Concerns with brand new nurses

momtojosh · Mar 3, 2009

hahahaha....cant believe this thread hasnt been deleted...how crazy it turned....i couldnt stop reading tho.....thanks for the good giggle....

yvesul · Mar 4, 2009

hahahaha....cant believe this thread hasnt been deleted...how crazy it turned....i couldnt stop reading tho.....thanks for the good giggle....

lol, I'm w/ you MOMTOJOSH. I couldn't stop reading the (Luke & Laura drama) posts.

Yvette

2:twocents:

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2009

I've been a nurse for a looong time, and I went to a loooong, traditional nursing program- and I agree with the OP.

It seems that more and more (not all) programs are mainly concerned with the quantity of nurses they graduate- not the quality.

katgirl46806 · May 3, 2009

I just want to say that I attended the same school the OP attended-Brown Mackie only it was in Fort Wayne,IN.Our instructors were excellent I learned alot alot from this school. The clinicals were good all depending on the instructor not the school.Granted the teachers are employed by the school however they are still human and have their fallacies.I think what school you graduated from is important yes but its the attitude and the willingness to learn of that particular nurse is whats important.Yes these quckie programs spit out lots of students but just because you graduated doesnt make you a LPN-you still have to pass boards.Which as we all know is a miracle to do because alot of q's on the test and how its worded is extremely difficult so evidently nurses are learning from these quick programs.I wouldnt necessary lump all grads into one pile-every nurse has been "green" and had to get on the job learning experience to get seasoned.Saying your school sucks and didnt have a good progrm is like biting the hand that fed you-you wouldn't be where you are without their assistance.Not trying to criticize but I can see why people thinks its judgemental from your post.

tnrose · May 3, 2009

I have to say that I don't think NursePeace was rude in her postings. 2 years may not be a lot of experience, but you can see and learn a lot in those 2 years!

Kathcats · May 3, 2009

To Bedpan76: I agree that nutrition was a real deterrent from other more important subjects in nursing school. None of us did well on the nutrution test. I do think that I&O is very important and I have used this knowledge in many of my pre-nursing jobs such as PCA at Hartford Hosp. I am a new LPN having had many hours of school and clinical time in an RN AD program. I just passed the NCLEX-PN with lots of my RN knowlege in Feb, 09. Do you know of types of non hospital facilities that will precept new LPN's? Thanks so much!

bonnie west · May 3, 2009

Shame we are not born nurse.You say your mother and mother-in-law were nurses and you were heavily involved "in what why"? You have only been a nurse for two years. You have a long way to go. Do you know the perceptorship of all schools? How do you know what these new nurses know and don't know. I have been a nuse for a whole one year now and I know that I have a lonnnnnnnnng way to go.You here a new grad only two years ago.Give them a chance.

pagandeva2000, LPN · May 3, 2009

I think my program sucked lemons, but as mentioned, I guess it was enough to pass NCLEX-PN in 2006. I had to take a great deal of my own initiative. My pharmacology/nutrition class sucked, but I took a seperate pharm review course before I took NCLEX. I am glad I did because most of the same drugs that I had no idea about in school, but got on that review showed up.

I since, purchased some layman books on nutrition and pharmacology and that has served me well in my career. It is all about initiative. It took me a long time to get to that frame of thought while in school, but in retrospect, I was doing that all along. I knew I was not getting what I felt I needed from the program or in the workplace, so, I had to come up with creative ways to make it work for myself. This is what we all have to do. At least, for what it was worth, horrible program and all, that I did actually become a nurse, but that was from the effort I put into it.

jra2127 · May 6, 2009

I agree that some schools could do extra to better prepare their students. When I went to nursing school, a CNA license was a prerequist at all of the schools in the area. I thought that was the norm. I have since moved to a different area and have found out that it isn't . I think that it is a disadvantage to new nurses for a few reasons. Working as a CNA while in nursing school gave me a huge advantage. As a CNA at a large hospital I learned many things before nursing school. I learned the general workings of a hospital. I experienced the fast, stressful pace that is expected of nurses. I also experienced many procedures that I had never got the chance to witness in my clinicals. I think that it is a great advantage to have more health care experiences than a brand new nurse that has never worked in healthcare before graduating. I think that nursing is learned on the floor. I feel bad for nurses that decide after only a couple of years that it is not for them. I know that many students that I took my CNA with decided then that nursing was not for them. Let's face it, you don't get a chance to see much during clinicals...I know that I only gave 1 insulin injection and never put in a foley and who only gets one patient. I know that it is probably difficult for instructors but why not teach alittle more time managment skills and give students 2 patients in clinicals. Now I work in a small hospital on a med/tele floor that gets students a couple times a week and I feel for the students. I try my hardest to include them in they care that needs to be given to the patient that we share. I also feel for them because we aren't the nicest, I think that they are too often scared to ask the floor nurses questions.

JavaMama98 · May 7, 2009

"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??"

How soon we forget...whether you know it or not, you were once new and someone may have been saying that about you.

"you were new not very long ago, and how quickly you seem to have forgotten :rolleyes:"

Thanks for that, Bobylon. Every nurse was a new nurse at some point.

sunray12 · May 7, 2009

:uhoh21:well ive been a nurse for only about 2 years. my mom was a nurse for about 20, as well as mother in law and quiet a few other family members. so needless to say im still technically considered a new nurse, but ive been involved for a long time. 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. i have no problem giving a great orientation and trying to provide tools to becoming a great nurse. but if your feeling the same way about some of these nurses, we all know that just doesnt cut it sometimes. i dunno i guess it just worries me. just thought id put it out for some opinions =] btw, this was in no way meant to offend anyone, i know we all need adequate time to adjust in nursing. just my opinion.

this is an old thread ... but i haven't heard anything about nursing school being easy let alone "too easy". i haven't heard of people being "spit out" by nursing programs but i hear a lot about people have to read through 100s of pages of material per week, and staying up all night to do 20 page care plans, etc., etc. i've also heard about the make or break math tests every semester. there are not many professions where you can be told that you've failed out of a program for getting 89%. it sounds to me more like people are fighting their way through and crawling across the finish line with bloodied hands and knees. :) it is not uncommon for nursing schools to have a 40-60% drop out/fail out rate. if nursing school was easy i guess most of these people would sail on through and get their diploma or degree. and if it is "too easy" at these retention rates (which look staggeringly low to the objective eye btw) then what was like like before nursing school became "too easy"?? were nursing schools losing 90% of their class by the finish line??

i can't tell what op's point is but i hope she's off someplace delivering superlative and impeccable service to her patients.

txgal34 · May 7, 2009

i am so new a nurse that the ink is barely dry! i was military for 11 years, so while i am not a "seasoned nurse" there was something in leadership we learned that had much truth to it. they made us watch this movie called "The first 24 hours" .... one of those old cheesy movies that was made 30 years ago! but the point was good. the first scenario was a sailor reporting onboard and being blown off and left to his own devices. a "bad apple" was the only one who gave him the time of day and within two weeks he is a lazy, disrespectful sailor as this was his first impression and what he was taught. then then restart the scenario where the fresh from boot camp sailor reports on board, is greeted by his department, shown around, taught the ropes and has a great military career. while cheesy, the point is (and i believe this goes for nursing too) is our preceptor can be so valuable as to the type of nurse we become. if the school was doing such a lousy job, then students wouldn't be passing the boards. i truly believe the most shaping moment is your first job and that first preceptor. and all you awesome preceptors....thank you so much!!!!! i hope you know that you are making a profound lasting impact on people that shape their opinion of nursing and make awesome nurses!!!