Do you think some schools are turning out nurses too fast?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2007

The diploma nurses complain that the BSN's and the ADN's don't have the clinical experience they do, but the BSN's get paid more.

Don't be fooled. In the hospital setting, the RN-BSN typically receives the same pay rate as the ADNs and diploma RNs. Some hospitals are even generous enough to pay the BSN a few cents more per hour for their additional educational attainment. In other words, it is a myth that BSNs get paid so much more than diploma RNs.

Nursing is one of the only career pathways that does not reward people monetarily for attaining higher education.

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Dec 17, 2007

There are 2 issues in this thread:

1) Are the schools cranking out nurses too fast?

2) There isn't enough clinical work.

These issues can be related, of course, in that clinical time is reduced to get the nurses out fast. However, even during clinical time, opportunities to learn skills are few and far between.

In clinicals, students get 1 or 2 patients, look up labs, learn about their meds, but often don't get any hands on work with the patients. This applies whether ADN or BSN programs. When I graduated a few years ago, I also felt woefulling unprepared. I had NEVER started an IV (we were forbidden to try on each other), one student had NEVER placed a foley, etc.

When I complained, I was told that it's more important to learn critical thinking than skills, which can be learned on the job.

However, if you look at Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, one must progress from more basic needs to "self actualization". I think the same can be said of nursing. If the nurse is terrified to perform skills, how effective is her critical thinking? Pat Benner also addressed the skills issues in "From Novice to Expert".

Wouldn't it be nice if nursing school helped us through the novice phase a little better so we can actually do something on the floor?

I think that new grad inexperience also leads to some of the abuse new grads get when they get their first job. The first year is just incredibly stressful, partly due to the lack of ability to perform stuff we should have learned in school.

I also think that nursing educators are SO concerned about critical thinking, that they don't necessarily teach, they say, "Go look it up". I understand their logic, but sometimes, in the time constraints we have, it would be nice for a clinical instructor to just answer the question, and then explore the issue from there.

Oldiebutgoodie

clee1 · Dec 17, 2007

My program was 12 months, with a mandated 700 hrs clinical time and 700 hours classroom time.

Having said all of that, there were limited opportunities to do many skills while in clinicals, with all the restrictions placed on us by the school (for liability reasons), such as: no IV meds, no narcs, instructor (not preceptor) present when physically administering meds, starting INT's etc.

Many people in my class were woefully unprepared for "hitting the floor".

Had I not been a paramedic prior to NS, I would have been one of them. But look at me now! An LPN in the ICU!