, i think that if you had posted your ?'s a little diffrently, you might have got the kind of replies you were looking for. I took the time to look over the posts that you had put on here previously, and i can tell that you are a caring nurse, i just think that the way your post was worded was the problem. JMHO, of course. I wish you all the best. :lvan:

NursePeace · Nov 13, 2008

It is unfortunate that this post has turned into an ugly thing. Nursepeace, i dont think that u intended for it to be like that, but unfortunately you did come off severly judgemental, kinda like a "nancy nurse", if you have ever heard the expression. I think that there will always be nurses that get into it for the paycheck, which it seems like you have ran into more than your fair share, but i have to think that the majority of us who do this job really care, right....So, on that note...i want to say...if you are offended by the replies that you have recived, just try not to be so judgemental yourself next time. The old "treat people like you want to be treated" comes to mind. I think if you read back over your first post you will see what i am talking about. You seem like a nice person, i think that if you had posted your ?'s a little diffrently, you might have got the kind of replies you were looking for. I took the time to look over the posts that you had put on here previously, and i can tell that you are a caring nurse, i just think that the way your post was worded was the problem. JMHO, of course. I wish you all the best. :lvan:

All the best to you as well :)

pagandeva2000, LPN · Nov 14, 2008

Again, I am reading the posts several times, and I don't really see how the OP was being condescending or judgemental. It seems to me that she was saying that the quality of education seemed diminished, even eluded to the disappointment of her own nursing program, and maybe that because some programs don't focus on skills, but theory, that they don't give the new nurse an incentive to perform on top level. I have also seen new nurses practice and within myself, I am saying..."Wow...how did this person beat themselves out of a paper bag?". NursePeace did not give specifics about what she actually witnessed, so I can't say for sure that the comments are actually judgemental...but I can sure share some doozies from my end.

NursePeace · Nov 14, 2008

Again, I am reading the posts several times, and I don't really see how the OP was being condescending or judgemental. It seems to me that she was saying that the quality of education seemed diminished, even eluded to the disappointment of her own nursing program, and maybe that because some programs don't focus on skills, but theory, that they don't give the new nurse an incentive to perform on top level. I have also seen new nurses practice and within myself, I am saying..."Wow...how did this person beat themselves out of a paper bag?". NursePeace did not give specifics about what she actually witnessed, so I can't say for sure that the comments are actually judgemental...but I can sure share some doozies from my end.

EXACTLY. Im glad someone understood. Ohhh yes I sure could share some too, but ya know that really wasnt the point. I was just trying to get some opinions. Im almost afraid to share some stories at this point, I might get attacked. Thanks again for understanding. :nurse:

lexaa777 · Nov 14, 2008

the part that i personally found judgemental was where np said... "and then when you start orientating these nurses, the whole time im thinking, wow are you really gonna be responsible for my patients when im off?? ". i think that i have made it perfectly clear that my intent was also not to offend anyone with my comments either. i guess i just found it kind of odd that the comment came from someone relatively new to nursing herself. i hope that np will continue to post any and all ?'s that she wants too! i think that it would be really sad if people were afraid to post ?'s. this forum is so great, you get advice from nurses with many diffrent perspectives. i hope that u didnt take offense to any of my comments np, i may have sounded slightly harsh at times, but i know that i always gave encouraging feedback as well. (i hope that you noticed that too!) best warm & fuzzy wishes to all who took the time to weigh in on this touchy subject! :[anb]: :hrnsmlys:

springchicken2+2 · Jan 15, 2009

YES! I recently graduated an LVN program and I thought this MANY times! Two of the most importaint things that nurses need to know to simply function at their jobs is LABS and DRUGS! In school we got diddly squat of both! Unless we were hurridly looking up drugs or a lab value in clinicals. I don't know about others...but I can not learn that way...not with 100 other things going on at once! So, now that school is over I am having to cram to learn as many drugs and labs as possible before my preceptor let's me out on the floor on my own!

Butterflybee · Jan 17, 2009

the part that i personally found judgemental was where np said... "and then when you start orientating these nurses, the whole time im thinking, wow are you really gonna be responsible for my patients when im off?? ". i think that i have made it perfectly clear that my intent was also not to offend anyone with my comments either. i guess i just found it kind of odd that the comment came from someone relatively new to nursing herself. i hope that np will continue to post any and all ?'s that she wants too! i think that it would be really sad if people were afraid to post ?'s. this forum is so great, you get advice from nurses with many diffrent perspectives. i hope that u didnt take offense to any of my comments np, i may have sounded slightly harsh at times, but i know that i always gave encouraging feedback as well. (i hope that you noticed that too!) best warm & fuzzy wishes to all who took the time to weigh in on this touchy subject! :[anb]: :hrnsmlys:

"i hope that np will continue to post any and all ?'s that she wants too! i think that it would be really sad if people were afraid to post ?'s?"

lexxa, im one of which you speak. ive learned that when you are open and honest with your own unpleasant, experiences, opinions or facts ultimately and quite often, someone will be offended.. or it may not be of a popular opinion. so i no longer vent about anything. mostly now i just read the posts and if i do decide to post, i am definitely very careful about what i share.... unless of course it is something pleasant.

to the op, i may or may not agree with you but you have the right to your own view and/or opinion of how you see it. thank you for sharing, i for one, appreciate it.

NursePeace · Jan 19, 2009

YES! I recently graduated an LVN program and I thought this MANY times! Two of the most importaint things that nurses need to know to simply function at their jobs is LABS and DRUGS! In school we got diddly squat of both! Unless we were hurridly looking up drugs or a lab value in clinicals. I don't know about others...but I can not learn that way...not with 100 other things going on at once! So, now that school is over I am having to cram to learn as many drugs and labs as possible before my preceptor let's me out on the floor on my own!

Dont try and cram all this info at once. TRUST, you use all these labs and drugs sooo much it will become second nature. Ive been a nurse for 2 years and Im still learning labs and drugs, there is always a drug you wont know as they put new ones out all the time, and there is always a md that will write an order for a lab youve NEVER heard of. Your preceptor def should not hold this against you, they must be pretty strict. Good luck and take your time!! It will all come to you!!

sasha2lady · Mar 2, 2009

I have been a nurse for almost 3 yrs now....and my program was very very very hard. But....when I got on the job...it was like everything Id learned in school was for nothing b/c so many nurses did things so differently than what I was taught to do and I had a hard time adjusting..I cried all the time when Id leave work thinking that Id made a mistake by becoming a nurse and that Id never get to where the elder nurses were. Then when I was on maternity leave and went back...everything just finally clicked with me and I finally got a grip on the things that baffled me while I was pregnant. It was more or less the paperwork that baffled me so much. In school we did mostly cna work and clinical sheets...no admission or dishcharge stuff...so when I started doing it at work I was lost. The thing that worked to my advantage was pharmacology and med surge...I know alot about pharmacology compared to the nurses I work with and I didnt even realize it til way later on by seeing some of the ridiculous orders they write out and still do lol. They think granulex is one miracle spray that will cure anything...along with lotrisone. Whats so sad is that they dont even know what those are actually used for. Anyway....I have also been the one to try to train a new nurse...I had one last year straight out of school who thought she was god. She knew absolutely everything yet....I watched her med pass a few nights.....she didnt even do it. Her cart never moved...she was on her cell phone the whole shift with different guys planning on what kind of partying they were gonna do...etc etc.....she even had to gall to say to me one day that she didnt need to know how to do an admission b/c she was only prn...and I surely replied back to her that yes ....you do b/c when i come in behind you and your works not done I absolutely will not finish it...ill write out med errors, documentation errors etc......and I did. She soon left afterwards and went to be slack at another job. What was bad...was that I liked her as a person but she was an incompetent nurse all the way who took no initiative to do or learn how to do anything. My instructors drilled into our heads that it was our responsibility as a nurse to make sure we knew what to do in situations where we werent sure...that ignorance wouldnt get you out of a lawsuit and saying "i didnt know" wouldnt help you either....make it your business to know...and thats what i have lived by every day since I was licensed. I had basically no training.....2 dys at most....and i had to learn everything else on my own pretty much....it just took some initiative on my part but i wanted to learn all i could and still do. every day i learn something new..whether its a new drug thats come out or a new policy or a different way to do something. NO 2 days are the same....thank god hahaha.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Mar 2, 2009

:uhoh21:Well Ive been a nurse for only about 2 years. I have some tremendous concerns about these nursing programs spitting nurses out left and right. Doesnt it just seem its too easy now and days?? And then when you start orientating these nurses, the whole time Im thinking, wow are you really gonna be responsible for my patients when Im off?? Not all, obviously because Im a semi new nurse and Im a product of a quickie nursing program. But, I busted my butt in school and continue to do so.

Maybe I am taking this wrong but your post reminds we of high school; when the sophomores, who were freshmen just before summer suddenly think they are in the right to pick on the new freshmen and totally forget they were a freshmen themselves like two seconds ago! Not to say that you are picking on anyone, but maybe you should talk to some of the nurses that were around when you were a new nurse from the "nurse spitting school" you came from, they may have very well been saying the same things about you that you are complaining about new grands now. Who is to say these new grads didn't work their butts off too?

Maybe I have a hard time understanding where you are coming from since I am not in a "quicky" nursing program, a 3 yr in fact (not counting pre-reqs of course). But I know that I am not going to know everything when I become a new nurse, just as I am sure you did not either; I would just hope that there would be people that are more understanding, especially from some one who was in my position not that long ago themselves.

And no, they are not be responsible for your patients when you are off; they will be responsible for theirs.